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Review: Pokemon Black/White

Pokemon Black and White -- 6
May 6, 2011 By In DS, Images, Reviews

Since 1996 (in Japan, 1998 in North America) GameFreak has managed to overtake the video game market with their portable Pokemon games again-and-again. This youth-friendly RPG series has never been one for innovation, but despite this, continue to sell millions with every release. In 2007, with the release of Pokemon Pearl and Diamond in North America, Pokefans had finally had enough. Although they still bought the game in massive numbers, fans had had enough of the gameboy-ish graphics, tired gameplay, and overall old feel. For their next Pokemon adventure, GameFreak would have to step up to the plate and hit it out of the park. Thankfully, for the sake of every Pokemon fan, I can tell you that GameFreak did just that.

As per usual, Pokemon: Black and White follows a similar plot line to every portable Pokemon game before it. This time, you begin your journey as a teenager in the Unova region who — with his two friends — travel across the region to fight Team Plasma, collect gym badges, and defeat the Elite 4 to become the Pokemon Champion. From the very beginning, you can tell that Black and White is much more focused on story. Opposed to simply coming across the game’s main antagonist at some point in your adventure, this time the game’s antagonist is introduced in a cutscene at the beginning of the game — a first for the series. Another first for the series is the dark undertone of the game’s story. Black and White not only tells the story of your character, but also tells the story of a world in the Pokemon fiction where there is a rift between humans and the Pokemon they use for sport. In typical Nintendo fashion though, this dark tone will only be noticed by a mature audience as it is so subtle. Children on the other hand will play through a typical, joyous Pokemon adventure.


The tried-and-true Pokemon RPG gameplay also makes a return in Black and White, but this time with a bit of an expansion. Battles still follow the basic rock-paper-scissors formula, but the innovation this time around is three-Pokemon battles. Unfortunately, these battles are as pointless as they sound. Two-Pokemon battles were pushing it when they were introduced years ago, but now having a third Pokemon is just ridiculous. GameFreak could have really innovated Pokemon battles, but instead they took the easy way out by introducing three-Pokemon battles. However, the newly introduced rotation battles are fairly interesting. In rotation battles, two Pokemon fight one-on-one, but trainers can switch Pokemon without having to wait a turn. While these are cool and interesting, they still aren’t very innovative. Despite the poor battle innovations, other parts of Pokemon Black and White’s gameplay improve the experience vastly. As soon as I reached  the first gym I realized the difficulty of the game had been bumped up. My Pokemon were being forced to fight against unfavorable types (such as fire against water) and were actually dieing. For myself who has thought the Pokemon series has always been easier than neccessary, this slight bump in difficulty was great. Don’t come in expecting Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest levels of JRPG difficulty, but keep in mind that you can’t mindlessly select “cut” and make it through the game. To make things feel even more fresh,

GameFreak has decided to put only new Pokemon in the main story of the new game. This means that series’ veterans will be seeing something new throughout their play through. But for those who need Pikachu, the rest of the Pokemon catalog is unlocked after the game is completed. Having a whole bunch of new Pokemon is a great way to make the game feel fresh, but the majority of these new Pokemon look and feel just like previous ones. So while all of the Pokemon for the first chunck of Pokemon Black and White may be new, they aren’t necessarily original.

Pokemon Black and White also have a breadth of great features. This time, you’ll be ditching the PokeGear and going for the
C-Gear. The C-Gear is all about connectivity and will allow players to quickly connect with other players as it takes over the DS’ touch screen. The C-Gear even allows you to do non-battle things, such as video call with friends. I think the C-Gear is the next logical step for the Pokemon series, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have problems with it. Wi-Fi syncing with the Pokemon Global Link servers and the Pass By mode are awesome, but if you play the game without Wi-Fi, you will feel like you are missing a ton of content. For a game so focused on appealing to children, it would have been great to see Nintendo incorporate some of the in-game trainers in a fake online mode for single-player gamers. Being able to battle or talk to Debbie the Bird Keeper would have been an easy way for Nintendo to make everyone, regardless of wireless internet availability, feel like they are getting the full experience.

Graphics wise, Pokemon Black and White is the best of the series. The game’s 2.5D visuals look fantastic and the — now true — over-the-shoulder camera adds visual depth to battles. However, the game does not look as clean as previous Pokemon games. While Black and White looks great, it also looks a bit blown up and pixelated. It is a little disappointing that GameFreak couldn’t completely clean up the new visuals, but it’s an easy trade-off for a Pokemon game that actually looks like a Nintendo DS game.

All in all, Pokemon Black and White is the best Pokemon game yet. GameFreak has once again built upon the previous Pokemon structure, without breaking anything in the process. Whether you like it or not, Pokemon Black and White does family RPGs exceptionally well. If you’re a Pokemon fan who was just about to call it quits due to a lack of innovation, I highly reccomend that you come back one more time to see if your opinion can be changed. If you’ve never played a Pokemon game before, Pokemon Black and White is a mostly acceptable beginner RPG. Either way, Pokemon Black and White is a game that every Nintendo DS gamer should own.

PROS

  • Mostly innovative gameplay
  • New graphics
  • C-Gear brings new level of connectivity
  • Impressive story

CONS

  • Gameplay lacks some innovation
  • Graphics look a bit bloated and pixelated
  • C-Gear segregates those who play Pokemon offline

 

SCORE: 9/10

Review: Sonic Colors

Sonic Colours -- 2
December 19, 2010 By In DS, Images, Reviews, Videos, Wii

Our favorite blue hedgehog hasn’t had the easiest transition from 2D to 3D. While Mario was blowing the minds of children across America in 1997 when he moved from 2D to 3D, Sonic’s transition has nearly killed his franchise. One sub-par game after the other from Sonic team have made the words “Sonic” and “3D” together have become the most feared in gaming. But with Sonic Colours, Sonic Team is looking to remove all of the stigma.

From the start it is easy to see that Sonic Colours is focused towards a younger crowd. The story of Sonic Colours has Sonic and Tails going to an amusement park built by Doctor Robotnik. Robotnik claims that the amusement park was built to show how sorry he is for all of the times he tried to defeat Sonic. But the blue speed demon isn’t going to be believe such non-sense. He knows that Robotnik is up to something and goes to find out what it is. At the amusement park Sonic and Tails talk to these alien creatures called wisps. Sonic soon discovers that the point of the amusement park is to attract the aliens and capture them for their resources. Sonic then must team up with the wisps to defeat Robotnik once and for all.

None of the Sonic games have ever been about the narrative, so it’s no surprise that Sonic Colours’ story isn’t that great. The whole premise and everything else down to the Wisps is very childish. Usually this isn’t a problem, such as in Kirby’s Epic Yarn, but Sonic Colours chose to have some humor in it too which is groan worthy. The worst part is that the cut scenes appear after every through levels of gameplay. It is obvious that Sonic Team wanted to tell the player a story, they just don’t have a particularly good story to tell.

Where Sonic Team begins to regain respect from fans is in the gameplay of Sonic Colors. It’s obvious that the team went back to the drawing board to see what gamers want in a Sonic game. In the end they came out with a fantastic combination: speed, platforming, and exploration. Unfortunately they had a hard time balancing the elements of this combination. They then fall flat on their face as they try too hard to copy the Super Mario Galaxy games.

Getting some speed in Sonic Colors is a fantastic feeling. There is nothing better than having the camera positioned behind Sonic and watching as the environment passes by in a blur. But in typical Sonic Team fashion, they have to ruin it. Every time Sonic gets a good amount of speed going, the developers throw a platforming section or large group of enemies to stop Sonic right in his tracks.

The same thing happens when the camera switches to a 2D side-view. In this position the platforming is great, but the placement of the platforming sections and the balance between them and speed is horrible. If the gameplay in Sonic Colors had been left at this, my opinion of the game would have been much higher. But unfortunately, the developers had to “pay homage” to the two best games on the Nintendo Wii: Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2. They do this through the use of characters called “Wisps”. Wisps are pretty much the power-ups found in any Mario game — but more specifically the Galaxy games — as in-game NPCs.

This a pretty good concept on paper, but the execution is horrible. Each of the Wisps’ abilities aren’t that useful. With the exception of one or two Wisps, Sonic is able to complete levels perfectly without their help. For the most part they act as more of a visual treat than helpful solution. You can either just run through the level as Sonic, or use a Wisp and look “cool” completing the level. Despite my distaste for the Wisps, I will give them one thing: they are great for exploration. While they aren’t helpful most of the time for completing levels, they are useful for finding little hidden items and exploring around the levels. This is great except for the fact that the majority of Sonic Colors’ players just want to beat all of the levels and not bother with exploring.

Sonic Colors may have a lot of problems when it comes to gameplay, but thankfully Sonic Team doesn’t force you to spend 15+ hours with these faults. For anyone who wants to just beat all the levels and never touch the game again, Sonic Colors is a very short game. It took me around 5 hours to play through each level only once, and that seemed to me like the perfect amount of time to spend playing the game. I don’t mean to sound condescending, but the brevity of Sonic Colors works in it’s favor.

What also works in Sonic Colors’ favor is it’s controls. Sonic Team was smart to not force tackle motion controls down the throats of players…for the most part. The standard control layout is a horizontal Wii Remote, just like all other platformers on the Wii. However some motion controls are thrown in when players activate the special abilities of the Wisps. Thrusting the horizontal Wii Remote is how the Wisps are activated, but it doesn’t work very well. Having this control fail multiple times lead me to discover that my Gamecube controller works with the game. The Gamecube/Classic controller option is vastly superior to the Wii Remote as it doesn’t require any thrusting. The only downside is that it makes the game seem like it would have been the exact same experience on a last generation console such as the Gamecube or PS2.

Visually Sonic Colors is once again mediocre. The game has some fantastic looking CG rendered cut-scenes, but from there it gets much worse Much of the game is in either dark lighting or uses dark colors. There is a ton of black, brown, purple and red which do not work well on the Wii. There are some bright areas that look nice, but even in the right lighting, Sonic Colors doesn’t look spectacular. As I said earlier, this game very easily could have been on the PS2 with it’s graphical quality. Unfortunately the audio isn’t much of an improvement either and features a generic sound track. Most of it seems unique, but is hopelessly boring and completely unmemorable. I don’t even remember hearing the classic Sonic theme.

Overall Sonic Colors is a mediocre attempt at cloning Super Mario Galaxy. The Wisps and the sort-of space environments all pale in comparison to easily the two best games on the console. The story is childish and irrelevant, the gameplay has some major faults and the visuals and audio at mediocre. One of the best things about Sonic Colors is that it knows exactly when it should end. This however is a slight turn in the right direction for Sonic Team. They have all the elements of a fantastic Sonic game here, they just need to figure out how to balance them. Sonic fans will more than likely enjoy the blue hedgehog’s latest attempt at returning to relevancy, but everyone else should just turn and run away from this pile of mediocrity.

PROS

  • Has all the elements of a good Sonic game
  • Beautiful CG cutscenes
  • Wraps up at the right time


CONS

  • Story is childish and irrelevant
  • Gameplay balance doesn’t work
  • Bland graphics
  • Forgettable soundtrack

Score: 5.5/10

Review: Tetris Party Live

Tetris Party Live Screenshot (2)
December 5, 2010 By In DS, Images, Reviews

I think it’s safe to say that every gamer has played at least one variation of Tetris in their lifetime. One thing that plagues Tetris games is that it’s hard for such a simple game to bring new aspects to the table. Luckily, Tetris Party Live adds enough value to the classic gameplay to merit a purchase.

As a single-player game, Tetris Party Live has two different game modes. The traditional Marathon Mode has you tackling a constant stream of blocks that you must align correctly to eliminate rows before they stack to the top of the playing field. This mode features an alternate mode that has players attempting the highest score possible before eliminating the 150th line. The second game mode is a CPU Battle mode that pits players against a CPU opponent in a head-to-head battle. Players are not only responsible for managing the falling blocks but also gain the ability to launch special attacks on their opponent. These attacks include items such as freezing the opponent’s playing field, blinding the opponent momentarily, and power-ups that can take out several rows on your board.

Those who choose to venture online via Nintendo WiFi Connection will be met with an interesting and fun online experience. The two modes available online are the Battle Mode or a Duel Space challenge. The Battle Mode is exactly the same as the single-player CPU Battle Mode but allows up to four players to go head-to-head. The Duel Space challenge has each player trying to claim the most area of the playing space as possible. The online modes are open to all regions or you can play with your friends via friend codes. The Tetris never stops and even while in the online lobby area you can choose to “Practice” and play a game of Tetris while waiting. One noticeable missing feature is the lack of download or local multiplayer options. In a game that has an emphasis on competitive play it makes no sense why the feature is missing.

The controls for Tetris have been unchanged for years and this iteration is no different. The controls are as easy as ever and allow every type of player to jump right into the game with no issues. The simplistic design continues to the visuals and the developer, Hudson, does what it can to include some decent backdrops for the falling blocks. The game features voice chat support and music that is easy on the ears that’s fit for hours of gameplay.

For 500 DSiWare Points ($5) it’s easy to take the plunge and purchase Tetris Party Live. The online portion plays a huge part in the fun-factor of this title. Those who are only in it for the single-player portion may be underwhelmed with only 2 available modes. I think it’s safe to assume that Hudson believes that if you purchased this title you likely have the internet connection to play all the available game modes. No download or local multiplayer options really hurt a game that focuses so much on competitive play. Those wishing to take their Tetris skills online need look no further than Tetris Party Live.

Pros:

  • Online gameplay via Nintendo WiFi Connection
  • Voice Chat capabilities
  • “Practice” mode available while waiting for online matches to begin
  • Only 500 DSiWare Points ($5)

Cons:

  • No download or local multiplayer options
  • Only 2 modes available for single-player
  • Very simplistic design and presentation

Score: 7.8/10

Review: Mega Man 10

November 21, 2010 By In DS, Images, Playstation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Capcom has produced some high profile next-gen failures but you can always count on them for their superior internally developed 8-bit games. Mega Man 10 is the second retro game that Capcom has decided to continue the “Classic” Mega Man series for downloadable enjoyment. This release can be attributed to the hugely successful downloadable comeback Mega Man 9. It still doesn’t miss a mark.

If you don’t know the gist of Mega Man games I’ll give you the run down. It is the year 20XX, Dr. Wily has done something to corrupt the world and you must save it with your trusty Mega Buster. The world’s robots have come under an illness known as Roboenza and you must defeat the eight robot masters to find the cure. If you can’t tell, Mega Man 10 has a ridiculous story. The classic series is not known for strong narrative but its sturdy yet simple game mechanics.

Those familiar with past Mega Man games won’t find anything new. You can shoot your Mega Buster and specialty weapons left and right, and you can jump. While it doesn’t sound very deep, the complexity comes with some punishing level design. You will be making perfectly timed leaps of faith while shooting enemies before you land on the next pillar or avoid that spike traps. The real beauty of Mega Man is that deep satisfaction you get when plowing through a level like an acrobat and then slaying the boss with one sliver of health.

The classic Mega Man series is not only known for having tight controls but also well thought out level design. Every level brings its own flavor to the plate. For example, Strike Man’s stage has baseball and football enemies chucking their respective balls at you, while Nitro Man’s stage features these enormous corridors that have you jumping over large vehicular enemies plowing their grills at you. While some may be wary of a lack of certain platforming obstacles from past Mega Man entries, there are still plenty of new designs implemented that keep the game fresh and retain the retro style.

Mega Man 10’s graphics haven’t aged one bit and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Levels and characters seem to still represent those of tiles that existed in the days long ago. The level’s animations are the best I have seen in the franchise since Mega Man 3 and 5.

Mega Man 10 is the first game in the franchise that features a large amount replay value. The game has over 80 challenge areas that limit certain abilities and ask you master certain skills to conquer the given area. For example, the Jump Master challenge area has you navigating pillars and spikes before making a leap of faith past four horizontal spike tiles to reach the end door. The entry features another playable character “Proto Man” right out of the box (compared to Mega Man 9’s paid DLC). Proto Man provides instant replay due to his different abilities. Mega Man 10 is taking greater strides to reach a broader audience with multiple difficulty levels including a new easy difficulty level for newcomers. With all the extra content there is more to accomplish after the three hours it takes to beat the main game.

While most downloadable titles are hitting the market at $15, Mega Man 10 is a steal at the $10 price tag and is worth every penny. If you are looking for something that has the retro challenge, a pumping soundtrack, and satisfaction of days past, look no further than adding this Mega Man to your collection. Newcomers to the franchise and those who weren’t alive at the time should feel comfortable with the added “easy” difficulty.

Capcom, your retro infused games generate success and recognition. I and everyone else who love Mega Man are expecting a Mega Man 11.

Pros:

  • Excellent retro level design and presentation
  • A challenge for everyone
  • Accommodating difficulty levels
  • Extra content to satisfy replay

Cons:

  • The retro presentation and gameplay may deter newcomers to the classic franchise

 Score: 9.5/10

Review: Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

Kane and Lynch 2 Dog Days -- 3
August 26, 2010 By In DS, Images, Playstation 3, Reviews, Videos, Xbox 360

Back in 2007, IO Interactive released a new third person shooter IP to the market titled Kane & Lynch. Despite Kane & Lynch: Dead Men — the series first game — having much build up to its release, it ended up receiving very mixed reviews. Many reviewers felt the game was too ambitious, and ended up falling short. With the upcoming release of Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, many were hoping that IO Interactive could finally fix its shortcomings and produce the product they always wanted. Now that the game has been released, does it fulfill everyone’s expectations, or end up falling flat once again?

In Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, Lynch has taken up residence in Shanghai China. Originally the more sane of the duo, Lynch has now become a self-medicating psychopath living with his girlfriend Xiu. Although he is trying to escape his criminal past by living this lifestyle, Lynch eventually comes to a point where he wants to pull off one last heist. Kane, his old partner in crime, agrees to complete this last heist with Lynch. While it appears to Lynch that Kane is just there to help him, Kane’s true motivation is to get enough money to help his daughter. This heist seems simple to the duo, but their short fused tempers cause them to accidentally murder the daughter of the king pin of the Chinese underworld. Kane & Lynch quickly find themselves alone and the target of everyone. Their only goal is to get out of Shanghai in anyway other than a coffin.

While I did thoroughly enjoy the story in Dog Days, I felt that it could have been told better. All of the major plot points appear to be rushed, and the story in between seems to be lacking. Most of the story is told through one-sided conversations during loading screens, and small cutscenes between gun battles. While on paper it looks like a lot, it really isn’t when you experience it first hand. The phone conversations are too short, as are the cutscenes. For example, the story of the build up to the “big heist” is completely lacking. You always know what is happening, but you are never presented with any details. Nor is the purpose of the unnamed NPCs fighting beside you at the beginning of game explained. Worst of all, Dog Days is capped off with a sudden and unsatisfying ending that is very predictable.

Gameplay in Dog Days is basic, third person cover based shooting. You snap to cover, kill everyone you see, pick up their weapons, and run to the next cover setup. Dog Days sticks to this generic description and never let’s go. Only the third last mission in the single player campaign differs from what I explained. Much like the story, the gameplay becomes very predictable. When Lynch yells “Kane, we got ‘em”, you know there will be a path to run down in order for the game to save the checkpoint. Once you reach the next section with the cover areas all setup, you wait for Lynch to say “Kane, there’s more” and watch as a group of enemies pour out and jump to cover. This same setup happens so frequently that it becomes monotonous.

If this sounds like something you would immensely enjoy, there is one other thing that may be the stick in your spokes. The guns in Dog Days are horribly unbalanced. Yes, IO Interactive managed to mess up one of the most important parts of a third person shooter. For the most part, any sub machine guns you pick up are completely useless. These guns will just wildly run through clips of ammo without hitting any enemies. The only truly effective weapons are shotguns. This leads to some frustration in tight situations. Most gamers will be able to get through the twelve campaign chapters with ease.

Graphically Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days looks fantastic. Apart from the gorgeous character models and environments, Dog Days does something that is quite unique. While playing, it feels like you are watching everything from the perspective of someone filming the action on a cheap video camera. The view is filled with distorted colours, missing pixels, and overall grit. For a game as dark and grimy as Dog Days, this looks fits the game perfectly. If you are going to put out the money to play Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days for any reason, let it be for the outstanding visuals that any gamer should see.

Dig Days’ audio sets up a great atmosphere for the game. The soundtrack that plays through the menus and parts of the single player campaign sets up the Shanghai setting perfectly. As for voice acting, Kane’s voice retains the same borderline insane feel. Lynch being a psychopath is presented well with his voice acting, especially when he begins to mumble things to himself during intense gun battles. What sets the atmosphere the best though is the overall sounds of China that can be heard while running through the streets. One great thing about the linearity of Dog Days is how it feels like you are in a living, breathing version of Shanghai.

With a focus on multiplayer, Dog Days has a huge amount of replay value. Although you can replay any of the chapters from Dog Days’ campaign, most will want to skip that and go straight to the multiplayer modes. The three multiplayer modes in Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days are Fragile Alliance, Undercover Cop, and Cops & Robbers. Undercover Cop and Cops & Robbers are variants of the original Fragile Alliance formula, but stand up well on their own.

In Fragile Alliance, your team is attempting a heist while also escaping from the police. Everyone starts at one location of the map, and must kill all of the cops protecting the money. Once all of the cops are killed, each member of the team attempts to grab as much cash as possible. Once all of the cash is gone, the team must fight through the rest of the cops to the pick-up area. While fighting through the cops, any members of the team who are killed loose their money and must help the cops to kill your team. To make the situation more hostile, at any time a member of your team can turn on the rest of the team and keep all of the money for themselves. When one of the team members turn, their Gamertag is highlighted which causes the rest of the team to try and kill them. Members of the team who escape with cash can use it to buy weapons for the next round.

Undercover Cop follows a very similar formula as Fragile Alliance. Instead of having any teammate publicly turning on the rest of the team, one of the team members are secretly told that they are the “Undercover Cop”. That team member must secretly kill the rest of the team. In Cops & Robbers, players fullfil the role of both cops and robbers in a situation that is just like Fragile Alliance.

These multiplayer modes are incredibly fun and unique. Unfortunately, their awesomeness is taken down a few pegs by the fact that there are only six maps. Also, most of the maps aren’t very unique which causes their replayability to slow down a bit. However if you love the concept, and can get over the repetitiveness, you could spend a ton of time playing the Dog Days multiplayer. I predict that this game will at least have some kind of community a couple of years from now. Yes, this multiplayer is that fresh and unique.

There is no other way to say it: Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is a disappointment. I was hoping for a great single player along with gameplay mechanics that were vastly improved from Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. IO Interactive had something to prove to gamers, and they ultimately fell short. Despite it being a disappointment, I still recommend that gamers at least rent it to experience the great visuals, atmosphere, and multiplayer modes. However, buying it for a full $60 at retail just does not make sense. With a four hour campaign, Dog Days is exactly what a rental should be.

PROS

  • Fantastic visuals
  • Very atmospheric
  • Fresh and unique mutliplayer
  • Perfect rental

CONS

  • Campaign takes on four hours to complete
  • Guns are unbalanced
  • Gameplay becomes repetitive
  • Disappointing package overall

Score: 6.5/10

Review: Monster Rancher DS

Monster Rancher DS -- 1
August 11, 2010 By In DS, Images, Reviews, Videos

Back in 1997, Tecmo unleashed a “virtual monster simulator” to the world. Being on the PS1 allowed for Tecmo to take advantage of the PS1′s ability to play CDs. Any readable CD you could stick in the PS1, could be turned into a monster for you to train. This gimmick turned the game into a hit. Now with the Nintendo DS having a bunch of new gimmicks, it was a no brainer for the Monster Rancher series to come to the DS. Instead of popping in CDs to create monsters, you can now draw on the touchscreen, or talk into the microphone to create monsters. While this sounds great, do these new system gimmicks make for a good Monster Rancher game?

Being a “Virtual Monster Trainer”, there isn’t any type of over-arching plot with everything you do. There is a progression to the game through and each calendar year, and climbing ranks. Various NPCs also pass through your ranch offering and providing you various services. These can be considered as a light plot, but this is far from an intriguing narrative. However, an intriguing narrative is not something I want in my “Virtual Monster Trainer”.

Everyone who picks up a copy of Monster Rancher DS will be picking it up for its gameplay. From the minute I loaded the cartridge in my DS, I was instantly reminded of Tamagachi pets. You start the game by entering the “academy” where you are given the choice of two books. Each provides you with a different Nintendo DS gimmick in order to create a monster. One supports drawing on the touchscreen, and one supports talking into the microphone. You are free to draw or say whatever you want. Doing so, will result in you summoning a monster. I have a hard time deciding on whether the monsters are just randomly generated, or if certain patters trigger certain monsters. I originally assumed that the monsters were generated randomly, just like the Monster Hunter games on PS1. But while messing with the drawing aspect, I drew a star, and then inverted the pallet ( this swaps the open space with the virtual ink, and vice versa). Doing so resulted in me created a Gold Golem. My house wasn’t structured to hold such a massive monster, so I had to give him up. Yes, I did cry like a little girl at a pet store; unable to buy that cute bunny.

Once I had enough space to hold this monster, I went back to the academy and drew a very similar sketch. Once again, a Golden Golem appeared. While this has not been thoroughly tested, I do stand by my theory.

As I briefly mentioned previously, depending on the size of your monster, you either add it to your encyclopedia, or take it home to your ranch. The reason why you must leave some behind is that you initially have a small stable in your ranch. After a while, you are able to pay for an upgrade which provides room for larger monsters. Luckily the upgrades are quite cheap, so you aren’t left with a giant mortgage. I’m looking at you, Tom Nook.

Once you have your monster, you must raise him to be strong. Once a week, your monster comes out from his stable for you to take care of him. Luckily, the in-game time instantly shifts to the same time each week, once you are done training your monster. You can train, walk, Battle, and allow your monster to rest. Also, once a month, you must choose what to feed your monster.

This seems like a lot, so let’s attack this one piece at a time. Most of your time spent with your monster will be training. Selecting to train will show you eight attributes of your monster. These are your basic strength, speed, intelligence, etc. Once you have decided what attribute you wish to improve, you can initiate the training. This is where the developers missed a huge opportunity.

Each training exercise is the AI carrying out the training. Instead of having you the player swipe the touch screen, speak into the microphone, or do a quick time event, the developers completely cut the player out. Doing any kind of action in the game would have been better than watching your monster train, without any interaction on your part.

Once your monster finishes it’s training, it will receive added “experience” points — if you want to call them that — along with one of four ranks. The ranks are as follow:

Fail – No points gained.
Success – Normal amount of points gained
Success? – Monster cheats, but still gains the normal amount of points
Excellent – Extra amount of points gained

If your monster receives “Fail” or “Success?”, you are presented with the opportunity to scold them. On the flip side, if your monster achieves excellence, you are able to praise them. Following along with these is crucial to have a well behaved monster.

Next up is resting. Despite your monster staying in the barn all week before you go to train it, some days it is too tired or stressed. When this happens, you simply tell it to rest, and the game moves to the next week. It is crucial that you allow your monster to rest when it is over exerted. Failing to do so will result in a lack of performance from your monster.

Once you feel that your monster is strong enough, you can enter into battle tournaments. You will start at an “E” ranking and will only be able to fight in E ranked tournaments. The more you fight, and the more your monster grows, the more ranks you will climb. Fighting in Monster Rancher DS is very simple. You face-off in a one-on-one match with your opponent. Each match has a one minute timer, but a KO can result in the match ending before the one minute limit.

Your monster has the ability to learn three different types of attacks. Close, mid, and long ranged. Moving your character back and fourth on the battle field, closer to, or further from your opponent will determine which move you are able to do. Unfortunately, the developers only allow you to move up or down on the huge battlefield. Being able to move left or right, and even diagonally, would have brought much more strategy to the game. Also only being able to do offensive moves destroys any hope of strategy. Monsters can avoid attacks, but even for your own character, that is completely left up to the AI.

Each time you attempt an attack, it removes some “guts” from your reserve. Throughout each battle, you continuously gain guts, which in turn you can use to perform attacks. These are essentially Monster Rancher DS’ version of attack and magic points.

Each monster has its own set of health points. Depleting these points before time runs out will result in a KO. However, if a battle lasts for the entire minute without a KO, then the monster that has taken the highest percent of damage loses. This opens an interesting aspect to the gameplay. The HP of the monster doesn’t necessarily matter, unlike other monster battling games. As long as there isn’t a KO, there is a high possibility that a monster that has significantly lower HP could win a battle.

If all of this gameplay seems too difficult for you, Monster Rancher DS allows for the AI to take over all of your battles. While this does sound horrible, I found myself using it often. Being able to select a battle, go do something, and come back a few minutes later to see the results of the battle. My only complaint with this is that it doesn’t allow you to select AI battle for an entire tournament. Having to continuously select the next battle in a tournament is a little frustrating when you are trying to get something done, while also training your virtual monster.

Finally, you can take your monster for walks. This is called Errantry and allows you to collect items and fight monsters in the “wild”. This turns out to just be a path that your monster will walk along until it gets to tired. While this sounds like a great feature, its execution fails miserably. Instead of allowing you to take full control of your monster, the game allows it to run around like a chicken with its head cut off. You can attempt to give it guidance towards items using the touchscreen, but that always resulted in my monster running around in a circle, then wandering its own path in the opposite direction. If you thought this couldn’t get worse, guess again. The items you can gather aren’t very good, and are definitely not worth the time and effort. Not to mention that there are barely any monsters in the wild.

Apart from all of this, you can also give your monster items, or take it to town and combine it with another monster to make a super monster. Or if you’re just fed up with him, freeze him in the lab and create a new monster at the academy.

Overall, this gameplay is fun and quite addicting despite its flaws. If you can over look the flaws, and want a DS game to get addicted to, then you shouldn’t hesitate to consider Monster Rancher DS as your next purchase.

The graphics in Monster Rancher DS are exceptional for the handheld. All of the monsters — along with the environments — are fully rendered in 3D. Of course, the town map, and the bottom screen of the DS are always 2D, but that is to be expected. This isn’t the best game I have seen on the Nintendo DS, but it does stand tall among some of the best.

Sound wise, Monster Rancher DS is mediocre. While none of the audio is ear-splitting — or terrible enough to turn off your sound — none of it is great enough to turn up the sound, nor is it memorable. Also, there is absolutely no voice-acting, which is disappointing.

Monster Rancher DS has a surprisingly vast amount of replay value. Featuring an unlimited amount of single player monster training, and both offline and online multiplayer, Monster Rancher DS is a game that you could have in your DS for a while. Both offline and online multiplayer includes two player battles, and two player monster combining. But there is a downside to this. For some reason, all of my attempts to connect to the Nintendo WiFi connection to battle/combine with a random player failed. It seems that no one is buying this game, or everyone who bought it is avoiding online play. Unless the online community turns, you are going to have to either stick playing offline with friends, or trade Friend Codes over message boards.

When it all comes together, Monster Rancher DS is a pretty good game. It has incredibly fun and addictive gameplay, along with great graphics and a ton of replay value. Unfortunately, there are some big flaws with the gameplay, and the audio is mediocre at best. Despite its faults, Monster Rancher DS is a game that can become quite addicting. I feel that a game like this would be perfect for a more portable system like the iPhone, where you could pull it out for a few minutes, raise some stats on your monster, and then continue on with your day. Still, I can recommend this game to many Nintendo DS owners. I was closed-minded about it at first, but I gave it a try and ended up really liking. I recommend that you do the same.

PROS

  • Fun and Addicting Gameplay
  • Fantastic Graphics
  • Great Replay Value

CONS

  • Some Huge Gameplay Faults
  • Mediocre Audio
  • Barely Has an Online Community

Score: 7/10

Review: Tetris Party Deluxe DS

Tetris Party Deluxe -- 1
June 18, 2010 By In DS, Images, Reviews, Videos

It all started with the Gameboy, and a little Russian game that could. After selling nearly 33 million on the portable system alone, everyone across America in the early ’90s was fitting tetrominoes together. Over the years, Tetris has made its mark on nearly every home and portable video game console. The latest Tetris game(s) to invade home and portable consoles is Tetris Party Deluxe. Tetris Party was originally a WiiWare game developed by Hudson Soft, but due to it’s popularity has received an upgrade to full retail game on the Nintendo Wii and DS systems. Despite this being a new game, it’s really just a new coat of paint on a classic game. However if I do say so myself, this is one hell of a coat of paint. This review is specifically for the Nintendo DS version of Tetris Party Deluxe. If you wish to know more about the Nintendo Wii version, my review is located here.

Tetris Party Deluxe! Throws you right into the gameplay from the beginning. Like all other Tetris games, they don’t try and force a story and characters down your throat, and that’s a good thing. Well, that’s technically not true. There is a little man in the “Field Climber” mode, but that doesn’t really count. On the subject of game modes, Tetris Party Deluxe is full of them. The huge amount of game modes is what puts Tetris Party Deluxe above most other Tetris games. The single player option in Tetris Party Deluxe features eight different quality game modes. The game modes are as follows:

Marathon
Basic Tetris gameplay where you clear as many lines as you can. This mode has both an endless “on”, and an endless “off” option. Endless “on” has you playing for the highest time and score until you get “game over”. While endless “off” has you playing for the highest time and score until 150 lines are cleared.

Computer Battle
In this mode you must defeat the computer in a head-to-head Tetris battle. Each time you clear two or more lines, lines appear on the computer’s screen to push their blocks up. Your ultimate goal is to defeat the computer in the fastest time.

Field Climber As mentioned previously, this mode features a little man (known as the climber) which you must force to the goal zone using Tetris blocks while avoiding crushing him. However, if you have “Everest” set to “on”, then you must keep the climber going until the climber gets crushed. While you climb, you can also collect flags along the way.

Shadow
Shadows are displayed on the back of the Tetris board and you must line your Tetris blocks along the shadow to form a shape. If a piece doesn’t fit, you are able to swap it. Be warned though, you only get a limited number of swaps.

Stage Racer
A Tetris block must be guided to the bottom of a 400 line maze while the obstacles become harder and harder. Flipping your tetrinoes is essential to getting through the maze. The time you take is your score, except for the endless “Abyss” mode in which the line you reach is your final score.

Sprint
40 lines must be cleared in the fastest possible time. The faster your time is, the higher your score is.
Master Mode
The goal in this mode is to clear as many lines of Tetris blocks as you can while the blocks drop at their fastest speed. The same rules as the “Marathon” mode apply to this mode.

Bombliss Mode
Special bomb pieces are used to clear lines of Tetris blocks.
Apart from the regular single player modes, there are also two special “Beginner’s” modes. These modes incorporate much larger Tetris blocks. These two modes are meant for younger children or those who are frustrated with regular Tetris.

Beginner’s Marathon
The exact thing as regular marathon mode, except with much larger Tetris blocks. Exact same rules apply.

All Clear Sprint
The goal is to clear as many lines as you can in the shortest time. Unfortunately, this mode isn’t very clear as the description for it was typed incorrectly. Here’s what the description says in the game:

Try for the high score by completing 20 All Clears in the shortest time. (The capitalization of “All” and “Clears” is in the mode description).

Although there are many single player modes, there are a few multiplayer modes in Tetris Party Deluxe for the DS. These multiplayer modes are available for local and Wi-Fi multiplayer. The two game modes are “Battle” and “Duel Spaces”. “Battle” is the multiplayer equivalent of “Computer Battle”, and it follows the exact same rules. “Duel Spaces” has you stack Tetris Blocks on top of one another in order to form a border around the biggest space possible. The player with the most space bordered wins.

For the most part, all of these game modes are great. A couple like “Marathon” and “Computer Battle” are better than others, but there are none that are terrible. One great thing about the multiplayer aspect of the game is that Tetris Party Deluxe features “DS Download Play”. This great feature – which is absent from most multiplayer DS games – allows you to play multiplayer if only one DS has a copy of the game. However, not all of the multiplayer is good. While the online works well, there is no one to play with. When I first received the game a few days after the release, there were a few people online. By the third day, there was online one other person online. I literally played a match with them, exited to search for another player, and ended up playing them again. Now as I’m writing review, there is no one online, and it has been like that for a while. It’s kind of disappointing that such a fun game has no online community online a few weeks after its release.

While playing all of those fabulous game modes, you will see that the graphics in Tetris Party Deluxe are quite bright and vibrant. With the game being the same basic game that was on the original black-and-white Gameboy, they couldn’t exactly innovate. I’m quite fond of what Hudson Soft did with what they had, but definitely don’t expect incredible graphics when you pick up the game; just a lot of crazy colours. One thing I’m not fond of with the game though is its attempt to make Mii-like avatars. The avatars are as simplistic as they could possibly be, and they end up looking pretty ugly. However, there is a bright side to the avatar system. The game has a few highly detailed avatars which look really nice. Especially the Bomber Man cameo appearance one. Finally, you are able to change the background of the Tetris boards, which adds some customization and some great looking pictures. Their aren’t graphically stunning, but visually there are quite nice.

Along with the the great graphics of Tetris Party Deluxe, comes the amazing sound. The game features a vast amount of amazing Tetris themes that have collected over the years. Due to the gameplay getting repetitive after a while, the sound playing in the background can do a lot to keep a long game entertaining. With the music being so pleasant to your ears, I recommend wearing headphones while playing the game. The poor quality speakers of the DS can really ruin how much you enjoy the music in the game.

Despite the gameplay getting a bit repetitive after a while, Tetris Party Deluxe has a ton of replay value. With all of the modes and the ability to play multiplayer locally with those who don’t own the game, this is a perfect DS game to have for playing with friends. However, don’t buy it if you only plan on playing online, I might be the only person you see! Jokes aside, if you enjoy pick-up-and-play games on your Nintendo DS, it doesn’t get much better than Tetris Party Deluxe. If having a version of Tetris on nearly every video game console not enough proof to show you that Tetris never gets old, I don’t know what is.

Ultimately, Tetris Party Deluxe on DS is a perfect game for Tetris fans. It takes the basic Tetris formula, and expands on it with a ton of enjoyable modes. However, if you aren’t a huge fan of Tetris, you will likely want to skip on this game. The amount of fantastic game modes, the eye pleasing graphics, and the amazing sound make this one great game. What makes it even better is the $29.99 price-tag which is likely to go down farther. For a cheap, pick-up-and play game like this which expands on a classic formula – instead of changing it, or destroying it – I cannot recommend Tetris Party Deluxe enough. Just don’t go into the game expecting too much.

PROS

  • Classic gameplay done right
  • Fantastic use of colours
  • A plethora of outstanding game modes
  • Ear pleasing sound
  • Incredible replay value
  • Bomberman makes a cameo as an avatar
  • Cheap price

CONS

  • Some game modes aren’t as great as others
  • Graphics aren’t the best
  • The Mii-like avatars are so basic that they are ugly
  • Only recommended for Tetris fans

Score: 8/10

Review: Docomodake Boing!

Boing Docomodake Cover Art
June 3, 2010 By In DS, Images, Reviews

What do you get when you combine the mascot for a Japanese mobile phone company and a platform puzzle game for the DS? The incredibly fun, and unique game by the name of Boing! Docomodake DS. The adorable little mushroom mascots take you through a quirky and fun story that will have you hooked from start to finish. Addicting gameplay, a cute story and nice visuals all come together to make one great little game.

In Boing! Docomodake you play as Papa Docomodake who is in search of his family. The annual festival is just about to start, but his family is no where to be found. Along with Papa Docomodake you must play through the game, using his unique skills and try to locate the rest of his family before the festival starts.

Each stage is sure to present a challenge for you as you face enemies and roadblocks along your way. For those looking for an extra challenge, there are coins and treasure chests hidden throughout the levels that you can collect as you play. The game is separated into 7 different areas (5 of which are present during the entire game, one which opens after you finish level 5 and one that opens after you watch the credits after level 6) and each area has 8 stages. Before starting each area, you are presented with the story of what happened to Papa Docomodake’s family member and then you set off to find them. During the first 7 stages of the area, you reach the goal at the end of the level and at the end of stage 8 Papa Docomodake is reunited with his family member, which queues the end of their story.

As you start each stage, the task seems like it will be simple. Using the in game stage viewer, you are able to look over what lies ahead. However, once you start playing the stage, you soon realize, what originally looked like a simple task, may not be so simple after all. As you move through the level, everything from spiders, birds and spikes will make your adventure a little more dangerous. To help him in the search for his family, Papa Docomodake has Minis that he brings along with him. These Minis can split off from Papa Docomodake to assist him when he hits a roadblock. The Minis can do everything from making a ladder so Papa can reach otherwise inaccessible areas, or they can fill in a gap so Papa can proceed without falling into the spikes below.

All of the levels were fun and unique. They each had new challenges to overcome and figure out. I enjoyed all the levels, but personally enjoyed area seven the most. For me, it was the most unique and creative level in the game. The levels were fun to play through because they were designed with such creativity, I found myself excited to see what the solution was going to be for each stage.

The controls in the game work quite well. Papa Docomodake is controlled using either the D-Pad or the A, B, X and Y buttons. I thought this was a great touch because the controls were setup right away for both left and right handed players. Since you can use either control method, it also allows you to switch controls if you need while playing the game. Papa Docomodake can move left or right by pressing that direction on the D-Pad, he can jump by pressing up and can dig by pressing down. The button controls are used in the same fashion, where X is jump (up), B is dig (down), etc. The stylus is used to control the Minis, using the stylus you can move them around on the screen, stack them for creating ladders, etc. The stylus is also used for other on screen controls, such as selecting items from the menu, calling the Minis back to Papa, etc. The final control you will be using in the game is the L and R buttons, these are simply to split multiple Minis from Papa Docomodake quickly when you want to access more than one at a time.

The difficulty of the game was perfect. The game starts out pretty simple and through the beginning it is teaching you how to play the game. You don’t have to go through a tutorial and you don’t have to read the instructions if you don’t want to. Each time you approach a new mechanism, the on screen question mark will begin to flash, alerting you that this is new and you can read what it is and how to use it. Most of these appear in the first few stages, but there are a few that show up later in the game. The game progresses very nicely in difficulty, slowly adding new challenges so you could ease into them. I never felt frustrated with the game, while I did have a few areas I had a bit of a hard time figuring out; it was just a matter of working with the game to figure out the solution.

Early on, the solution was pretty easy to figure out, you could see what was ahead and knew what needed to be done. However, as you progress through the game, it became more challenging and you were faced with a lot of new obstacles. Instead of being able to see what the result of each action was, a switch you activate at the beginning of the level may affect something towards the end. The stage viewer becomes a very useful tool as you get into the later areas. I found myself utilizing it all the time, especially so I knew what was ahead. More often than not, if you don’t prepare for the path ahead, you may find yourself landing on spikes, or getting attacked by a spider.

The design of the game was very cute and colorful. The story at the beginning of the area paves the way for the stages that follow and the graphics continue the theme having a storybook feel. The overall feel of the game will remind you a lot of a children’s book, but don’t let the look fool you into thinking the game is for children. The game will offer plenty of challenges to get gamers, of all ages, thinking. The graphics were cute and colorful and looked fantastic on the DS. The music within the game is cute and catchy; you may even find yourself humming the tunes after you are done playing. It is somewhat repetitive, but it goes along well with the game and adds to the overall environment and keeps you relaxed while playing. The charming feel of the game was a nice touch and went very well with the story; you couldn’t help but smile while playing this game.

What is great about Boing! Docomodake is that you are timed and graded on each stage. Once you are finished with the stage, it show you the percentage of coins and treasure chests you collected, the time spent on the level and what grade you earned based on those facts. After playing the level just once, you already know some of the tricks to getting through it faster, I found myself on almost every level wanting to go back and just try to beat my time and score because I knew it would be easy to do. I loved seeing 100% completion scores, but my average score was a C because I was taking extra time collecting everything. If you want to try and beat your own score and time or go back and collect everything in each level, you could spend a decent amount of extra time with the game.

I did have a few, minor, complaints with the game. I had two issues involving the controls. While the overall controls worked very well and I liked the fact they included controls for both left and right handed players, there was one area where they left off controls for left-handed gamers. In the stage viewer, you could move around using the D-Pad, however, you could not use the buttons to navigate. This was not a huge issue because you could use the stylus to move around as well, which prevented you from having to put the stylus down and navigate. However, the B button actually closes the stage viewer, I found myself forgetting sometimes and trying to use the buttons to move around and hitting the B button and closing the viewer. It was a minor inconvenience, especially in the later levels where you use the viewer a lot, but I thought it would have been better if they handled the controls the same as the rest of the game.

The second issue was that I could not find a comfortable position to play in. This may not be a problem for everyone, but I found I either had to hold the DS in a somewhat uncomfortable position, or my DS didn’t feel like I had a good grip on it. Since you are using the DS controls and the stylus during the entire game, both hands are being used and I thought it was just a little difficult to get comfortable. I found the best way was to put the DS on a table or something for support, it still wasn’t perfect, for me, but overall, it worked the best.

Boing! Docomodake DS is a bit on the shorter side and this was a little disappointing as well. Because the game originally retailed for $20 and can now be found for even less, you are still getting a decent amount of gameplay for your money. However, I was most disappointed because I would have liked to have more levels, the game was so enjoyable, I just didn’t want it to end. I was able to complete the game, with each level 100% complete, in 7 hours. If you aren’t concerned with collecting everything in the game, it could be finished in less time. Because you can go back and try to beat your score, there is some extra gameplay you can get out of the game, but I would have liked to see a few more areas to make the main game a little longer.

My final issue with the game was that there were no save points within the stages. Each stage is pretty short, most of them under ten minutes, but it was still a little annoying if you died or got stuck and had to start completely over. I didn’t have to start over too many times, but there were a few occasions and it would have been great if there was a save point at the middle of each stage. Because you can only die if you don’t have any more Minis attached, I didn’t die too often. However, there was several times I either missed a treasure box and/or coin, or got stuck and had to start the level over. Some of the areas can be a little tricky and it can take some time to work through them and think them over, so it could be a little annoying when you realized you had to start over again.

Overall, Boing! Docomodake DS is a fantastic game on the DS. Gamers of all ages should enjoy the story and gameplay throughout the entire game. Fun and unique puzzles that keep you thinking make it hard to put the game down. Any DS owner that enjoys puzzles and platformers will not be disappointed with this game. A few minor problems in the game don’t take away from the overall game at all. This is another great game for the DS and one that will be a nice addition to any DS owner’s library!

PROS

  • Addicting gameplay
  • Catchy music
  • Cute and colorful graphics
  • Perfect for gamers of all ages
  • Easy to pick up and play

CONS

  • Minor issues in controlling the stage viewer
  • Somewhat uncomfortable to hold the DS while playing
  • A little on the short side
  • No save points within the game, dieing or getting stuck requires you to the stage over

Score: 8/10

Review: Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story

April 18, 2010 By In DS, Images, Reviews

Wait, Bowser’s Inside Story? Yes, that’s right, a Mario game that actually features Bowser as the main character. You will still play as Mario and Luigi during parts, but instead of stealing Princess Toadstool, Bowser will be stealing the show. It seems like a bold move for Alpha Dream to create a game based around everyone’s favourite enemy being the hero, but they do it well and create one of, if not the best RPG on the Nintendo DS.

STORY
The Mario & Luigi games, like any good RPG, are known for their fabulous story lines and Bowser’s Inside Story does not disappoint. In Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, the Mushroom Kingdom is dealing with an outbreak of a disease called the ‘Blorbs’. This disease causes the residents of the Mushroom Kingdom to blow up like balloons. Bowser eats a tainted mushroom while in the Mushroom Kingdom that causes him to inhale Mario, Luigi, Peach, and a little creature name Chippy. It’s now everyone’s goal to save Princess Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom. During this adventure you’ll be put in some desperate situations and lots of hilarious situations while never getting bored.

Characters
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story introduces only a few new characters to the series, but it follows the old saying of ‘if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it’. You have your regular series characters Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser. The main enemy of the game is Fawful, who diehard Mario & Luigi fans will remember as the main enemy’s assistant in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Fawful also had a very small part in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time as a shop owner who was planning a come back.

As for completely new characters, you have Chippy, Midbus, and Broque Monsieur. Chippy is the other character who gets swallowed by Bowser and acts as your guide throughout the game and your gateway for talking to Bowser. Chippy is a great character who you will learn to love. As for Midbus, he is who Fawful usually sends out to fight against Bowser. Other than that, there is really no depth to this character. Finally, there is Broque Monsieur. He is a french shop keeper made entirely of ‘?’ bricks. His broken English is hilarious and adds a lot to his character. While he can sometimes be annoying, you’ll have too many entertaining moments with him to notice.

Gameplay
The gameplay in Bowser’s Inside Story is just how series fans remember it. For battles, it’s a turn based RPG battle system, but with a twist. Each attack is timed and requires you to hit buttons perfectly, or swipe the touch screen to pull off the attack. This is a really fun variation of the normal JRPG battle system that has become a staple for games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Even though this particular battle system is the same as before, it still stays very fresh.

There are some special battles in the game where you have to turn your DS vertically in order to fight. These consist of very basic ‘Punch’ or ‘Shoot fire’ attacks. Once again, they are a lot of fun, but they certainly don’t offer the same amount of depth that the other battles do. When you are on the world map, it’s also the same as previous Mario & Luigi games. You can walk around a set area, and there are enemies throughout. This is perfect because it stops the prospect of random battles. You can interact with which ever enemy you want to fight, and a battle plays out.

The game is also filled with lots of puzzles. Most of them are quiet easy, but some will have you sitting for a few minutes pondering what to do. All of the puzzles can be finished without too much trouble which is good for those who just want to progress the story. There are also many minigames that take advantage of the different aspects of the DS. These are really fun and never take too long, so they never break up the gameplay.

Graphics

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story uses the exact same graphics as it’s predecessor. They are cartoony and look very nice and smooth. However during the battles in which players must turn their DS’ vertically, the picture is zoomed in so it looks very pixelated. It’s not a big deal, but it can be a bit of an eye sore after seeing the other pretty visuals.

Sound

The sound in Bowser’s Inside Story is superb. You will enjoy every little sound you hear while playing. The soundtrack for the game is also great. It’s full of upbeat songs that really can really effect your mood while playing. When fighting a boss, the music becomes much darker and somber which changes your mood again and also adds a sense of desperation. The muffled, fake-Italian that Mario & Luigi speak is a high-point and will definitely have players laughing.

Replay Value

Like most other JRPGs, Bowser’s Inside Story doesn’t have much replay value. The game should last around 25 hours if you aim to complete everything. It took me 18 hours and 44 minutes, but I mostly rushed through. After you beat the game, there is nothing to do other than replay it. Although that isn’t necessarily a bad thing as this game is worth a second play-through.

Final Thoughts

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is a game that all DS RPG fans should own. It’s a fresh, fun-filled experience that all DS owners will find at least one rewarding quality for. If you haven’t already played it, I highly recommend you do. You will not regret it.

PROS
- Great, over-the-top story
- Fun and hilarious characters
- Fresh, exciting gameplay
- Superb sound
- Best yet of the Mario & Luigi RPG series

CONS
- Vertical battles look pixelated
- Not much replay value

Score: 9.5/10