When I first heard that Game Freak was making their first new original game in forever, I was really excited. I like the general idea of what the game was about and I knew that I had to get my hands on it right from the start, there were only two problems. The first was the availability of the game in the United States and the second was the eventual hate that the game started to receive.

The game eventually released in Japan but not in the U.S. and I remember there being all sorts of issues with the game being released. At one point the game was already released in English but in the eshop but not in the U.S. which was weird. At the time I thought why would they localize the game but only release the English version of the game in the Japanese eshop? It claimed that it was released worldwide but I couldn’t find it at all.

Things got weirder after that because eventually the Big Idea edition of the game was released. This was a physical version that came with other stuff but at first it was for PS4 only and then when it was released on the Switch it was limited time only. Then by the time it was fully out on the Switch, it was very expensive and by then, the English version was finally available in the U.S. eshop. At the time, I think the physical version cost around $50 while the digital version was only $25.

So after maybe a year of trying to get the game, I was finally able to pick up a copy. However, I probably would have gotten it sooner by paying the extra money for the physical edition if it wasn’t for all the hate that the game was receiving at the time. Right when the game was finally fully appearing in the U.S. a bunch of reviews were already available and they weren’t great. I was really excited about the game for a very long time but lots of places were giving the game a score as low as 4/10. Even Metacritic gave it a 64 and many Youtube reviewers were saying that the game felt incomplete in many ways and lacking in many ways too.

Because of how excited I was for the game originally, the negativity only dropped my hopes by around 80 percent, so I still had some, and since the game cost only $25 for the digital copy I was finally able to try it out earlier this year.

GRAPHICS: 8/10

I had a few issues with the graphics here and there but overall I really liked the way Little Town Hero looked. First off, it would be a good idea to get the bad stuff out of the way, right? For the most part, the things that I don’t like are very minor things but still kind of annoying. For instance, when you’re walking around the town, the animation movement starts off weirdly. Instead of walking, you appear to glide a few steps as if you’re standing in place but the rest of the world is moving around you. But after like half a second the animation returns to normal and you start walking again.

There’s also plenty of times where other characters will be running in place and sometimes walking away from them will fix them. Until you walk towards them again and they start walking or running in place again and it’s a bit disorienting at times. There were also some times where the game felt slowed down or the frame rate would drop a bit. This would happen both in the overworld and in battles.

But don’t worry, there’s a bunch of stuff that I really liked about the graphics. For the most part, the game looks very charming and to me it looked like a really nice cross between Pokemon Sword and Shield, and Ni No Kuni. Many of the characters had pretty decent designs and I really liked the way that the town looked. In addition to that, many of the backgrounds and far away structures and mountains looked pretty good as well.

The game has a very comic book and cartoony feel to it and as such, it is filled to the brim with color which makes it look welcoming and at times very cute and charming.

SOUND: 7/10

The sound was a mixed bag for me. I liked the music but when it came to the regular sounds, I both really liked some aspects but really hated others. Let’s talk about the regular sounds to start. When you’re walking around the town, there’s a bunch of different sounds that can be heard. For instance, you can hear different kinds of birds chirping as well as the wind whistling and your footsteps. Those are good sounds and they feel right at home with the calm music and the feel of the town.

But then when you’re talking to people, you get the most annoying sound possible. When people are talking, all you hear is a bunch of beeps that play at different speeds and pitches and it’s the worst thing that you could ask for in a game. You can turn off the volume for sound effects but that will also turn off all the other sounds like the birds, so all you will hear is the music and when there’s no music playing, it would just be super eerie.

As for the music, I didn’t have any complaints. Right when I started the game, I was greeted with a light hearted tune that instantly made me think that the game was going to have a lot of humor. Then once I got into the town for the first time, there were some really fun and calm tunes that played. Not only that, but the music that plays while you’re battling isn’t bad either. Overall, the music is good, but all the tracks are very forgettable. After I finished playing, none of the music really attached themselves to me and that was a shame. But while playing and in the moment, the music worked really well. I was kind of disappointed by the lack of truly iconic songs since the entire soundtrack was composed by music legend Toby Fox.

Overall, I think there could have been some work done with the regular sounds. If the sounds that play when people talk were completely removed, I think it would have been much better.

ADDICTIVENESS: 7/10

Okay, here we go. I wouldn’t exactly call the gameplay fun. The truth is, just figuring out how to play hurt my head a little bit. The tutorial was pretty straight forward but the way it was explained made it sound way more confusing than it really was. As for the battles themselves, they weren’t all too engaging. Battles were pretty long and as a result, many of them felt like a chore and I would just try to rush through those kinds of battles as quickly as I could.

Other than that, the humor of the game was mostly what kept me going. It’s not the kind of humor that everyone will agree with, but in my case I liked some of the jokes so those kept me going through some of the more boring battles. That doesn’t mean that all the battles were boring though. There were some that were pretty challenging and were more like puzzles than a fight. During those kinds of battles, they felt more engaging and you’d focus more, which made it more fun. But most of the other battles felt more like a slow slog.

All the other standard RPG aspects were pretty fun too and the different areas around the town can offer a bit of exploration. But, if you’re not a fan of both RPG’s and strategy games, then Little Town Hero might feel a bit too slow for you.

STORY: 7/10

The story of Little Town Hero is pretty simple. You play as a kid who wants to go out and see the world. But your town is basically in a closed in area and all the residents made a deal with the king that they would never leave the town. As you start the game, you try to break into the castle so that you can escape the town but you’re caught by a solider. But instead of locking you up or killing you, since this is a castle after all, he agrees to help you train so you kind of end up being like his apprentice.

One day, monsters start appearing and harassing the residents and because you find some sort of an artifact, you’re the only one that can fight them. So naturally, it’s now up to you to stop all of them. Like I mentioned earlier, there’s lots of humor throughout the game that can make the story seem a lot better.

DEPTH: 7/10

The one thing that I really wish was in the game was the actual RPG element of stats and levels. There’s none of that, when you first start the game you’re about as strong as you are when you finish it. All the battles are done using ideas and the complex battle system that I mentioned earlier. Personally I feel like the game would have had way more going on with a full RPG system but this is a sort of fresh take on the genre so that’s good. But because it might be a good idea doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot missing.

The town itself is pretty big with lots of places to visit and there’s a large number of ways to attack and defend while in battle to create dozens of potential strategies. One thing that I didn’t like at all when it came to depth was that many of the character models were used so often. I saw one kid in the town and then another kid with the same model standing outside of the mines. At first I thought it was actually the same person and they just moved, but then when I went inside of the mines there were two people with the same model standing right next to each other.

That felt like a complete bust right there, Game Freak didn’t even bother swapping out different people in the same area. There’s a decent amount of enemy monsters but when it comes to humans, there wasn’t that much variety. Other than that, there’s still a decent amount of stuff going on and it’s still very capable of setting you back 30 to 40 hours if you’re having fun or enjoy the story and humor.

DIFFICULTY: 6

With no stats and levels, Little Town Hero is a game of brainpower. Some battles might be easier than others but even with some of the easy ones, it’s basically the biggest game of Rock Paper Scissors ever. That’s because you have to figure out which of your moves will counter your opponents move and vice versa and there’s a bunch of other battle aspects that you need to take into account.

Every battle is a giant puzzle and if you’re not good at figuring out the order of what moves you should do or how to attack efficiently, you’re going to have a hard time. But everything else about the game is pretty straight forward.

OVERALL: 7.3/10

There’s going to be some times where Little Town Hero feels like it’s a really slow games or times where the battles can be a bit too puzzling. But the game is full of good music, charming visuals, funny humor, and a fresh gameplay system. If you like this kind of game you can easily get 20 or more hours out of it and you should be able to get the game for a relatively cheap price if you’re buying the digital version.

That should be enough to consider it worth the price. It’s still a fun and enjoyable game in many aspects and worth the price for the amount of content that you get. As such, my overall grade for Little Town Hero is going to be a 7.3 out of 10.