As a child of the 1980s who read too many newspapers, the threat of global thermonuclear war was one that caught the imagination, and many of my dreams featured futile wanders of post-apocalyptic wastelands. These ruins were never as beautiful as those to be found in Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, but then my imagination has never had the processing power of the Nintendo Wii.
The game follows the adventures of Seto, a young boy who has just buried the old man he lived with – the only other human he'd ever known. He had never even told Seto his name, never mind left him something useful like a crossbow or a sandwich maker. You are left with instructions to head east, where you might find other survivors of whatever calamity has wiped out most of humanity.
After a brief meeting with a mysterious ballad-singing white haired girl, you set off to explore the ruins, aided by your trusty flashlight, which you use to light up the foreboding shadows via the Wiimote as the nunchuck takes care of your character's movement. Accompanied by a bossy robot backpack and, later, a ghost, you travel through the dark and broken scenery, fighting demon spirits and mutant dogs, picking up items that tell the tales of their long-dead owners, trying to find the girl – or anyone – so you may never be lonely again.
As the name and premise suggest, Fragile Dreams might be the most emo video game ever made. But it's a beautifully realised world, and the nicely rendered imaginings of a ruined Japanese city, an atmospheric soundtrack and the mysterious and occasionally surreal story do give the game something of an emotional punch. It also contains some genuinely spooky moments, such as being attacked by ghost arms while plodding through an abandoned subway train, or being kicked to the ground by the giggling lower torsos of headless schoolgirl ghosts.
However, the game does suffer from some serious flaws. The combat element to the game is tedious and poorly designed, with no variety from bashing away at the A button and a lack of target lock, which means you constantly have to wheel around to tackle your foe. In addition, the levels are often poorly set out, featuring unnecessarily long passageways and much doubling back. Occasionally the gameplay passes from irritating to infuriating, such as when you're forced to play hide and seek with the ghostly spirit of a young girl in order to obtain a key, and the inexactitude of the control system turns a simple task into a test of patience.
These niggles detract from what it otherwise a nice slice of RPG lite, with a compelling narrative and dreamlike surrounds. Here's hoping a similarly immersive sequel without these minor problems is released before the real apocalypse.
