Snowpack Park

Snowpack Park
File:Snowpack park box art.jpg
Developer(s)	Skip Ltd., Nintendo
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platforms	Wii (WiiWare)
Release date(s)
Genre(s)	Life simulation
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Snowpack Park, known in Japan as Penguin Seikatsu (ペンギン生活, lit. "Penguin Life"), is a life simulation game developed by skip Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii's WiiWare service. It was released in North America on November 22, 2010 and on December 21, 2010 in Japan.

Story

You’ve arrived at the Snowpack Park hoping to hang out with some of the local penguins and learn how to take care of them. However, a recent storm has just sent the residents of the park fleeing to various islands throughout the area, and there are only a few penguins to be found. You're set out to gather back all the penguins at the various islands, and bring them back to the Snowpack Park. You are accompanied by Sam the penguin, who teaches you everything you need to know about caring for the penguins.

Gameplay

Snowpack Park is a slowpaced life simulation game. You take control over either a Mii character or one of the characters already prepared. The game revolves around gathering penguins and interacting with them by feeding, petting and playing different minigames with them. You brave various terrain and unexpected obstacles as you travel from island to island, finding penguins and bringing them back safely to the park. But getting them back is just the beginning. The penguins have different moods, which will go up and down depending on how much interaction they have with you, and if a penguin's mood gets too bad, it will leave the park. To prevent that from happening, you must learn how to feed, pet, and play games with the penguins in order to keep them happy.

At the end of the day, you will receive friend points depending on your friendship with the penguins. These points can be used to buy balloons, that help you travel to new islands where you can gather more penguins. You can also find new items and items, accessories and head wear you can equip your penguins with. You can also fish at special locations, where you can catch e.g. tuna, blowfish and even more items. There are various minigames you can play around the park, such as Free-Throw Follies, Blowfish Bowling, and Chuck-a-Chowfish. There are also several minigames you can unlock by tracking down keys to igloos located throughout the park. The penguins play an important role in the minigames. An example of this is the basketball minigame, where you throw penguins instead of basketballs.

Reception

Snowpack Park received mixed reviews after its launch. Reviewers criticised the game for being too aimless and shallow, but praised it for having a calm and relaxing mood. NintendoLife.com rewarded the game 6/10 and noted that the game had some good qualities, but was hard to recommend. They also said that it was slow and aimless. TheBitBlock.com was more positive in their and rewarded the game 8/10. They claimed it to be "one of the best experiences they've had on WiiWare".

External links

• Official webpage
• Official webpage (Japanese)