It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas: Christmas Wonderland 4 Preview [3DS]

Yes, it is that time of year again! Christmas is swiftly approaching, and the fourth edition of our favourite festive game has just appeared for download in the Nintendo 3DS eShop. For those of you who are not familiar with the Christmas Wonderland series on the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS, it is a series of Hidden Object games, all with a Christmassy theme.

In Christmas Wonderland 4, we again join Bill and Mary as they attend the Christmas parade, whilst Mrs. Claus, Santa and the elves try and get all the toys ready in time for the big day!

The game is very easy to play, but hard to master. Players must try to spot all of the items on the Christmas list at the top of the screen. Points are accumulated by finding the listed items as quickly as possible. This sounds easy, but there are many items to find and each one is intricately hidden in a beautiful festive scene. There is a handy Hint function for anyone who feels a bit lost, but players must wait for the hint meter to refill before it can be used again.

As well as the hidden object lists, players will have to solve a number of puzzle mini games in order to progress to the next level. These include tasks such as arranging a set of Santa heads in the correct order or helping Mrs. Claus to finish decorating the Christmas cake.

The game has some beautiful graphics, including some in 3D, but it has to be said that the 3D function of the game is extremely limited as most of the graphics are displayed solely on the bottom screen, which is a tad frustrating.

Nevertheless, if you are looking for a fun festive game to play in the run up to Christmas, then this title is just perfect for you.  Furthermore, at only £4.49, it is a bargain to download from the Nintendo eShop and will keep most casual gamers interested for quite a long time. Overall Mini Gamers rating: 7/10.

Tomodachi Life: Your Questions Answered....

Following the surprise announcement from Nintendo Direct, that another Japanese import, Tomodachi Life would receive its European release on the 6th of June 2014, we have been wondering exactly what this quirky game would entail. This is what Mini Gamers has managed to find out so far:

• Like Animal Crossing, this game is played in real-time, making it very realistic in some ways.

• Unlike other life simulation games to date, you do not directly interact with the in-game world as a playable character. You can put your own Mii into the game, but this Mii will function separately from you as the player. Instead, a players role is more like an external figure. It is your job to watch over the island residents, help them make some pretty life-changing decisions like how to tell their sweetheart that they want to marry them, etc., Take care of basic needs such as getting residents to take a bath or have some food, change their clothes etc, and much, much more!

• Miis will sometimes ask you directly to play a selection of mini-games with them.

• It is possible to create Miis of real-life celebrity figures by taking a photo of their face (from a poster, the TV or a magazine) and converting it with the 3DS Mii-Maker.

• Miis can get married. Married Miis are eligible to move into some exclusive apartments on Chin Island. Married Miis can also have a number of children each. The Japanese reports of the game have listed this number as limited to only three children per couple, but this has yet to be confimed. There have even been some rumours of some baby-related mini-games, 

• The Island can hold up to a maximum of 100 Mii residents. This includes all children born to married Miis on the Island.

• Children born in the game are given the choice of moving into their own apartments once they are fully grown, or they can be sent on a special trip via the 3DS' Streetpass function, where they can visit Tomodachi Islands on other 3DS systems. Any children sent on a trip will send postcards to their parents and will periodically return to visit them at various times.

• Players can alter the words that the Miis in Tamodachi Life speak to each other, suggest ways of responding to situations and even rewrite the words to the song lyrics that each Mii sings. 

• Players can enter the dreams of any Mii on Chin Island - there truly are some weird ones too!

• The screenshots and the Nintendo Direct trailer also showed cats and dogs, so it would seem as though pets will also be available in the game, but this has yet to be confirmed.

• The game will not feature a multiplayer online mode. Tomodachi Life plays very much like a single player game. Nevertheless, the game will come with social media integration possibilities, so you can take pictures of your Mii and upload it to Facebook to share with friends etc.

It would seem as though there is a lot to do and discover in this game. The subtitled Japanese trailer does seem to show the various marriage and child-rearing elements of the game in much more detail:

(Having trouble viewing this trailer? CLICK HERE)

Tomodachi Life seems a little hard to define at the moment, but it contains so many varied elements that its humour and quirky style is bound to make it very popular amongst the gaming community. The 6th of June 2014 cannot come soon enough!

Game of the Week: Virtual Villagers - A New Home (DS/DSi)

The popular PC games franchise, Virtual Villagers, finally landed onto Nintendo DS/DSi consoles this week. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the series, Virtual Villagers is a real-time, strategy-based virtual life simulation.

 Players must help to take care of a  tribe of people after their previous home has been destroyed by a volcanic eruption, and they are now forced to work to rebuild their homes and the tribal population. The Nintendo DS version is actually a condensed volume of the first three games from the PC series.

Virtual Villagers does seem to naturally suit the Nintendo DS consoles, and Mini Gamers is surprised that there has not been a DS console release of this game until now.

The overall gameplay is simple: Players can assign tasks to the villagers. They can choose from a selection of jobs such as Farmer (grow new plants and crops), Priest (nuture the souls of your tribe, boost morale), Parent (give birth and raise children to adulthood), Builder (erect huts and other buildings for the tribe),or a Healer (to heal sick or wounded villagers)  etc. This will help your tribe to grow, develop and settle into their new homes.

As this game is played in real-time and features a strong story progression, your tribe members will continue to learn new skills and grow in ability within the task that you have set for them, even if you are not playing the game - The tribe continues to function even when your DS/DSi is turned off!

The same can be said about the Villagers lifespans. Villagers who are born into the tribe will start off as babies and progress through childhood, adulthood and old age, where they will ultimately die.

However, it has to be said that the entire life process can be fulfilled quite quickly, so you might lose more inhabitants to death than you want to. Nevertheless, players do have the option to 'freeze time' overnight if they wish, which can be useful if you want to build a very skillful tribe or limit the amount of deaths or illnesses that occur whilst you are away from the DS console.

The game also features over sixty different puzzles for players to solve. Players must raise the villagers skills up to a specific level in order to solve puzzles, which takes a bit of time and patience, but is very rewarding, as these puzzles provide clues, which will then help the player to unlock the secrets of Mysterious Island.

 Virtual Villagers: A New Home  also contains a good selection of mini games, which can be completed to earn extra skill points or to speed up certain daily tasks. The mini games include tasks such rain-dancing, fruit-picking or fishing and even sawing wood, amongst others, and they help to add extra entertainment value to the game.

Official DS/DSi Trailer

In conclusion, this cute and gentle game will not suit everyone, but is likely to appeal to fans of strategy games and real-life virtual simulations such as Animal Crossing, Enchanted Folk or My Sims. The attention to detail about each villagers thoughts and feelings help to create a very realistic virtual environment and makes this an incredibly charming game.

It has easy-to-understand controls, which also makes it a good game for younger gamers to enjoy, but does not exclude older gamers who are looking for a simple and fun little game for those spare few  hours. Overall rating: 8/10.