I picked up Earthbound on release day a few weeks back, thinking it would be like another amazing SNES RPG adventure that I’d become accustomed to. Now, I realize that this is a very quirky game, one based on Japan’s view of the United States at the time, so I went into it pretty open minded, not quite knowing what to expect of the story.

Couple of things first – the controls to this game are very bizarre. Luckily I picked up a tip from another player before I got started that the L button acts like an ‘Inspect’ button, as opposed to opening the menu and manually selecting Inspect. But why is this even a thing? Why not make A the select button? Why did they do this? I realize this is nitpicky but boy oh boy, do I get a little tweaky the 20th time I have to press several buttons to do anything.

Oh well, moving right on. I followed the story until it opens up and lets you wander through the town. I now have launched this game 8 times, spent over 2 hours in it, died about a dozen times, and yet I have absolutely no idea what to do next. I feel like I need to speak to the mayor about something, but every time I go to talk to him, the police get mad and escort me away, and the receptionist drops some snide “I told you so” remarks. I keep getting murdered if I go into the south end of town.

So far my experience of Earthbound has not been a good one, and I may have to shelve it for the time being. Monster Hunter 4 has been an epic and amazing 14 hour ride so far, which is by definitely the most I’ve played a single game over 7 days. The music is nice, I like the art style and the general attitude, but I need to clear my plate of something before I can really sink my teeth into this one.