Weapon Shop de Omasse (Nintendo 3DS) Review

To call Weapon Shop de Omasse nothing more than a rhythm game framed in a silly story is untrue, though. It is just as much a shop simulator, much as Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is, pushing the player to track customer orders, forge the weapons best fit to those orders from a large pool of possible weapons, to polish up spare inventory, restock forging materials, and to manage the shop's finances. While the shop simulation is not as complex as Recettear - there is no management of displays to maximize customer attraction, for instance - it does put a time pressure on the player and turns the game into something more frantic.

Weapon Shop de Omasse is just as much a comedy adventure, inviting the player to follow along in some of the best written dialogue Cubed3 has seen in some time - AAA game or not. Characters are invariably comedic, clownish. There's a grandmother, an adventurer who defeated the Evil Lord 50 years ago, seeking her lost husband. There's a downtrodden Samurai forced to work below his paygrade. There's the gruff weapon shop owner, the player's teacher, who doles out sage advice, and many more.

All of these characters, save the jokingly-named generic "NPC" heroes, move through classical arcs, meeting challenges and growing their personalities. At times they even showcase surprisingly poignant moments of introspection. Moreover, the dialogue is almost unceasingly well written, entertaining and thought provoking. That's no small feat given Weapon Shop de Omasse lasts at least eight hours.

Nor does the rest of the game fail to carry the experience. Visually, Weapon Shop de Omasse features a cartoon art style with nicely-drawn model textures. The model details are impressive. For instance, trophies given to the shop by grateful heroes are high in polygonal detail. Characters sport a variety of facial textures, expressing different emotions - an impressive feat many higher budget games fail to implement. Most of the game's objects are highly detailed, really. Given how long the player will stare at various weapons and characters, that's a good thing.

As Weapon Shop de Omasse is a rhythm game, the soundtrack is probably worth mentioning, as well. While the tunes are not always the most mind-meltingly insane creations of some digital techno music magician, they are fit to the task. Fantasy style fare, the tunes are styled to each type of weapon being crafted. Daggers have a stabby, fast, energetic theme. Maces have a slower, more pounding theme. Katanas have a stately "Edo-esque" song.

Sadly, the weapon crafting songs never change throughout the game. Each tune will run longer as the player crafts more difficult weapons, however, the same seven will play again and again...and again. Thankfully, the weapon crafting songs are only one part of the overall soundtrack. As much as the game's design is a mishmash of genres and ideas, the soundtrack is more than just those pieces. It's also the humorous "live studio audience" clapping, laughing, booing soundtrack - sound effects such as when tapping on the metal ingot when crafting a weapon, and so on. These are almost invariably pleasing sounds.

In conclusion, it's odd that in a very good little rhythm game, the rhythm game part may be the least interesting. It's not that it's a bad design, but it's standard fare. A visual indicator moves over marks, showing when to tap the screen and the player does so. Weapon Shop de Omasse mixes up the formula a bit by requiring the player to move the ingot being shaped around the screen, and by requiring the player to tap different parts of the ingot. It's effective gameplay. It's just not as interesting a mashup as the rest of the product, and with a little more innovation could have made this something really special.