Candy, Please! (Nintendo 3DS) Review

Candy, Please! doesn't feel like a sequel so much as it feels like the final chapter. Not that it's any more or less definite than its predecessor, but in that it feels like the lessons learned in the earlier chapters have culminated into a fine understanding of the goal the developers originally had. While it makes up for some earlier grievances, it manages to add enough of its own to feel on par with the original.

For one thing, the game is quite a bit longer. This is because the player will spend most of it attempting to make costumes out of various things found around the house. They will get to venture out with the neighbourhood kids, but most of the time, they are combining items. While combining has been with the game since Quiet, Please!, it manages to feel much more irritating here.

All the costume work is performed at your wardrobe. You can throw whatever you want in there, and try it out. This is clearly to promote experimenting with different combinations of items. Ultimately, it makes the whole process feel rather arbitrary. Once the player grasps what the little girl wants to be for Halloween, it's easy enough. Figuring it out, though, manages to not feel too hard or too easy, but the sense that all this time was wasted does creep in shortly after discovering it.

What the game does manage to do is make the whole universe seem bigger. Again, you can explore the neighbourhood, but there's so much that's been added to the house, it feels much more like a home than it originally did. It still feels bite sized, but there's more to do this time around, and the story overall feels more complete. Candy, Please! manages to be almost exactly the same game as Quiet, Please!, but everything feels more cohesive. In short, if you want to experience the Please! games, this is the best way to do it.