One of the many gratifying experiences the 3DS eShop has to offer.

User Rating: 9 | Denpa Ningen no RPG 3DS
One of the greatest parts of the Nintendo eShop, other any other digital download service for that matter, is that every once in a while you will get a truly unique and gratifying experience at a very low cost to you. But there are also times where you can end up buying a game you will regret getting. So for this whimsical and strange looking game, The "Denpa" Men: They Came By Wave, which type of experience will you find? In my opinion, it is safe to say The Denpa Men is one of the must highlights of the Nintendo 3DS eShop.

Something you may be asking yourself at this point is "what are these Denpa Men?" Well, they are small little creatures that hang out around Wi-Fi spots, or radio waves as the game puts it. They come in all sorts of different colors, sizes, shapes, and have different skills. In order to catch them, your 3DS needs to be able to connect to the Internet and then, using the camera on the 3DS, you can go hunting. Different spots have different groups of Denpa Men, so if you can regularly hit up a few different Wi-Fi spots, you will be set since have a diverse group of Denpa Men is key. But if you can really get to a lot of Wi-Fi, you can unlock a PC eventually in the game which will let you read QR codes.

Probably the weakest part of the title is actually the story for the game, though do we really need a reason to go dungeon crawling? If you do, well meet Willis, he is a Denpa Men that has had his girlfriend, Crystal, taken away from him by the King of Evil. Willis needs help from you, and all of the Denpa Men you capture, to mount the perfect team and take him down. And after rescuing Crystal, there is still the matter of marriage that you'll need to take care of in the post game.

There is not a whole lot of new coming at us in this title in terms of game play. In a lot of ways, Genius Sonority blended traits of a lot of old school RPGs, though the ones that come to mind fist are Pokemon and Dragon Quest. Each Denpa Man has a different color, thanks to the spandex suit they all wear. Of course the colors are for more than just to look weird, it also tells you what types of attacks they are weak and resistant to. For example, red means they take less damage from fire attacks, but can be beat to a pulp by water attacks. Resistances can be changed based on clothing and items you equip to your team. I should also note that Denpa Men do not normally have a typed attack, so don't think that just because your guy is red, he will do fire damage if he or she physically attacks an enemy. There are also antennas that some of the Denpa Men will have. These act as a sort of "spell" that they can use, though they will only ever know one that will upgrade as you level up.

Dungeons are set up just like any other dungeon crawler, you enter each one and try and find the way to the next room, whether it be by stairs, hole in the ground, or door. Each room or floor is filled with narrow passage ways and slightly more open areas. There is also an onslaught of enemies that want to make your day hell before you even reach the boss and treasure chests that are filled with money or items. Dungeons are not randomized, so that way once you explore a floor, you will always know how it looks. The bottom screen serves as a map, so you can see what you have explored and you'll know where enemies and chests are.

There are quite a few dungeons in the game, a total of eleven including the ones you unlock in the post game. They are all fairly unique, though some rehash the same looking environments, mostly. For example, there are three forest dungeons, though one of them has an ice section to it. So it never really feels like it's the same thing over and over. At the end of the dungeon you, of course, get to fight a boss. They range from dead easy to being able to wreck your eight man team in a hit. It is recommended that you have a strategy for taking them down. Do not freight, in the much harder dungeons there are healing pools which restore your Denpa Men's HP and AP. There are also warp zones which will let you exit the dungeon and return to town. The next time you enter the dungeon you will have the option of starting from the warp zone you left from. The is great since you can only save while you are in town.

After running into an enemy, or them touching you, you will enter a battle. What you face in normally one to five enemies that are found in the part of the dungeon you are in. The actual fighting is speed based; the fastest character moves first. Some times if two or three contenders have the same speed stat the game will change who goes first. On the bottom screen you can choose what you want each of your Denpa Men to do by selecting them. Or if you are lazy, you can just use the auto attack feature. It is actually how surprising the auto attack is, since the Denpa Men will actually change what they normally do if something goes wrong. For example, you the enemy goes a lot of damage to one of your Denpa Men, one of your "healers" will actually heal him and not just attack. This is very helpful since you don't always know what the enemy will do, the your Denpa Men somehow do. It can also be your crutch if they decided to attack if the enemy is weak enough to die and you would of rather they had revived a down ally so they also gain much needed experience.

The overall artistic styling of the game is very charming and wacky, though you could of guessed that from just the name alone. The Denpa Men all look different and, at times, very funny. For example, there is one in my party that has a dark skin color, but also has a pink mustache. All of the dungeons look nice as well, even though some of them use the same type of setting some times. They also rehashed the enemies, and some bosses, in this game. Much like the Dragon Quest series, enemies have different "genus" and there are many different "species" within them, but they are really just recolored and stronger versions. There is a bit of edging at times during the game, regardless if you are in 3D or not, but over all it look good. The 3D also looks good and it makes the environments really pop out while you are in dungeons.

Music is another area where the game really excels. The sound track is overall pretty good and captures the essence of the game very well. There is a mix of unmemorable tracks, but there is a lot of great, catchy songs as well. Some of the best are the battle themes; normal, boss, and the final boss themes. It is good that these ones are really catchy, since you will be listening to them a lot while you are playing the game.

Overall, The "Denpa" Men: They Came By Wave is a great title. If you are into challenging yet fun role-playing games, this is a must have. Even if you are new to dungeon crawling Japaneses role-playing games, this can be a very worth title to try out. For only ten dollars, you will get an experience that lasts well over twenty hours, even more if you are trying to collect all of the items.