Here's a link to The Infinite Cat Project: The Infinite Cat Project
7.4 excellent
On my second visit to Kyoto, Japan, I was walking along the Philosopher's Path that connects Ginkakuji with Nanzenji and some other temples. Accompanying me were my mom and a postal employee. It was May and a perfect time to visit Kyoto. Lots of junior high school students were about, nervously approaching foreigners to chat in English as part of their school assignment.
Suddenly two young children appeared on the path. They were walking their dog, an enormous Weimaraner. "Hello, Wan-chan," I said to the dog. Wan is the sound that dogs in Japan make. Just like dogs in America say bow wow or woof. Chan is just a name suffix used for young girls or little kids you know well. The children immediately corrected me. "His name is Pochi." Pochi barked and four cats scattered out of the bushes across the path. (There's a house on that path where lots of cats gather. If you've been there you know which one I'm talking about.) The cats excited Pochi, who reared up, and I ran.
Nothing quite makes you realize how dull your daily grind is like returning from a vacation. Hana, a young Japanese woman, is no sooner back from the beach than she quits her department store sales job to focus on her dream: becoming a fashion designer. Zen Fashion, from Boomzap, chronicles her travels in Asia as she learns about the history of Asian fashion. And what better place to start than her hometown, Kyoto? (If you said Paris or New York, you're wrong. The answer is Kyoto.)
Gameplay is typical for a chain-matching puzzle game. The gameboard consists of a grid of flowers (very fitting since hana actually means flower in Japanese). By clicking and dragging from flower to flower, you create chains. If the chain you create is made up of three or more flowers, they and the gold tiles behind them will disappear from the board. Naturally, only flowers of the same type can make up a chain. Create a chain of five flowers or longer, and you'll leave a zen token on the board. These tokens act as wildcards and can be used as part of any chain. Collect them and you'll also collect their zen magic!
A level is completed if you can remove all the gold tiles before the green goo runs out of the strange goo hourglass on the left side of the screen. (You can even compare your times with other players if you're connected to the internet.) Every time you remove a tile, you receive what looks like a 5円 coin. Collect enough of them, and you'll be able to buy new fashions for Hana to wear!
Hana's outfit influences her zen magic, which must be part of that magic ability that all cute and plucky Japanese girls possess. This system is the most unique aspect of Zen Fashion. You can change her hair, blouse, or skirt. Depending on how you dress her up, her zen magic powerups will be stronger, weaker, or maybe even nonexistent. There are six powerups in all: Eye for Fashion, Fashion Bomb, Tile Grab, Bloom Blast, Timely Fashion, and Electric Fashion. I found the two most useful spells to be Tile Grab, which lets you automatically grab one or more flowers without having to contain them in a chain, and Boom Blast, which changes a large group of flowers to one single type for easy matching. However I did find myself using Timely Fashion now and then to allow me enough time to complete a level.
As usual in these kinds of matching games, the game gets much harder when some pieces are in corners or nooks with only one or two neighbors to match with. Hint: since zen tokens can be used as wildcards and always replace the last flower in a chain, make sure you end your chains next to the flower you're trying to reach. Break blocker tiles quickly so you'll gain more flower space and therefor more chances to power up your zen magic. Magic is the only way Hana can get to some of those tricky flowers! You can always slip into the fashion studio and change her outfit - even in the middle of a level - if you need to.
The only problem I noticed is that sometimes the game couldn't keep up with my mouse movements. I guess it was trying to calculate if the flower I dragged across was matchable or not and by that time I had already moved on to the next one.
The graphics in Zen Fashion aren't anything that will make you write a gushing letter to your local paper, but they work well and the flowers are colorful enough. There are twelve Asian cities to visit, each with their own fashions and flowers. The various items of clothing and hair styles that Hana accumulates are very well-drawn indeed, so good job Boomzap... once again you came through when I needed you most. However this game isn't as fashion-charged as big hits like Jojo's Fashion Show. The music is sufficiently Asian (lots of koto) but listening repeatedly to the sound that plays every time you charge your zen magic gets old quickly.
Still, I'd rather listen to that sound effect again and again than one of a car slamming on its brakes.
Totally agree - tis game rocks.
I’m in love with Hana.. lol
This is a lotta fun…
It’s absolutely beautiful. Definitely worth a try.