Hometown Story
Hometown Story (ホームタウンストーリー, Hōmutaun Sutōrī) is a 2013 life-simulation video game for the Nintendo 3DS directed by Yasuhiro Wada, produced by Toybox Inc. and distributed by Natsume for North America, Rising Star Games for Europe,[4] and Spike Chunsoft for Japan.
Hometown Story | |
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Developer(s) | Hyde, Inc. Toybox Inc. |
Publisher(s) | |
Director(s) | Yasuhiro Wada |
Producer(s) | Yasuhiro Wada |
Designer(s) | Satoshi Hirano Genki Kimura |
Artist(s) | Atsuko Nishida |
Writer(s) | Mayu Sakura |
Composer(s) | Nobuo Uematsu[2] Tsutomu Narita |
Platform(s) | Nintendo 3DS, iOS |
Release | 3DS
iOS
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Genre(s) | Simulation, role-playing |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Gameplay
The main character is in charge of running a shop inherited from their deceased grandmother. The player is capable of arranging and stocking the shelves of their shop to their preference and can eventually expand on the size of the shop. In a similar vein to the Harvest Moon series the player is able to interact and befriend various townspeople. The town that the player resides in will consist of ten people at first and eventually build its way to one hundred non-player characters that the player can meet depending on their actions over the course of the story.[5]
Development
The game went under the codename of "Project Happiness" and was described as being a game to spread happiness. Wada stated that the game would take place within the Harvest Moon universe, but will be an overall different experience.[6] The game was released for the Nintendo 3DS and iOS in 2013, but the iOS version does not include the entire content of the game, because Wada wanted it to be a more compact experience.[7][8][9] The game was released on October 22, 2013 in North America.[10] Rising Star Games published the game in Europe May 2014, as the creator Yasuhiro Wada confirmed during the Gamescom.[11] It was featured at E3 2013.[2]
Reception
Reception | ||||||
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IGN gave the game a 5.0 out of 10, praising the graphics and soundtrack, but noting that the unclear conditions to unlock cutscenes are frustrating, as well as the controls.[13] The Metacritic score is 47 out of 100.[12]
References
- ""PROJECT HAPPINESS" OFFICIALLY NAMED HOMETOWN STORY". Rising Star Games. 2013-03-12. Archived from the original on 2013-09-22. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
- "Natsume's Hometown Story Available For Play At E3" (PDF). Natsume. 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
- "Free Pokemon downloads for X and Y, Hometown Story's release date, and Video Games Live Returns". Everybody Plays. 2014-04-04. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
- Ishaan. "Harvest Moon Creator's Next Game Is Hometown Story". siliconera.com. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
- Skrebels, Joe. "Hometown Story preview". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
- Lopez, Jacob (2012-06-07). "Harvest Moon creator wants to spread happiness with his new game". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
- "'Project Happiness' Becomes 'Hometown Story,' Totally Coming This Year". toucharcade. 2013-03-13. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
- Cocke, Taylor (2013-03-12). "Hometown Story is Harvest Moon Creator's New Game". IGN. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
- "Harvest Moon creator's Hometown Story is coming to iOS but with IAPs and less content". pocketgamer.co.uk. 2013-09-16. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
- "Hometown Story by Natsume Inc".
- "Gamescom 2013: Hometown Story - Yasuhiro Wada Interview".
- "HomeTown Story for 3DS Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
- "Nothing to Write Home About". IGN. 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2013-12-13.
External links
- Official website (Japan)
- Official website (North America)
- Official website (Europe)