Shin-chan: Me and the Professor On Summer Vacation - The Endless Seven-Day Journey (Nintendo Switch) Review

Ah summer holidays… sun, sea, nature… Join Crayon Shin-chan as he embarks on a holiday in southern Japan! We join the family as they begin their journey travelling across the country presented in a montage of japanese imagery. They arrive in the station to some not so subtle sponsor placement where they encounter an unusual professor. He "gives" the family a camera to test. This camera prints images as drawings so the family agrees to take it after a surprisingly large amount of convincing. As is often the case with Crayon Shin-chan, they leave the station to find that the road is blocked due to the discovery of a dinosaur fossil, one that was found to be from a time where humans already existed. This bizarre find sparks the game's focus on mysteries. Once they find their way to the holiday house and introduce the hosts, the game begins in earnest.

Gameplay is simple with even the camera being fixed, reducing control complexity. The game takes place over 7 days, as per the title, and focuses on completing a list of daily tasks (or simply enjoying the seven days and not partaking in anything). Tasks vary in complexity with most being based on collecting objects and taking photos of them but there are some side activities such as completing the "shopping list". The shopping list task is available each day and entails gathering various ingredients from around the map. These tasks net Shin-chan pocket money that can be used to buy souvenirs. However the main focus is based around the newspaper run by the father of the host household. When Shin-chan interacts with him he hires Shin-chan to write posts for the children's paper.

The children's paper involves players doing their best to collect images and have experiences. It's quite simple but Crayon can choose to be straight or make a description up which, depending on the choice, influences if the paper volume is good or not. This adds some unexpected depth to a game that is arguably viewed as experiencing summer break. In fact, the game incentivises players to do what they want out of all the options presented with each offering different varying events for them to interact with during the story. It's a fun way to make the game interesting and replayable.

Visually the game absolutely succeeds at capturing the essence of Crayon Shin-chan. The characters are all 3D models but their 2D cartoon rendering and lighting lends them a hand drawn motif a lot of the time. The environments are not particularly high in detail and are pre-rendered. It feels like a throwback in some ways to the PS2 era's design sensibilities. They do however look great with the only issue being alignment in certain camera angles; when it's off, characters can appear at a slant. Each scene has little animated elements that add a certain life to the area.

Musically it really captures the show too with some great tracks including a very well cut together anime style opening showing the family moving out to the country. Each environment has nice soundscapes and things like bug sounds and burbling waterways really bring summer to life. Without this sound design the game would really feel lacking in atmosphere.