Boku no Natsuyasumi 3

Summer Holiday 20th Century

Being part of a series that has gone through 3 generations and 4 consoles (thus being part of every of Sony’s consoles roster) over a span of 10 years, Millenium Kitchen’s Boku no Natsuyasumi series has been a staple of Sony’s first party production, consistently (its only deviation being the family-centered Bokura no Kazoku) reimagining an adult’s memory of his holidays as a 9 year old child. Having gone through depictions in the unnamed countryside and seaside, this time we visit Hokkaido, a place more commonly associated with winter sports rather than summer holidays.
As such, we’re back in 1975 as the main character arrives by rail to his uncle’s farm (aptly named “Uncle Farm”). His name is Boku, meaning “I”, “me”, and it’s through him that we’ll go deep into the lovingly crafted sceneries, courtesy of KUSANAGI, and experience the Summer Holiday 20th Century, as per the series’ subtitle. This obsession with putting things into perspective is central in the series. We’re playing as an adult reminiscing about his holidays – “old” Boku’s voice is a presence throughout. The fact that the series debuted in 2000 marks an interesting rift between the sort of summer holidays the game emulates, with the summer holidays kids are getting in the XXIst century – like playing “summer holiday” videogames!
Apart from Boku there is a good amount of other characters in the game, starting with your relatives (uncle, aunt, grandpa, cousins) and the other inhabitants in the area, including two glass-artisans, a haiku-loving truck driver, an elderly couple, a priest and of course the other children. While you don’t have unlimited interaction with these characters, you do end up spending a lot of time with them over the game’s 30 day length, and get to take part in various activities and events with them. This obvious but realistic limit to the game makes the experience very true to life. At first I was struggling to see everything, all was new, I didn’t know what to do, what to touch… but by the time it was like the 23rd, I was rushing here and there, trying to make the most of me time, as I knew there wasn’t much more left! That a game can make you appreciate and treasure the time you spend with it is something that is truly fantastic and almost unheard of.

While the nature of the game is essentially free, your ultimate goal is to enjoy the best holidays ever. The days can just fly by if you walk around aimlessly, so a small amount of discipline is needed to make sure you visit every place and do everything you can before the day is over, lest you miss something. While it sounds like a chore, the game is anything but, with a very rewarding system that makes your time worthwhile.


The realistic backgrounds ensure the game looks as pretty as a picture

The day starts with breakfast. The family is huddled over the table containing the many delicacies. Right from the start the exhaustive attention to detail is apparent as meals aren’t generic bits of food, but vary from day to day (within reason) and give a definite flair and atmosphere to the game. During the day you can even decide what you want for dinner, should you go talk to your aunt as she’s preparing it in the kitchen, usually during the late afternoon.
With breakfast over, you’re free to roam around in and out of the farm. There are some daily chores that you can do if you want, like feeding a calf, checking on a sparrow’s nest or watering grandpa’s vegetable patch, but you’re more entitled to have fun by collecting bottlecaps and insects (some you can use in beetle-wrestling), fishing, swimming and of course exploring. This is after all the most enticing of the game’s aspects as Millenium Kitchen show they have mastered the pacing to a degree of excellence. Sooner or later you’ll be braving new paths, which grant you with much needed shortcuts, access to new species and people and of course the environments themselves which provide for awe-inspiring moments. That the game is so reliant on visuals grants it a certain reliability. After all, despite all dialog being voiced, the game relies mostly on image and sound to craft the holiday experience – to explore a new area and really take in the new sights and noises is the hidden treat in the enjoyment of this game. While the images themselves are static, characters, insects, leaves and water move and really make it come to life.
As said above, the game’s pacing is so spot on that there is never room for disappointment. While things start to look less glorious than when you’ve first saw them, you know that when you can finally open that cave, cross that bridge or climb that hill, you’re going to see something newer and even better.
As time doesn’t move continuously but rather when you move to a different screen, you’re really encouraged to get acquainted with every detail of KUSANAGI’s living paintings.
Another crucial aspect to its immersive qualities are the sounds. While the soundtrack is pretty competent in itself, the nature sounds confer a high degree of presence, as crickets and bird calls (unfortunately quite absent visually) are beautifully audible, along with the wind in the leaves, the water runnning in the river, or even hearing singing in the distance.
Despite not understanding but a few words of japanese I’ve never felt completely barred from the experience. After all, due to the simplicity of the character design, there’s a lot of visual information going on (pointing at things, etc), and quests or events aren’t really “do or die” (nothing in the game is), so many times just by being at the right place at the right time makes things happen. It is, after all, a very spontaneous experience.

Meals are an important part of the day, marking the beggining and end of the day.

Bottom line, Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 is a fantastic experience for fans of exploration games, and an incredible window into japanese society and habits. While infinitely more contained than other games like Yakuza 3 or Shenmue, it gives perhaps a purer insight, more akin to seinen manga than video games. I have found a certain similarity with my pet mangaka Jirô Taniguchi regarding themes and art style (the environments).
If you’re interested in trying it but are unsure to import the PS3 version, the PSP now has Boku no Natsuyasumi 1, 2 (both remakes of the PS1 and PS2 respectively) and 4 avaiable.