In the game, players assume the role of a short, rounded fellow named Opoona. Opoona is vacationing with his family when their spaceship is suddenly attacked by an unknown evil, forcing them to crash land on the planet Landroll. Awakening in a hospital, Opoona finds himself under the care of the loving Landrollians, who provide him with a job while he searches for his lost siblings and parents. Along his journey, he’ll encounter a lot of strange and imaginative creatures including TVs with crab-like claws, blobs and disco dancing cactuses. It’s all good fun, and it keeps things interesting in what would otherwise be a basic story.
Opoona is centred around obtaining and upgrading job licenses. You’ll initially start off with just a ranger license, but as you progress you’ll get the opportunity to try your hand at customer service, fishing and mining. Each license can be upgraded by completing quotas, which will differ for each job. An example is customer service in a clothes shop. You’ll need to satisfy six customers by not pushing them to buy anything and giving honest (but nice) opinions. As a ranger you’ll be expected to protect Landroll against security threats such as monsters inhabiting the wilderness, and even buggy computer systems.
Go Poke Ball... Wait a second...
With the exception of the ranger license, most jobs are really just side-quests that you can choose to ignore or dive into completely. You’ll be looking at around 10-15 hours of gameplay if you stick to the story, but those who strive to complete everything will easily get 20-30 hours of play. Unfortunately, meeting quotas can become repetitive and feel more like a chore than a compelling part of gameplay. For instance, at one stage you’ll need to serve ten customers at a fast food restaurant. This requires you to take orders and place food on a tray under a certain time limit. While fun at first, by the time you get to customer five you’ll want to go and do something else.
One of the unique features in the game is that it can be played almost entirely with the Nunchuck controller. Menus can be accessed by pressing Z, while the C button is used to confirm selections, talk to people and rotate the camera. In case you want a more traditional experience, the Wii remote has the same functions mapped out, and you can even opt to use the Classic Controller. Each scheme works well, and it will just come down to your personal preferences.
Like most RPGs, a large portion of your time will be spent battling monsters. Battles occur randomly when you venture out into the wilderness, but thankfully they’re quick and surprisingly fun. At the battle screen, players have to utilise Opoona’s bonbon (the orange ball above his head) as a weapon and throw it at enemies. The system is very simple to pick up, you basically have to tilt the control stick and charge the attack, then let go to fire the bonbon. Adding a strategic element to the mix, you can also curve the ball or perform an underarm / overarm. In some cases these will cause different amounts of damage to enemies, so it’s good to experiment and see what has the best effect. As easy as this all sounds, you will have to carefully watch Opoona’s energy meter. Essentially, when charging attacks the energy meter will slowly deplete, and you’ll need to wait for it to replenish fully before launching another strike. This leaves you open to enemy blows, so it’s important to strategise how long you charge each attack.
For someone who's called Goldy, there isn't a spec of the stuff on you. You cheapo.
As you level up the usual attack and defence abilities increase, but Opoona will also learn special Force moves. The moves range from healing your health, damaging multiple enemies, and even boosting defence. Providing you have enough FP (Force Points), you can unleash a Force move at any time by pressing the Z button on the Nunchuck, and navigating through a bunch of messy menus. Unfortunately, the battle does not pause while you’re making your selections, which means you’ll leave yourself open. This discourages experimentation and feels very out of place. Additionally, you can equip coatings and ops to your bonbon to enhance your abilities. Some examples include the fire coat which causes extra damage by burning enemies, and the Solid Plus op that increases your defence. It’s fun to mix and match equipment, and also adds an extra layer of strategy to your arsenal.
As mentioned in the introduction, Opoona is a competent RPG but is held back by several minor flaws. The biggest problem is arguably entering a new area. Levels are stretched across dozens of rooms, and it’s very easy to get lost. Adding to the pain is when someone tells you to go somewhere you’ve never been before, and all you have is a cheesy map that has next to no details about where you are. When you loose a fight, the game usually revives Opoona and sends you back to your last save point. In a few of the larger levels though, you’re transported back to a specific room. It’s just annoying to have to travel back and forth, despite there being at least half a dozen save points between locations. One thing that’s shocking is the translation work. There are words missing from sentences, some people just don’t make any sense at all, and in one case there was a character that had a speech bubble with no text. To be fair it only happens now and then, but it’s disappointing considering it’s taken nearly a year for the game to arrive in PAL regions.
I wanted the toilet, not the training room. Stupid map.
On the visual front things are eye catching. The world of Opoona is always colourful and there’s never a dull moment - it’s like someone splashed rainbows everywhere. That said it does look a little dated compared to other cel-shaded games on the market, but after a while you get used to it and can enjoy the charming atmosphere. Sadly, character animations are limited. Most NPCs just nod their heads or wave their arms about, they rarely show any emotion which makes them look stiff and doll-like. Likewise, the music is there at a basic level. It’s suitably toned and gets the job done, but won’t be remembered in years to come.
While Opoona is a competent RPG that will appeal to casual gamers and children, it suffers from several minor flaws. There are some translation issues, menus during battle can be tedious to get through, and your map is next to useless. If you walk in having high expectations you’ll be disappointed, but otherwise there’s a lot that will keep you interested.
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