Just when you thought your summer break was safe, Shin Nohara is set loose again. In a few brief sessions, I have tabulated a preview for the next Shin chan game.
The last summer break game, The Endless Seven-Day Journey, was a middling effort that didn’t live up to its potential, but after some time with Shiro and the Coal Town, I have renewed hope that Shin’s next vacation will be more exciting.
The changes are subtle at first. The tank controls are no longer mapped to the directional buttons. There are no options for tank controls at all, unfortunately, but the trade-off is the directional buttons are mapped to quick-menus for easy reference.
While the movement is the standard analog control method, Shin’s actions remain contextual. Don’t go in expecting Natsu-Mon! levels of freedom.
Just like in Millenium Kitchen’s summer vacation sims, Shin gets a bug net and is free to catch insects crawling all over the Akita prefecture. Most importantly, he also gets a fishing rod and is free to catch various kinds of local fish in the rivers.
At first, this may seem like more of the same, but eagle-eyed players will note that Shin no longer has a stamina bar. Thankfully, Shin has gotten over his blood sugar problems and won’t pass out after passing a few screens without eating.
The time of day system returns and this time Shin doesn’t have to worry about making the most out of his summer break because there is no time pressure as the days roll by. This is because Shiro and the Coal Town is structured more like a traditional adventure game, focusing more on completing requests for NPCs.
The story takes less time to get going like in the previous Shin chan game. It does not take long until Shin’s dog, Shiro, scampers off and leads the boy to a mysterious mining town. Coal Town and Akita have separate rules and even have different art styles.
In Akita, Shin can do all the traditional vacation activities with scenic illustrated background art. In Coal Town, Shin will scrounge parts for the sexy lady inventor, deliver food items for the local chef, and build and race a rocket trolly. Going to both towns is how Shin will be able to fulfill requests so the story can continue.
The art style in Coal Town is unique and implies that Shin is not in a normal place. Nothing is straight and everything is sloped and twisted. It looks whimsical, warmer, and more stylized than anything you would encounter in Akita, which has a cooler color pallet.
The most effective way to earn materials is by winning trolly races. Surprisingly, the racing is more fleshed out than expected and there is a bigger emphasis on it than anything else in the game. Usually these Boku no Natsuyasumi games are laidback, but these races are wild and intense.
Winning the races is going to be a crucial pillar to progress since most of Shiro and the Coal Town revolves around getting items for characters and keeping up with the competition. This means upgrading the trolly and equipping it with gear, making this Shin game have semi-RPG-like qualities.
Compared to its predecessor, Shiro and the Coal Town seems like it is going to be a deeper game with more substance to the item collecting. It feels like there are goals to work toward and there will be less aimless moments where you don’t know where to go and what to do.
Very early on, Shiro and the Coal Town shows a lot of promise and is poised to be better than The Endless Seven-Day Journey. The style and tone are more consistent, there is a more defined direction, and the activities are more fleshed out.
The trolly races stand out from anything in past Millenium Kitchen games with its frantic and break-neck energy. It will be interesting to see how everything comes together in the end and find out the secrets of Coal Town.
