DS Games: quick reviews

Crystal Mighty · 5th February 2007, 9:40pm

Thought I'd make an easy to follow thread of short quick reviews of DS games we've played now. Also handy for "have you played **?" and "what should I buy?"

Animal Crossing: Wild World
This game just sucks up too much of your time, I've lost this somewhere in my living room which is sort of a blessing as it means I have time to play the other games I have. Real life simulator for you to carry about in your daily life, when you hear it that way, why? Addictive stuff, pay off your mortgage, collect fishes/fossils/paintings/clothes/furniture/fruit and on and on and on, mostly stylus based.

Super Mario Bros
It's a mario game. You know what to expect.

Yoshi Touch n Go
Quite a wee simple game with just 2 stages really, quickly lost interest in it, good for kids just getting used to the stylus tho. Baby Mario drops through the air and you have to use the stylus to draw clouds for him to safely drop down and avoid enemies then he gets a piggy back (yoshi back?) as Yoshi carries him along to the end point. Yawnathon.

Dr Kawashima's Brain Training
Learning as fun?

The most amusing bit is the stroop test when you're on the bus shouting RED YELLOW BLACK at your DS. Sums, counting, sodoku, stylus based. Better when there's more than 1 file on the game so you can compare stupid drawings of shakespeare and australia.

Cooking Mama
Pure silliness, stylus only game, chop/stir/fry through 80 odd recipes, once you unlock them all you can combine recipes to try and make the most horrible things you can think of, like spaghetti neapolitan with octopus dumplings, and udon noodles with pan fried battered cake. Doesn't really last long as a game tho, will be great on the Wii.

Phoenix Wright
Crazy cheesey game, play as a rather rubbishy attorney who has to defend people from getting the guilty verdict, as well as cross examining witnesses in court, you travel about different locations to try and talk to as many people as possible, I prefer to play this one by tapping the bottom screen with my thumbnail.

Hammer · 5th February 2007, 10:52pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crystal Mighty

Super Mario Bros
It's a mario game. You know what to expect.

*New* Super Mario Bros

I've been meaning to get a copy of it, but I've never got round to it.

My DS has been pretty much abandoned now because the lass takes all the good games with her.

Crystal Mighty · 5th February 2007, 10:58pm

I assumed if I didn't say Mario 64, you would think, "the other one"

Jushin Liger · 5th February 2007, 11:02pm

Mario and Luigi Partners in Time Is a fun little points RPG, I'm only about a third of the way through as I got stuck and stopped playing for ages. The bosses are frustrating and it's a bit straight forward as to what you have to do during the walking around bits but fun none the less. Doesn't use the stylus.

Mariokart DS FANTASTIC. It's Mario Kart it's on your DS, you can play mutliplayer. An essential in my eyes. Doesn't use the stylus, doesn't need to.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow A really fun Castlevania adventure, nae whip mind you until you complete it. I really enjoyed it, old school fun with enough to keep you going for a while. A bit straight forward for a modern game and the stylus use is limited and tacked on tbh. Still well worth a look though.

Hammer · 5th February 2007, 11:02pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crystal Mighty

I assumed if I didn't say Mario 64, you would think, "the other one"

That's reminded me about this story (which really deserves it's own thread).

eviltwinisdead · 5th February 2007, 11:14pm

i love super mario brothers and animal crossing, quite liked phoenix wright, and mark got me the other brain one called brain academy which was quite good for a while, but i can't get any better - probably doesn't help that i often play it while drunk. urm.

poprock · 5th February 2007, 11:26pm

Trauma Centre: Under the Knife
Brilliant! And bonkers. That’d be a Japanese gaming cliché, then. You’re a surgeon, but not a very good one. You perform surgery on people’s insides with your stylus/scalpel of doom, whilst manga nurses shout instructions at you from the top screen with many! Exclamation! marks! Then you find out that you have the magical healing touch, just as a plague hits town … Nurse, get me some patients, STAT!

Rev Scapegoat · 5th February 2007, 11:41pm

Bastards at Tesco had Trauma Centre for a tenner... Order was Pending for ages, then got cancelled with no notice

Crystal Mighty · 5th February 2007, 11:45pm

Oh that happened to my friend as well Steve

GoddamnElectric · 6th February 2007, 10:12am

Lego Star Wars II:- this rocks, brilliant platform/shooter. It's tricky to get into at first, the jumping about in 3D can take some getting used to. You go through all 3 original SW sagas unlocking new characters as you go along, some of whom have special powers so you need to rotate party members at some parts to progress. Good multiplayer options, and it's a nice touch to have so many bits of music and sound from the films. People kept looking at me funny when playing the Cantina on the bus

Well worth a look.

JohnBoy · 6th February 2007, 6:01pm

Age of Empires - Ridiculously addictive for a week or 2, completed most of it but got frustratingly stuck at others bits and left it. Uses the stilus to an extent but i still found the buttons easier. Really enjoyed it so i may well come back to it later once i have finished with...

Mario and Luigi : Partners in Time - Entertaining, lots of silly wee jokes, bosses can be annoying (they take fucking aaaages). Looks like it has the potential to get repetative, however currently enjoying it.

Mariokart - Good fun. Im not particularly good at racing games but im getting there. Wireless play is good, fast enough to stay interesting even when just using one game between 2 (never tried it with more). Plenty of unlockables to drive you to try a bit harder and do a bit better. Races/cups are fairly short so easy to pick up/put down on the bus, no issues with having to reach a save point. Addictive. Enough to keep me playing through the thumb cramps and the corners jagging into my hands.

New Super Mario - What it said on the tin. I really enjoyed it, played it constantly till i was done but havent gone back to it since. May be its just me but i think i will have to forget about it for a bit before i get any replay value out of it.

Syxx · 6th February 2007, 6:16pm

Nintendo Touch Golf - Brilliant. Easy to play, even easier to play badly. Great difference in difficulty between courses, which finally gets rid of the 'If you've done one course well, you can do 'em all well' that plagues most other golf games. Pick it up, it's well gid.

Tetris DS - It's fucking Tetris, you should already have it.

Bomberman DS - 1-Player mode isn't as much of a bore as it has been in previous Bomberman games, and the Battle mode/multiplayer's still perfect.

Bomberman: Land Touch! - Not oo sure if it's been properly released over here yet, but it's surprisingly good. Takes a while to get going, but it sticks to a basic minigame-based formula and works on it well. Plus, Battle/Multiplayer mode from Bomberman DS is there in it's entirety. For those who don't like one-player original Bomberman.

Bust-A-Move DS - no explanation needed here, get it.

Hotel Dusk: Room 212 - Not long into this game, it's a very noir-ish graphic adventure that i can only compare to Broken Sword in gameplay. Liking it so far.

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