dean

Puchi Puchi Virus - Review
"Puchi Puchi Virus" is possibly the best name for a videogame this side of Polyphony deciding to subtitle their seminal driving series with “The Real Driving Simulator”. Aside from the wonderful title, the game also features dozens of darling characters with equally darling names. "Pigsqueak" and I were really enjoying our time yesterday evening, curing all manner of ills from his extremely sick and drained body. The premise, as with so many DS puzzle games, is to link shapes (into triangles) via the magical touch-pad that enthuses each and every seven-year-old in the modern world. I won't bother to explain the premise behind the gameplay because that would certainly be a waste of your time, especially when it can be summed up in a single line.

If you like puzzle games, you’ll surely enjoy this puzzle game.

What’s more exciting for this player is that the whole game is bat-shit crazy. Giant chickens assisting "Dr. Kevin" in his attempt to cure the world of a vile and afflicting virus that turns everyday people into the cutest animals (seriously, they wear clothes and everything) is the name of the game here. While this might sound terribly Japanese (and the Otaku among you might well be excited right now), Nippon Ichi have decided to fully translate the title into wonderful, Western Internet speak.

Having the in-game characters inform me that they were “full of awesome” made me a little frightened at first. It’s as if NIS had visited the Player’s forum, and sampled our little in-jokes; alas, I’m told the world’s forums are the very same.
The translation makes perfect sense, however. ‘Ichi titles do very well with a certain audience, and while I’m sure they’d like to capture a more mass market consumer (which Puchi Puchi Virus is perfectly capable of doing) it seems they’re happy to give their current fanbase what they want.

Self referencing FTW.

If you’re wondering whether you might enjoy this game, let me tell you a quick story:

Last night, in bed, I’m giving the game a little play. Mrs. Dean gets in, watches me play for a while, and asks for a go. After five minutes of making triangles, she screams, “This game makes no fucking sense! How do triangles solve anything!?!” Forty Five minutes pass before she decides Pigsqueak has had enough for one night, and vows to save him another day!