DS

Yoshi Touch & Go

June 2, 2005

DS / Reviews / by Chris Rasco Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/yoshitouchandgo/cover.jpg[/floatleft]Despite the continued complaints about a lack of solid games on the DS, I still have faith that some developers will do some fantastic things with the second screen. Until everyone else finds their groove, you can almost bank that Nintendo will make perfect use of their “gimmicky” hardware. [i]Yoshi Touch & Go[/i] is such a game.

[i]YTG[/i] is a highly addictive and truly entertaining experience that, despite its very shallow gameplay and concept, makes me glad I own a DS. You assume the role of Yoshi who is trying to return baby Mario (and Luigi at times) to the stork that lost them in delivery. The story makes a perfect transition into the game as the first part of each level has you carefully guiding baby Mario to the ground by drawing clouds to avoid enemies while also trying to collect as many coins as possible. The more coins you collect in the first half of each level, the better and faster your Yoshi will be once you land. Trust me when I say that a fast Yoshi is a big deal. Once on the ground, you will guide Yoshi through a side-scrolling level of perils. At your disposal is your ability to draw clouds to guide Yoshi over pits or enemies, the ability to jump, the ability to enclose coins and enemies in a bubble and bring the resulting coins to Yoshi, and most importantly, the ability to shoot eggs at various enemies.

Both the vertical and side-scrolling levels get very chaotic and very frustrating, but a little practice should be enough to get the hang of them.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/yoshitouchandgo/ss02_thumb.jpg[/floatright]To keep things fresh, [i]YTG[/i] has four different single-player modes: Score Attack, Marathon, Time Attack, and Challenge. The objective of Score Attack is obviously to score as many points as you can before you reach the end of the level. Earning the highest score in Score Attack will unlock the Time Attack mode. Time Attack has you rescuing Baby Luigi from the Toadies as quickly as possible. Tossing eggs is essential to beating this challenge. Marathon focuses on distance as opposed to points or time and is basically an endurance course. Marathon mode could potentially go on forever (or until your DS battery dies) and beating the top score of 3000 yards will unlock the Challenge mode. Challenge mode was by far the most difficult mode and has you speeding through the level as fast as possible to get as far as possible in a fixed amount of time.

[i]YTG[/i] also sports a nifty versus mode. With only one DS, however, it is kind of difficult to enjoy that mode.

The controls for [i]YTG[/i] were well thought out, and I really took to them quite quickly. Drawing lines on the touch screen leaves a trail of clouds for Yoshi to walk on or to guide baby Mario out of harm’s way. Touching Yoshi causes him to jump for those moments where clouds just won’t do. Touching the screen away from Yoshi will cause him to toss an egg to that spot. Since the upper screen is not a touch screen, enemies located that far up will depend solely on your geometric skills and aim (and you thought you would never use it again). Drawing a circle around an enemy will turn them into a coin that you can then touch and drag to Yoshi. The same holds true for fruit, which will add to your stock of available eggs for throwing. Probably my favorite thing that Nintendo included was the fact that you can blow into the microphone and all your clouds will go away. This comes in very handy if you steer baby Mario the wrong way or get Yoshi stuck behind a steep grade of clouds that you can’t overcome by jumping.

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/yoshitouchandgo/ss05_thumb.jpg[/floatleft]Earlier I mentioned the different Yoshis you can earn during the vertical levels and how important these were. The more points you land with, the better your Yoshi is. In addition to being faster, which makes it easier to avoid enemies, the better Yoshis also have a larger store of available eggs for you to shoot down enemies. The fact that you can restart a level from the midpoint means that getting a stellar score in the first half of a level is paramount.

[i]YTG[/i] is not a very deep game, and it lacks a variety of gameplay styles and options, but it is enjoyable and addicting. Fans of Nintendo’s first-party library will want to pick this one up, but [i]YTG[/i] is not quite a system seller.

Polarium

April 18, 2005

DS / Reviews / by Robert Franklin Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Polarium, the newest addition to the expanding lineup of puzzlers for the DS, is really three games in one. It is a falling block game, but without the infinite addictiveness of Tetris. It’s also a short but devious set of mind-bending puzzles. Finally, it’s a multiplayer game that can only exist on the DS. Individually each of these is fun, but do they join together to form a cohesive game worth paying full price for?Polarium‘s core design is as basic as games get. Arrayed on the screen is a grid of square tiles, each either white or black. Drawing a line across tiles with the stylus selects them, and tapping again on the last highlighted tile makes all of the selected tiles reverse color. Turning a horizontal row to a solid color, either black or white, makes that line disappear. Though it may be possible to clear a screen by tapping on individual tiles a few at a time, the true feeling of grace and accomplishment is only achieved when one looping, twisting line is able to clear the entire screen.

That synopsis describes the bulk of gameplay, including the entire puzzle mode. Puzzle mode is the most intriguing section of the game. One hundred patterns of black and white tiles await challengers, most with a single elegant way to drag the stylus through and complete the round. For those who enjoy banging their heads against difficult challenges, there is little better in life than these arrays of little squares. The rest of us will enjoy the available mental crutches, including hints on every puzzle and a replay of the last failed attempt.

Unfortunately, diligent players will exhaust the 100 static puzzles far too quickly. That leaves the challenge mode, with its blistering difficulty and unrelenting rain of tiles. Challenges in this mode begin with a simple array of tiles to be cleared from the screen. As soon as those are out of the way, another few layers of tiles fall from the top of the screens, then another and anotherA

Yoshi Touch & Go

March 14, 2005

DS / Reviews / by Ben Jacobs Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Many of the complaints leveled at the Nintendo DS are grounded in the notion that the handheld is too A

Madden NFL 2005

February 28, 2005

DS / Reviews / by Chris Rasco Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/madden2005ds/cover.jpg[/floatleft]The fact that I actually tasked myself with reviewing [i]Madden 2005[/i] for the DS should come as a huge surprise to anyone and everyone. If it were not for the fact that I am the only one with a DS, then I definitely wouldn’t be writing this right now. It isn’t that I hate sports games as much as it is that I suck at them and just don’t derive a lot of enjoyment out of them. Most of my games are completely based in fantasy, and I like it that way. With that being said, I am going to approach this from the most objective angle I can and not just write this game off as the newest crappy football game released by the behemoth that is EA. This should be very interesting.

I acquired [i]Madden[/i] for the DS shortly after its launch, so my willingness to review this game was in fact surpassed by my desire to not have to do that very thing. Sheesh, the things that I am willing to do for you, the readers. So here we are, closing in on March, and I am done playing that game. My experience might shock you a little, as my gut reaction was that I didn’t like it, but upon playing I didn’t find myself hating the experience as much as I expected to or wanted to.

My last experience was a few years back when I begrudgingly took on the role of “that other receiver that nobody ever wanted to throw to.” Since then, I haven’t bothered playing another [i]Madden[/i] game, so the advances that the series has made were all but lost on me.

[i]Madden[/i] made the jump to handheld gaming a few years back for the GBA, and the DS should give it the headroom it needs to improve alongside its console counterpart. The downside being that the initial jump to the DS left a lot of headroom for expansion, almost to the point that it seems like the game could have used a little more refining before its release. With the DS supporting 3D graphics, it was obvious that EA tried to make use of this feature, and the end result is blocky character models and 3D blobs in many places. I am sure that things will improve as everyone gets accustomed to the DS, but I felt like I was playing an N64 after a little Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox, and it was a little tough.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/madden2005ds/ss02_thumb.jpg[/floatright]One of the nice things about [i]Madden[/i] on the DS is the dual-screen action. The top screen is your standard view for [i]Madden[/i] games, with the lower screen being your touch screen for play selection, as well as a top down Xs-and-Os view of in-game action. This top down view made it a lot easier to keep track of open receivers and ward off blitzing defenders. The second screen also means one more thing to be aware of in an already fast-paced game. Being a veritable newbie to the franchise, I spent a large chunk of time just trying to get my pass off to any receiver, much less an open one. In the end, I was throwing deep and burning the defensive backs.

The sound in [i]Madden 2005[/i] was decent. You could clearly hear the crowd ooing and ahhing at my spectacular skills, but virtually absent is the in-game commentary. Michaels and Madden chime in to announce things like a first down or a touchdown, but the commentary is sparse enough that you will definitely notice when the muffled voices kick in. The soundtrack is also decent, and with stereo speakers this time around, it is better than the GBA version.

The standard controls from previous versions of [i]Madden[/i] have made an appearance and-aside from the move back to a D-pad-based control-will be familiar to the [i]Madden[/i] veterans. Being unfamiliar with the controls, I found there to be a steep learning curve associated with remembering which buttons did what when I was on defense or offense. I attribute this mostly to my lack of time with football games in general.

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/madden2005ds/ss04_thumb.jpg[/floatleft]As expected, the gameplay options in the DS version are somewhat trimmed down from the full-blown game. Exhibition, season, and multiplayer are present along with practice modes, two-minute drill, and situation mode. Season mode sports a slim number of franchise options and only allows you to play a single season before starting over. Fans of long-running franchises will not be pleased with that aspect. Despite these omissions, the Madden Cards have made an appearance and can aid you in beefing up your team and players.

While I historically have not enjoyed playing [i]Madden[/i] for any console, I didn’t hate my time with it on the DS. It is a solid game that needs some graphical tweaking and a little revision of the feature set, but all in all it is a well-made game. I can’t advocate that you should run out and buy it as the GBA version is probably a little better. But if you have a DS and want to see what the future of portable football has to offer, you may want to give it a shot.

Sprung

February 2, 2005

DS / Reviews / by Chris Rasco Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/sprung/cover.jpg[/floatleft]The idea of a dating simulation is about as foreign of a concept as you can get with me. As a young adult, I was never much into the concept of dating or going out and actually meeting girls. I pretty much had my head in the clouds. When [i]Sprung[/i] arrived at my house, I kind of just stared at it for a little while, trying to figure out if I was indeed about to sit down and play a game simulating the wonderful world of dating and romance. The answer to that question turned out to be yes.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/sprung/ss12_thumb.jpg[/floatright]To say that [i]Sprung[/i] is a dating simulation is a little off the mark. Creating a true dating simulation would be a very difficult thing to do. To account for the almost unlimited number of dumb things people say would take eons. Instead, [i]Sprung[/i] takes you on an adventure in the world of dating and romance. You have the option of embarking on this adventure as one of two playable characters, Brett or Becky. Your adventure begins as the two friends are on vacation at a beautiful ski resort and they are both out for love. Your romantic encounters cover a wide variety of locations at the resort including the ski lodge, a nightclub, and the ever-elusive hot tub.

Each of the characters has a different adventure upon which to embark. The adventure is broken up into a series of scenarios. Each scenario places you in a conversation with one of the game’s characters. It is your job to use the available responses to guide the conversation and achieve the desired outcome. The outcome will vary from scenario to scenario, and if you fail, you will restart the current scenario. The scenarios are highly entertaining, and the fact that the correct response is not always the one you would expect it to be kept me guessing and trying to figure out the character’s personalities. Some of the scenarios incorporate memory game elements into them, and screwing up on these parts became highly frustrating and almost ended my playing time with this one.

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/sprung/ss06_thumb.jpg[/floatleft]The graphics in [i]Sprung[/i] are pretty low grade, and the sound didn’t really do it for me, but in a game that is focused almost entirely around text-based conversations it didn’t seem to matter.

As I think back on the concept of [i]Sprung[/i], I want to say that I didn’t like it. However, the fact remains that I was addicted to it and only stopped playing it when Dots stole the DS and beat it on her own. [i]Sprung[/i] and the dating sim genre will probably never catch on here in the U.S., but if you want a highly original game that will guide you through a series of enjoyable romantic adventures, then definitely give [i]Sprung[/i] a shot. With [i]Sprung[/i], it is all about the thrill of the hunt.

[author]Dots[/author] [b]Sprung – The Dots Edition[/b]

What do I have to add about [i]Sprung[/i]?

Cone got it all wrong. This isn’t a game about dating. It is a game made for women; a game that is all about analyzing situations and manipulating them to come out your way. The fact of the matter is that I beat the game in a few hours and Cone did not. Why? I am woman, watch me manipulate.

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