Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale

Attack of the Friday Monsters is a perfect bite-sized chunk of story-based gaming, and will easily blow past any cynical defenses to take up a warm and fuzzy place in your heart.

There's a subtlety of theme and a sense of personality here that is matched by almost nothing else on 3DS. [Oct 2013, p.83]

Short and sweet, its ability to capture a sense of time of place should be cherished. [Nov 2013, p.73]

Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale isn’t a long game. You can finish the main story in around three hours, and all of the end game content in about four or five hours. Nevertheless, its charming story and exceptional presentation make it more than worth your time, especially if you’re fond of Japanese monster flicks from the 60s and 70s.

In the mind of a child this a fantastic game. The nostalgia factor is there and it gives us this warm and fuzzy feeling back to the old days. Besides that, it has a great style with fantastic music and it’s a great mini-game. Unfortunately, it’s only fun for short moments.

Relish the art and the experience it across several sittings; Sohta’s journey is brief, but very uplifting.

More an interactive novel than a real videogame. The gameplay is only about talking and, if you want, playing a collectible cards game with your friends. But but to criticize the game for its simple gameplay would be an error, since it's a lovely, memorable experience that captures the essence of childhood and old movies, without being boring or too nostalgic.

Attack of the Friday Monsters! is a charming story in a lovely setting. Gameplay is just there for the sake of it and the sooner you realize this the better you will like this little storytelling gem.

Attack of the Friday Monsters is more of an interactive story than a videogame. It's short on game mechanics, but the rest is very enjoyable: the tone, the passion and that strange feeling of nostalgic magic that Ayabe and his team could infuse in this delicate story.

Attack of the Friday Monsters: A Tokyo Tale is not nearly big enough to hold the amount of affection I harbor for it, which isn't the worst problem for a game to have.

A nice game, able to pamper the player and bring him back to his childhood.

Like controlling the destiny of your very own, highly entertaining anime, Attack of the Friday Monsters works like a charm.

A hugely effective interactive story that shows that video games don’t need big budgets or extreme violence to tell an emotional tale.

It's odd and slightly throwaway, much like Attack of the Friday Monsters itself, yet it also captures the inquisitive naivety of childhood, and of a world where young imaginations blossom to fill the long hours of hot summer afternoons.

Twitch gamers will need to look elsewhere for their kicks, but anyone who can enjoy a fantastically paced story of childhood will adore the exploits of Sohta and the gang.

Level-5’s latest is a truly unique offering on the 3DS — it’s mostly nonviolent, heavily rooted in Japanese culture and nostalgia and has terrific production values. It’s not recommended for adrenaline junkies, and the Friday Monsters aren’t exactly the Kaiju from Pacific Rim, but for anyone looking to spend a few hours watching an excellent story unfold, Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale won’t disappoint.

In less than four hours, this game by Level-5 completes its magic, drawing a line that starts from the wonder of childhood, goes through the disillusionment of adults and culminates with the inevitable impacts against reality. Japanese developers still know how to propose these themes in an alternative and, above all, enjoyable way.

A game that might look like any other RPG, but it's not. There's a different story told in a different way, but biggest problem is that those who don't speak English won't be able to enjoy it.

It might be less interactive, more linear and less challenging compared to other games, but few - very few - offer a vision so nostalgic and penetrating of the seventies suburbs of Tokyo and Kaiju monsters that threatened skyscrapers, all from a mysterious perspective and a restless mind of a ten year old infant.

It feels a bit petulant to complain about the plot, though.It's clear that the real focus of Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale is to immerse players in a bygone era of innocence which I'm sure reflects the personal experiences of the development team, and I can certainly appreciate it for that.

A Toyko Tale is brief and entirely linear – in the main, you’re simply walking between numbered waypoints, though you can unlock certain dialogues by losing your servant status – but Ayabe transports you so utterly to an unfamiliar time and place that it matters little. By the outlandish and oddly touching final act showdown, you’ll be a rapt spectator, cheering on the heroes alongside Sohta and his newfound friends.

It’s a relaxing and charming little adventure priced rather out of its comfort zone, but it is not without value.

Attack of the Friday Monsters is an option to relax and appreciate an innocent, fanciful childhood of a Japanese kid.

When it comes down to flat-out value for money? The 3DS store has plenty of other games to hold your attention. [Issue#139, p.120]