Attack Of The Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale - Review

Monster Friday!

Console: Nintendo 3DS

I discovered NintendoLife through YouTube. I watched the entire Alex-Zion-Jon era and caught the start of Felix's tenure before my interest in the channel part waned. One of Felix's first videos was about the subject of today’s review: Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale. It's one of several small titles released as part of their 'Guild' series from developer Level-5, known for titles like Professor Layton and Yo-Kai Watch. 

I can’t remember exactly what was said in the video (and at this point, I don’t want to contaminate my own thoughts with his), but what matters is that the video introduced me to this title. Because of that video, with 3DS eShop closure,  it was one of the first games I put on my shopping list.

Now, amidst the chaos of finishing the renovations on my very own apartment and moving in, I felt that a short and relaxing game like Attack of the Friday Monsters! was just what I needed to wind down. And wind down I did in the 10-15 minute bursts I had the time to play it, but looking back, it’s not the little gem I was pseudo-expecting it to be.

Let’s dive in.

It’s 1971, and it’s a hot summer day at the edge of Tokyo. So warm that a kid like 10-year-old Sohta might forget all about the errand he was supposed to run. Having just moved to Tokyo with his parents, Sohta is more interested in exploring the town and rummaging about with the other kids than bringing the clothes his father dry-cleaned to its owner.

Luckily for the bored Sohta, this quite rural area has been the centre of some very strange activity as of late. Every Friday, giant monsters appear out of nowhere and disappear just as mysteriously. Sohta sets out to learn more about these happenings.

Attack of the Friday Monsters! is a title not so much about its narrative and gameplay but about its setting and atmosphere. Yes, there is a story with tons of dialogue and a central mystery, but many of the events aren’t all that integral or important. The narrative is more of a coat rack to hang all the aspects of the atmosphere and ideas that I believe director Kaz Ayabe wanted to convey on.

That feeling of being a child and rummaging about. Weird childhood games, kids seeing things that aren’t there ("The old man is weird, he must be an alien!") and not understanding words and phrases and thus finding their own wildly inaccurate explanations for them. Those moments are very well done and pretty accurate to the shenanigans of kids if you ask me.

It’s also fun seeing how this game weaves its TV influence into things. From the narrator (this game is subbed, not dubbed, by the way), to each quest being called ‘episodes,’ to that opening. It’s right out of an old TV series. That type of quiet and slightly whimsical music, its visuals (still images in this case), and the lyrics explain the setting and introduce the characters. I just can't be helped being reminded of shows like Heidi. 

A set of stills from the game. Original image is from Polygon, the edits were made by yours truly.

A lot of focus is placed on the atmosphere but the central monster mystery kept me quite busy as well. This game is very short, it took me 3 hours to complete, but because I played it in short bursts over the course of 2 weeks, there was plenty of time to theorize on that mystery. Was it all real, or is it all in Sohta’s head? Do Kaiju really roam this world, or is Sohta filtering a world he’s too young to understand through his obsession with monster shows?

That was what kept me busy during my daily commute. That was what kept me playing—and also what lost me in the end. I won’t spoil which side of the coin the answer lands on, but it’s the least interesting one, in my humble opinion. That took the wind out of the narrative sails, but thankfully, there were only about 10 more minutes left. It wasn’t like I wasn’t going to finish the title,  I’m too stubborn for that, but the ‘magic’ was gone.

While on the subject, I don’t find the visuals all that magical. This title looks more like a DS game than a 3DS one. I get that this was a game on a budget, but I’m not a fan of the stiff animations and how the rather polygonal 3D models look against the painted backgrounds. It works on an aesthetic level, and I’m not going to call it ugly, but I think they could’ve done better. 

Similarly simple is the gameplay. There are very few things you actually do in this game. 90% of it is Sohta running around town and talking to people to progress any of the intermingling episodes. The only thing you do aside from that is play this card game and collect ‘glimmers.’ Basically, small things a kid might find interesting that, once you’ve found enough, give you another card.

The card game itself is not half bad. It’s ‘rock-paper-scissors’ in card form. You and your opponent play five cards face down, each with a rock, paper, or scissors attribute. You then get hints at the matchup of the cards—will you win, lose, or get a draw?—and you then get the opportunity to switch 2 cards to try and get a better matchup. Whoever wins at least 3 matchups wins. If you both have ‘rock,’ for example, it’s a draw, and the winner is determined by the strength number on the card.

It’s a strong core idea, one that I’m surprised I haven’t seen pop up before considering how simple it is. If they had the time to elaborate on this system further—it really only pops up about half a dozen times, and there’s a lot left to chance—but with more effort, I could see this becoming the backbone of a whole different game.

Conclusion

I can see why Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale is well-liked. It’s a very simple but atmospheric title that succeeds at what it sets out to do. It’s a carefree, hazy, and lazy summer day in a quiet rural area and a love letter to childhood summers and classic Tokusatsu shows. I, however, am not one of those enjoyers. This title is less of a game with how simple it is and more of an experience all about its atmosphere and underlying ideas. 

This title is not a bad experience, just one I’m not all that drawn to. Once I realized the story was headed in, what was in my eyes, the least interesting direction, I was pretty much done with it.