Kirby has been cursed by an evil witch and turned into a pink ball. It’s our job to help him along in his quest to break the curse and free the land.
The story itself is not intrinsic to the game. In fact I had to look it up for this review. What this boils down too is that the game play does just fine in the fun department without the story there to lean on.
Elite Beat Agents is a perfect example of the greatness that can come out of Japan, especially when they let their kooky side shine.
A rather eccentric little rhythm game, that showcases around twenty easily recognizable and entertaining songs. These are cleverly paired with strangely appropriate stories, which revolve around people in need. Once these folks are identified and their need quantified, the Elite Beat Agents are sent in to dance their way to a fabulous solution.
Last month I had the brilliant (ridiculously overambitious?) idea that I would try and review a bunch of my DS games. For some reason I didn’t find magical extra time to cram through more then a few of the games and thus DS Review month is extended, indefinitely.
I say indefinitely because I am fairly sure that by the time I get through my bag of old DS games I will have acquired more.
Actually I am rather interested in getting through some more of them as I am hoping to finally get to some better games. Sometimes I wonder how I manage to get stuck with such crappy games.
Guess I’m just a sucker for good PR. /sigh
This is a game for all those people who used to play space invaders back in the day, for those who want to relive the glory days of when two bit graphics were awesome and games were simpler. Or maybe just for those, who want to torture their kids by trying to share some “history” with them.
For me it’s a blatant reminder of how much I suck at Space Invaders. I sucked at it back then and (shockingly enough) I suck at it now. Thankfully by the time I was introduced to computer games it was already ancient, meaning there were lots of much better options to play. Which is probably why I never got any better at playing it.
The DS version isn’t all about nostalgia; they did tried to modernize the game a bit. It boasts the original version, plus an updated advanced Space Invaders, which are essentially different variations on the original. Additional levels and bonus fighter plane skills get unlocked as you progress through the game.
Deep Labyrinth was a husband purchase, I think. Though if I bought it, it was certainly intended for him. Which means, since the game has been hidden away in his DS case until my unearthing of all things buried, this is my first look at the actual game.
It also means I had no idea what to expect. Turns out, it is an action RPG using first person perspective, with sword fighting and magic casting.
The first person perspective makes me think of Oblivion – running around behind a floating sword, while the graphics are much more of a throwback to say HeXen days of the FPS genre.
Chances are you have already played this game; if not on the DS then probably on the Wii or GameCube. It is not terribly shocking that Mario Kart DS is just like all of its predecessors. (Take note that Mario Kart for the Wii came out three years after this DS version!)
At its core, Mario Kart is a standard racing game. The whole gang is there, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and so forth. Chose one of them and race around iconic Mario world racetracks.
What always made it incredibly fascinating for me was the focus on drifting. With three difficulty levels, mastering the drift is essential to winning, especially once the competition gets harder.
The whole clearing out my DS games was incredible long overdue. Going through them I noticed games from back in the day (eons ago!) when the DS first came out. YES, all the way back in 2004. Just don’t be surprised if one of the reviews is six years past due.
Turns out I have accumulated over sixty DS games in the past six years. That is only ten a year, not unreasonable. I took out a few of my husbands and a few I had already reviewed and paired it down to fifty. Still way too many to review this month.
Scribblenauts was a natural first choice as I had just finished playing it. That still left me with fourty-nine to pick from.
The only solution I could come up with that would significantly cut down on the time I would spend agonizing over deciding, was to throw them all in a bag and let randomness decide, ala scrabble Carcassonne =D
Viva la Random!
<3 TFG
Here is a game that should have been great, it sounded great, it sold great, and it even looked great. Turns out, the idea of the game was far better than the execution.
The premise revolves around a boy character that can draw things to life. A skill he desperately needs to be able to solve all the puzzles that are popping up in his life. Each level contains a star that he must reach. If the star is on the top of a tree, he draws a ladder to life and climbs up it.
It’s a really neat idea and with over a thousand different items that register on the drawing board one would think there would be an incredible amount of flexibility and creativity involved with solving each puzzle. The thing is, I couldn’t come up with more then twenty items that were useful. Ladder, helicopter, rope, box, trashcan, ax, ramp, and rock; okay maybe more like ten items.
One objective of mine, when I move, has always been to purge as much stuff as possible. As it seems to accumulate faster than I can find room for it, I have to preempt whenever I can.
My latest project, regarding the whole moving into our new place, is going through all the games, specifically the DS games. Turns out we have quite a few that are clearly just taking up space. Purge time!
The plan for this month is to write as many mini reviews of my stack of DS games as I can. I’m certain there are more than enough to keep me busy. Plus once I have reviewed them I will have no more excuses to hold on to them.
Left: DSi XL - Right: DS lite
It might be a sign of getting older, but I am LOVING the larger screen. Brings to mind large print books. Can’t see? Lets just make it bigger!
Okay, so I exaggerate a bit, its really just a slightly enlarged DSi. =P
Actually the whole size thing had me a little worried. The portability of the previously sized DS’s was quite convenient. I needn’t have worried, the size increase is noticeable and does mean that you can’t carry it around in your pocket, but its plenty small enough to carry without looking like you are lugging your laptop around. =P
Funny, size wise, it seems like Nintendo’s hand helds have come full circle. GameBoys of old were pretty much the same size as this lovely DSi XL. Amazing all the stuff you can pack into that size now a days – two much larger screens, camera, SD card, and wireless internetz. Only thing its missing is a GameBoy cartridge slot. Guess I will have to save one of the old DS’s just in case. =D
<3 TFG
