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Nostalgia

(2009, Video Games - Role Playing Games, Rated E10+, Play it on: Nintendo DS)

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 9, age appropriate for kids over 10; suggested age 10.

  • Is it any good?

    4.0

  • Common Sense says

    Captivating fortune-seeking adventure with steampunk theme.

In this game kids can:   battle others, be creative, become a hero, kill non-humans (without blood), play in a virtual world, solve a mystery, solve puzzles, strategize
updated 10.25.09

Why We Rated This on for Ages 10 and Up

The good stuff

  • Ease of play:

    There's much strategy to properly using your weapons, food, and magic. While there is a helpful tutorial, it doesn't appear until about a half hour into the actual gameplay. It’s important to save frequently and purchase health potions to keep yourself healthy during battle.

  • Educational value:

    You learn how to manage your life by using the items you've found to battle and stay alive. You also learn a small bit about the culture and history of each place you visit.

  • Messages:

    The message here is that you, as an adventurer, can do anything - with a little help from your friends. Eddie is a rich kid who lives in a mansion. Pad is from the poor side of town and at first doesn't want any help from Eddie. But the two become fast friends in order to embark on adventures together.

  • Role models:

    While there are many evil enemies present, most people you meet and talk with want to help you in some way, whether it's by telling you about some possible doom in the future or by indicating you're good enough to continue through the most difficult circumstances.
 

What to watch out for

  • Violence:

    There is much turn-based fighting of everything from small rodents to giant ghosts. Eddie's partner, Pad, shoots enemies with a gun while Eddie uses a blade. This is mild vantasy violence in which no blood is shed. Rather, enemies expire in a colorful, bloodless flourish. However, some of the enemies eyes roll back in their heads when they die. When your character dies, it's more like simply fainting.

  • Sex:

    Not an issue.

  • Language:

    Not an issue.

  • Consumerism:

    Not an issue.

  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Not an issue.
 

What Parents Need to Know

This review of Nostalgia was written by Harold Goldberg

Parents need to know that Nostalgia is a beautiflly drawn role-playing game that has a steampunk theme. You will adventure in a fantasy world with wizards and other fortune seekers, and fly in fantastical machines.  If you run out of health in the game, the words ‘You Died’ come on the screen. But dying is more like fainting, and the game returns you to your previous save point. To avoid frustration, it’s important to save frequently and purchase health potions to keep yourself healthy during battle. Overall, the violence is very mild and there is no blood shed in the turn-based battles.

Families Can Talk About

Talk to your kids about the media in their life. We have more tools and tips that can help

  • Families can talk about the various places you fly to around the world. Which would you like to visit in real life? The inside of a pyramid in Cairo? The Royal Museum in London?

  • Does you enjoy the gameplay in the airships best? Or do you like the play that is underground the best?
  • Would you like to be an adventurer in the 19th Century? Why or why not?
Did this review help you decide?
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More on Nostalgia

What’s the Story?

It’s like Indiana Jones meets steampunk. In NOSTALGIA, you’re Eddie Brown, a green adventurer who embarks upon on a melodramatic search for his famous but missing father. In this wide-ranging, 19th century quest which spans nine cities across the globe, you pilot an airship high above and crawl through dungeons deep below, all the time battling creatures large and small. With your partner, Pad, you share the duties of defeating everything from rats to demons, all of which are more cute than menacing. Close

Is It Any Good?

You begin the game in the sewers of London by vanquishing the bane of seasoned RPG players everywhere -- not-so-powerful rats. More interesting is moving along in your airship, the Maverick, via the D-pad and attacking, turn-based style, various flying monsters. Oddly, a tutorial doesn’t present itself until about 30 minutes into the game when you are flying to Cairo. So, uninitiated RPG players may be daunted when sent beneath the streets of London if they haven’t read the manual.

Yet the game does have much to commend it. The graphics are very detailed and presented in 3-D. The presentation of the steampunk SciFi essence can be enthralling – especially when you arm yourself with odd gadgets that you’ll find. The violence is mild with no blood ever shown or moaning ever heard. While the action-filled story is really nothing original for enthusiast gamers, exploring the world of Nostalgia will let the imaginations of young gamers run wild.

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Publisher’s Details

Released on 10/29/2009, price $34.99, not online enabled
ESRB rating: E10+ (for Mild Fantasy Violence)

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