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Kuukiyomi Consider It Switch Review
Stop thinking about yourself for once and selflessly read my Kuukiyomi Consider It Switch Review. See what I did there?
It’s not that I purposely choose absurd titles for the Nintendo eShop, but those quirky Japanese titles tend to appeal to me a bit as I get the humour. So when I saw Kuukiyomi Consider It, from G-Mode (pssst! it’s in Japanese), I bought it and played it the moment it finished downloading. I’ve since played it quite a few more times, so it’s good, right?
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Cultural identity is still very much alive (don’t worry, this isn’t a university essay) and one culture that consistently maintains the image associated with it across the world is Japan. I’m not talking stereotypes like how everyone gives the peace sign when having their picture taken (it’s true), but certain traits like politeness and consideration. In my personal experience, the Japanese are indeed very polite as a nation. Yes, there are rude people – they’re everywhere, but when society relies on group actions, there’s a bit of continuity involved.
I said this wasn’t an essay, and it’s not going to be, but one little bit I wanted to mention is a phrase people use called kuuki yomenai. I’d love to show off and show you that in Japanese, but there’s no point as it’s literally me showing off on a gaming site. The nuance of this phrase means not being able to ‘read the air’, or being able to pick up on the atmosphere of the room (or wherever you are). I suppose in the West it would be someone who couldn’t read between the lines.
Let The Kuukiyomi Consider It Switch Review Begin!
Anyway, pigeonholing a whole nation into an explanation, most people know how to behave in social situations; etiquette if you will. In Kuukiyomi Consider It, you’re given scenarios without any form of explanation on what is the right approach, or how to succeed – you just have to consider the setting and act accordingly. Having lived in Japan, a lot of it seemed natural to me, but you don’t need to know anything about Japan as the majority is common sense like moving over on a train to allow someone to sit, or not focusing any attention on someone who has committed a faux pas or whose wig has fallen off mid-bow (as in Kuukiyomi Consider It).
Some things aren’t necessarily common sense and are very Japanese as I found out on a two-player when my daughter’s friend stood in the way of people getting off of a train and getting repeatedly hit. To me, it was common sense, but in Japan, it’s natural to wait for everyone to get off before you get on. I do this on the trains in England as do others, but I still see people barging on so it’s not exclusively Japanese, but I’m a little biased.
This isn’t an educational piece other than highlighting cultural differences. Kuukiyomi Consider It is really funny. It’s like a party game of sorts, much like Warioware Smooth Moves but with less energy, but has fatuous humour like Toridama Brave Challenge. To put this into perspective, here are some examples of the games that are on a bizarre but amusing side.
There’s An Awkward Silence In The Room
In YOLO, everyone is black and white, apart from your character who is red. The group are in a stance while you awkwardly stand. Simply hit down on the controls and you pose with them, the term ‘YOLO’ shows and a photo is taken. Another has Santa enter the room with a child in bed. As a two-player, the child needs to lay down but as the other person didn’t do anything, I walked off-screen for the game to fade out.
There will be a positive chime is you were considerate and a comical sound if you get it wrong. After so many attempts you’ll be appraised as to how considerate you are. It’s a bit hit and miss, but the fun is in interpreting the situation and how to react to it, so the actual score is irrelevant in my eyes, it’s more about the fun in how to react.
Even if you know how to react in Kuukiyomi Consider It, sometimes you’ll have no idea how to respond as there are no HUDs or tutorials. On occasion you’ll need to press a button, other times it will be navigating around an object such as a dog egg or perhaps you need to press up at the right time to perform a Mexican wave.
Consider Who You’ll Be Playing With
Kuukiyomi Consider It, of course, isn’t for everyone. It’s a silly game and the humour won’t appeal to the broadest audience, but for the price, I felt it was worth it and it does have universal appeal in terms of controls as everybody will be on the same playing fields – not having a clue. Whether their experience is as positive is debatable as I know for a fact a handful of people I know would dismiss it as pointless, where my wife was giggling away along with the kids and their friends.
You can play in single-player mode or with a friend and I honestly don’t think that I’ve experienced every single scenario yet as new ones keep cropping up. On my first attempt I played through a consecutive 50 levels and each was in quick succession of one another. As there isn’t a HUD or visual references, you would expect you have to play until you finish the round, but simply press either – or + and you can exit out. The games are so short though that you’ll be finished quite quickly.
Again, it’s a party game so don’t expect to play this repeatedly, but it is one to pick out for when friends are over. You can play on your own but I think once you’re familiar with the ‘puzzles’, it doesn’t have the same charm when playing with a friend. Even when you play the same scenarios with a friend, it’s still easy to cock it up as you have to work together. In my experience either the other player didn’t know what to do or one of us (mostly me) would do something stupid and sabotage the situation for a quick laugh.
