MINNASAN NO OKAGESAMADESU

by Bobak!

Minnasan no Okagesamadesu: An Attempted Review by Bobak!

(Editor's Note:  I, Bobak!,  do not speak or read one word of Japanese.  Nor do I know how to play mahjong.  This review is a joke, and should be taken as such -like "Dr." Laura's credentials)

In Brief

Umm... Yes.  How do I even begin?  I've tried playing this game for a few hours, and I've tried to gather some information.  I'm not sure about much, but here is what little I am sure about:

• This game is about Mahjong

• One of the characters has a permanent 5 o'clock shadow, seems to be a playboy, yet has a really odd penchant for fans.

• The other is either a really ugly man dressed in drag as a Japanese schoolgirl or the single ugliest woman the world has ever known.  Or maybe its some kind of monster...

• There is some kind of TV Show element to the game, whether this is based on an actual Japanese TV show is unknown.   If it is, God save us all!

Graphics:

Aah!  My eyes!  I've never seen such horribly ugly people in a video game before. The scary thing is that the artist tried to make them this ugly!  The back of the box had a few scantily clad women on the back, but I couldn't find them.  Instead I played an unintelligible game of mahjong across from the ugliest character I've ever seen (all the while he was yelling at me in Japanese) -quite an experience I must say...  Just not the one I had envisioned.  Especially the skull on the continue countdown -where did that come from?  On the back of the box there's a picture of one of my opponents in a deceased-angel form!  How serious are they about this in Japan??? -Is it a blood sport!?!

Aah! Turn away, turn away!!!

Music/SFX:

Some things transcend the language barrier, and although I've got no clue as to what anyone was talking or writing about in this game, they all seemed really into it.  For that to come across to a clueless gaijin like myself means that they did a good job in this department and thusly deserve some kudos.  

Gameplay:

Hee-hee!  Well... From what I've been able to gather:  The game progresses on some kind of big map.  Some steps involve playing mahjong.  Once that begins you and your opponent divide up a bunch of tiles, then you get a row to play with (sort of like a Scrabble line).  Every time its your turn, the game prompts you to select a tile with either a kanji or a certain number of marks, then pick one of a few choices off of a sub-menu (I have no idea what those choices say) ... And then your opponent instantly picks a tile to match your tile, starts looking cocky, says something in Japanese, and "voila": Its your turn again.  This keeps repeating until its game-over for you.  Sometimes other stuff happens.  One time my opponent looked rather puzzled as to my tile selection (I told him I was too -until I realized that I was talking to the TV... again), another time he looked angry (and yes, that made him/she/it even uglier), yet another time it picked up what looked to be a straw and shoved it up its nose.  I guess I just don't understand the culture...

Overall:

Buy it!  

Breakdown:  

GRAPHICS: 55%

MUSIC/SFX: 40%

PLAYABILITY: N/A 

REPLAY: N/A

DIFFICULTY: Depends:

non-Japanese speakers: Mindblowingly Difficult

Japanese speakers: Uh... Yeah, sure!

OVERALL: N/A

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More Reviews of This Game:

by Kazuya_UK (Equally confused) - Courtesy of Kazuya's

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