Yo-Kai Watch is a brand new IP, announced in 2011 by Level-5, the Japanese studio that was until then on the development of the adventures of Professor Layton. It takes place in a contemporary universe, where the young hero, Nathan Adams, will discover the existence of spiritual creatures inspired by Japanese floklore, the yokai, during a walk in the forest. By putting a coin in a mysterious vending machine at the foot of an ancient tree, he releases his first yokai, a ghost named Whisper. Yokai are invisible to ordinary mortals, but they are everywhere, in town, in the countryside, in the forest. Sometimes aggressive, sometimes pranksters, they influence the morale of humans, even their actions. Whisper therefore offers our hero to discover this parallel universe and solve the problems caused by his fellow creatures. To do this, he offers him a Yo-Kai watch, which will serve as a detector to locate these strange creatures. The goal is to befriend as many spirits as possible and then call upon them in battle against other yokai if necessary.
POKÉMON LIGHT
More than 200 creatures to meet and recruit, elemental affinities, evolutions: you will have understood, we are dealing with 200% Pokémon-like. Pokémon light even. Indeed, if Yo-Kai clearly draws certain ideas from the Game Freaks series, the game seems intended for an audience that is still a little younger and inexperienced. Here, no great initiatory journey. With the exception of the many side quests (many of which are to be placed in the barely camouflaged Fedex category), the progression could not be more linear, both chronologically and geographically. The adventure takes place in a single city (quite large, it should be noted), whose neighborhoods are unlocked as the chapters of a scenario adapted to small playgrounds. It's pipou, full of good feelings but you can quickly get bored, even when you only have a few candles on the counter. Very dirigiste, the game of Level-5 only leaves room for surface exploration, in particular to find new yokai. All you need to do is keep an eye on the Yo-Kai Watch's detection gauge. If it panics, it is then a question of inspecting the surroundings using a magnifying glass to handle on the touch screen to reveal the creature. Once defeated, she can offer you her friendship. But it is far from automatic. Throwing adequate food during the fight can help to be appreciated, but since it is impossible to know in advance what type of food this or that yokai prefers, we remain in the unpredictable, the vagueness... Problem when you need to find a particular yokai.
AUTOMATIC PILOT
But as we said, to recruit a yokai, you have to beat him first, that's the rule. Here again, Level-5's desire for simplicity poses a problem. Your team consists of six yokai, only three of which fight at the same time, while the other three remain in reserve. A wheel on the touch screen allows you to change the composition of the attacking trio at any time. An important tactical parameter since, for example, you will benefit from bonuses if you line up yokai of the same type. In the same way, a healer must be on the ground to regenerate the HP of his companions. Only here: we do not direct the fights strictly speaking. We can barely orient them. Your companions attack, defend, bewitch their enemies or rest autonomously and automatically. The role of the player is therefore drastically reduced. It is limited to four relatively thankless tasks: the use of objects (restricted by a slight cooldown), the targeting of the zone or the opponent to attack in priority, and finally Purification (to defeat a yokai from a negative status ailment) and the triggering of Soulms (the special attack of each spirit). The last two involve mini-games on the touch screen that are perfectly repetitive and tedious in the long run.
We are bored during the classic fights and we have to wait for the bosses at the end of the chapter to finally meet the challenge.
So yes, we understand the need not to overload a gameplay designed to be simple and finally, the fights offer at times an appreciable tactical dimension. We also understand the context, full of good intentions. You don't capture Yokai, you befriend them. We don't give them orders, we let them fight alone. It's good, it does not lend itself to controversy, but the result is that we are bored during the classic fights and we have to wait for the bosses at the end of the chapter to finally meet the challenge . A fracture which also gives rise to an unbalanced difficulty, which requires completing a lot of secondary missions to put your little ones protected at the level. There's nothing more frustrating than getting busted without even having a bit of a hand on the fight. Luckily, Yo-Kai Watch partially compensates for its gameplay shortcomings with impeccable technique, fluid, colorful 3D, which manages to avoid the recurring obstacle of aliasing. We would have appreciated the staging efforts to enjoy it more!
