The trips are frequent and time consuming and really detract from the game experience. The already threadbare plot comes to a grinding halt every time you have to take a 10 minute detour over to the ol’ licensing office and get your job level increased. The incredibly inefficient city design is unnecessarily confusing as well, adding even more time to your errands. It’s extra frustrating that you have a wireless PDA device that constantly downloads new data and could just as easily receive the job/license info while you’re out doing the quests.
In fact, pacing seems to be the game’s biggest problem. You’ll find quests and job license requirements overlapping left and right, all of which seem to have no relation to the plot or any purpose other than to have you constantly doing something. An example: In order to get a mining license you have to help an old man impress his wife by catching a sand weasel which only appears when you agree to walk the old man’s dog through the desert. Yeah.
Opoona does boast a ton of side content though, from the optional job licenses to TV shows that are transmitted to your character’s PDA. There are loads of licenses to be earned as well, allowing you to try your hand at such jobs as mining, farming, art, music, and yes, the service industry. Finally every gamer can live out their wild fantasy of working at a fast food restaurant! Each job bases itself around a minigame like task that you will repeat for each job until you have completed enough tasks to earn the next level of your license.
Give credit to Opoona for trying to wedge a lot of new ideas into its paper thin premise, but the half baked ‘lifestyle’ elements can’t hide the fact that it’s a very simplistic and ultimately uninteresting RPG.
Mar 31, 2008
