It seems like I’m the first one to complete Doshin, so I’m up for writing the review. Here’s the short version: If the game comes out in the US, buy it. If the game doesn’t come to the US, mod your Cube and buy it. It’s that simple really.

At first, the game seems fairly simple. You learn what the villagers want through icons above their heads. You may need to bring over a tree, move something out of the way, or change the height of the ground. If you meet the villagers’ demands, you’ll gain their love in the form of hearts. If you scare a villager by stepping too close or if you do something they don’t like, you’ll earn skulls. After getting a full circle of hearts or skulls, Doshin will grow slightly, allowing him to pick up larger objects, climb steep hills, and cover ground more quickly. Keep getting more and you’ll grow and grow and grow. I’ve gotten so tall that the trees were only knee-high and I kept on growing. Unfortunately, Doshin’s height only lasts until the end of the day. The next morning he’ll be back down to his original size.

The goal is to develop each village until it builds a monument. There are a total of 16 monuments. The first 15 correspond to a specific color - green, yellow, blue, and red - or a mixture of two, three, or four colors. The 16th monument is still somewhat of a mystery to me even though I’ve had it built. I’m not entirely sure how its color is determined, but it appears that there may be multiple variations on the final monument.

Things are slow and relaxing at first, but the game really starts to get crazy when you have six or more villages going. You want to focus on a couple at a time so you can get new monuments, but if you ignore others for too long you may come back to find that they hate you. It’s also important to manage your trees and use them while you can. As I got farther into the game, the trees on many of the distant islands had withered away, making the land more prone to earthquakes. When an earthquake hits, it affects the entire map and can destroy several monuments.

What makes Doshin great though is that it’s really determined by what you do and what your villagers demand at the time. Beyond the first day or two, experiences won’t be duplicated very easily. One of my favorite moments (even if it was quite frustrating) was when my villagers had me build a towering plateau from a tiny island. I called it Mt. Everest because the entire town was at the highest elevation you could possibly build, and unless I had grown significantly, it was far too steep for me to climb. It was a pain to take care of, but it really had a way of standing out. I’ve heard that TYP had to build a similar mountain, but experiences from other staff members tend to vary quite a bit.

This somewhat random style of gameplay really adds to the replay value, but in addition to that there are three entirely different maps that are unlocked once the game is completed. The first new map has really proven to be quite challenging so far since it consists of four minute islands, only two villagers, and a handful of trees. I haven’t spent much time with the other maps, but they have their own challenges and even a bit of humor in their designs.

Anyways, I can go on and on about this game so let’s get down to some of the details.

The controls are noticeably stiff. I have a feeling that they were trying a little too hard to get the clumsy-giant feel across. Everything’s fine if you need to cover a lot of ground, but if you want to slightly reposition a tree it’s difficult because it isn’t very easy to turn Doshin around. Controlling Jyashin’s fireballs is also nearly impossible. As far I can tell, they just fly at the nearest target whether you’re aiming at it or not. So if you want to tag a tornado blowing through town, you might find yourself smashing more houses than it would have on its own.

Another gripe I have with the control is that when you touch the border of a monument, Doshin will actually jump back. In the wrong situations this has proved disastrous. I’ve crushed towers and had entire villages start hating me simply because I brushed against their monument when trying to move a tree.

It’s truly a tough call when trying to judge the graphics. In some ways it can be stunning, but in other instances it seems fairly simple. The textures that make up the water and the ground feature some nice reflection and bump mapping techniques. It’s also significant that everything can be manipulated according to the player. The ground can be raised or lowered at hundreds of points, and its texture changes depending on the altitude and proximity of trees. The draw distance is breathtaking, allowing you to see villages that are miles away on the distant horizon. Unfortunately, other aspects aren’t as nice. The characters seem drastically simple in comparison. If you zoom in on the villagers you’ll find that they’re made up of a limited number of polygons and that their hips don’t even connect to their waists. In everything though, there is some charm. Each culture has its own types of buildings and farm animals to distinguish them. Doshin has a wacky set of animations, and although the villagers have simple models, they can go-go dance and hoola-hoop with the best of them.

The sound effects seem a little freaky, but part of that could be due to cultural differences. I’m not sure. There are quite a few odd high pitched squawks and squeals from the villagers along with some nice jungle sounds. One thing I do like is that each type of village has its own distinct song which really adds to the sense of having individual cultures.

Needless to say, I’m really glad I imported Doshin. It’s proven to be one of the most addicting games I’ve played in a while. The game does try to give you an incentive to stop by taking you back to the title screen at the end of each day, but it wasn’t long before it sucked me in anyways. It takes a little patience and hard work, but with some help from our import guide, you’ll be forgetting your responsibilities in no time.