It's Spring Again (PC) Review

By Athanasios 22.08.2016

Review for It

Sometimes You is a game publisher that surely has the guts to offer truly alternative content, but being unique is never a promise of quality. Its target group, however, tends to excuse its titles on the basis of "if it's artsy, original, and indie, it's great! Pretty much the same happened with It's Spring Again: it's a game targeted at the youngest of players; therefore, it's fantastic and should not be judged harshly. Cubed3 begs to differ.

Instead of rays, the sun of this strange tale has multiple hands, the clouds have arms and feet, the animals look like weird mutations whose appearance screams "KILL MEEEEEE!" and the earth's big eyes are fixed on her object of admiration or killer instincts. In other words, everything looks a tad… uncomfortable to the adult eye. However, this was never meant to be observed by the mature members of the gaming industry, but those who have just started not wearing diapers.

Long story short: It's Spring Again is an educational piece of software, meant to teach three-to-five-year-old children about the four seasons. Here's an example of the first minute of the game: the narrator asks where the sun is, making the kiddo holding the mouse click on the clouds that fill the screen to make them move aside. The next scene shows a few trees, as well the earth, being asleep, and the narrator mentions that the sun can wake them. The player clicks on the sun, and boom, their eyes are now open… and so on.

Screenshot for It's Spring Again on PC

Jokes about the weird faces aside, everything looks quite good, with bright colours decorating the fairytale-like big and simple sprites, and the few sound effects fit like a glove to what's happening on screen. The good thing is that there are a few options available that can make the whole experience better for the specific age of a child. A three-year-old, for instance, can simply turn on 'Autoplay' and just sit back and enjoy the view, while the five-year-old can even turn off the narration. Finally, there are - currently - both English and Russian languages available.

Is everything fine and dandy? Not really. Being a lesson about the seasons, this goes on an endless loop, and while this may be ok for a very young child, a five-year old is actually ready to pick up an NES and try their luck with Super Mario Bros. Should Cubed3 cut some slack to It's Spring Again because it's "just for the youngest of kids?" No, for the simple reason that the competition, which includes names like the Dora the Explorer animated series, is quite fierce, and can keep a child glued to the couch for more than 10 minutes.

Screenshot for It's Spring Again on PC

Cubed3 Rating

5/10
Rated 5 out of 10

Average

This educational video game is certainly far better than most Sometimes You titles, but it's also an average one. Note, however, that it's not average compared to "the real deal," but to similar material, because there are games, novels, toys, and TV shows that are far better company to a three or five-year-old… It's not like they have a long attention span, after all.

Developer

Asya Yurina

Publisher

Sometimes You

Genre

Educational

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  5/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

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