DodoGo! Challenge is a tricky game to evaluate in a vacuum, as it is apparently an expansion pack for/follow-up to a different DSiWare title (DodoGo!). You are tasked with guiding anthropomorphic dodo eggs through all manner of hazards and obstacles to the goal (nest). You have various tools at your disposal that allow you to accomplish this, much like the classic computer game Lemmings. You only need to get one egg to the nest in order to clear a level (some have only one to guide, others have up to five), but you only earn a medal if all of them survive; falling too far can crack or destroy an egg, and uncomfortable conditions (such as being under water) can turn them grumpy. Cracks can be repaired and grumpy eggs soothed by zooming in on them and stroking them with the stylus, but that will cost you precious time. You normally need to stimulate the eggs to their highest happiness level in order to be awarded a gold medal, but if you manage to get them all to the nest under a given “par” time (which mercifully doesn’t begin counting down until you actually touch your first tool icon), you will be upgraded one medal class (earning a Golden Egg Cup if you’re already at gold). The game can provide a code to let you share your records on the website’s leaderboard, for the truly competitive and/or obsessive.
A slight problem arises when some aspects of the game are simply never explained. There’s a tutorial somewhat curiously hidden behind the “galleries” option, but it doesn’t cover all of your tools (although the only one that is skipped is fairly straightforward) or other objects you might encounter on some levels (like enemies or costumes). You can figure out what they do with some experimentation, but it seems like an odd omission. I can only assume that they were described in the other (non-“challenge”) game and it was expected that you’ve already played that one.
Aside from the minor lack of documentation, my only problem with DodoGo! Challenge came from some control issues. When the clock is ticking down, certain gestures can cost you precious seconds if misinterpreted, and others can cause an egg to perish if the timing is off. The game encourages you to shout “Go!” or “Stop!” into the microphone to give more “hands-free” control over the eggs, but if you’re like me and prefer to not be screaming at inanimate objects in public (or with someone sleeping in another room) there are thankfully stylus gestures to get them rolling.
If you’ve played the more expensive (800 points) DodoGo! and enjoyed it, spending another 500 points on the additional levels of Challenge is probably worth it. Without the prior experience, DodoGo! Challenge is still playable and fun, just without much in the way of context. The levels are as challenging as the title suggests. Fans of logic puzzles and other Lemmings-like games will probably enjoy it most, but anyone that could use a ready supply of bite-sized entertainment could certainly do far worse for five bucks.
It’s like Zelda with heavy RPG elements and two buddies that fight alongside you! If you haven’t played Secret of Mana yet, hopefully that got your attention. The game is a classic, and while the visuals and gameplay of even this newest iPhone version remain unchanged from the game’s first release almost twenty years ago, it is still very much worth playing. Real-time action RPGs have become quite common place in this day and age, but back when Secret of Mana first came out on the Super Nintendo that wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, due to the touch screen controls of the iPhone and iPod, this doesn’t turn out to be such a good thing for this newest port of the classic.
First, let’s talk about the good stuff. This adventure cooked up in 1993 is still great fun and features likable characters and great gameplay. You play a teenager named Randi who has been thrust into the role of hero unwillingly. Despite a rocky start Randi soon gets into the groove of things and is eventually joined by two companions, Primm and Popoi, who fight alongside him. Secret of Mana looks brilliant on the iPhone, and makes full use of the screen real estate. The game may be old, but the graphics are still refreshingly colorful and vibrant. The soundtrack is also top-notch.
And now, for the not so good stuff: the cooperative gameplay Secret of Mana is so well known for is nowhere to be seen in the iPhone port. There is no way to play with your friends, which means Randi’s companions will remain CPU-controlled throughout the entire adventure (unless you manually switch roles to play one of them). Obviously providing online co-op support would require Square-Enix to jump through some extra hoops, but considering how many iterations of this game there have been (including a mobile phone port from 2009 in Japan), it would have been very nice to join up with a pal or two for some monster-slaying goodness this time around.
Touch screens are great for navigating menus and playing certain types of games. Real-time action RPGs are not among them. Controlling Randi and company on the iPhone is not an optimal experience. While you certainly get used to playing on a touch screen, it can be a bit frustrating at times. You take the accuracy of traditional d-pad and button-based controls for granted until you struggle to cross a bridge for a full minute on the iPhone’s touch screen, or have trouble facing an enemy thanks creeping up behind you. It can be especially cumbersome during a boss battle that requires you to hit specific areas of a monster. To Square-Enix’s credit, there isn’t much they could have done to make the game control much better, except for perhaps an adaptive control area that wasn’t anchored to the left corner of the screen, but for me that’s just splitting hairs. Either way it would be fussy and imprecise.
Playing Secret of Mana on a small screen with touch controls isn’t always easy, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth picking up, especially if you have never been through the adventure before. If you own an iPhone or an iPod and you’d like to have a classic RPG adventure with you wherever you may go, you won’t go wrong with this game. That said, if you have a Wii, I would recommend picking up Secret of Mana on the Virtual Console instead—if only for the chance at cooperative play.
Steel Diver started life as a DS tech demo. It was well-accepted by critics, but it was a fiddly touch-screen game about a sub, so it didn’t go anywhere for a while. It’s finally seeing release with 3D visuals, but… it’s still a fiddly touch-screen game about a sub.
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In addition to all the games on display, we took the 3DS’ built-in features for a spin, including the camera, Mii maker, Game Boy emulation and AR games.
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Ambient, relaxing, improvisational and free-flowing. Auditorium is filled with these qualities and uses them to deviate from your average puzzle game. And now you can take this experience wherever you go by snagging it from PSN directly onto your PSP.
Each of over 100 different stages all give you a layout containing the same items: streams of light particles, color-coded containers, a selection of tools to use, and various gimmicks. Your goal is to manipulate the light streams and fill the containers. Upon filling the containers pieces of the musical track behind the stage play and your efforts are rewarded with great songs.
The stages are divided into musical sets that introduce various concepts and build on them. The first stage will just show you that there are black holes present, while the final will leave you puzzling how to keep the particles safely away from the black holes. The best part of this gradual difficulty and stage progression is that there are no definitive answers. Cipher Prime gives the player a challenge and a set of tools and all the time needed to figure out a way to solve the puzzle.
While it doesn’t have the HD visuals that the PS3 version has, Auditorium still shines in a standard definition that you can bring anywhere with you. An immersive musical puzzle experience that doesn’t force you to figure out their answer but rather discover your own, Auditorium is a great game to have on a PSP.
Pros: Incredible visuals and audio, immersive puzzle experience
Cons: Lack of a hint button or stage tips
