DS Game Reviews

Import Review of Densetsu no Stafy 4 for the Nintendo DS

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:45:00 -0700

I imported Densetsu no Stafy 4 for the Nintendo DS when I heard that it was very import friendly. Densetsu no Stafy 4 is a platformer starting a starfish named Starfy and another starfish named Stapy. Based on the section of the level you will control one or the other of the characters, and in some cases you will need to switch back and forth between them. The further you get in the game, the more skills you will learn for each character. Skills like floating, double jumping, or crawling, but some of the skills are exclusive to each character.

Worth the Price:
• A simplistic yet enjoyable platformer
• Lengthy adventure with multiple ends and replay value
• You don’t need to know Japanese to play through the game

Not Worth the Price:
• You won’t know the story unless you know Japanese
• Some people may not enjoy the cutesy graphics

Overall, Densetsu no Stafy 4 was a good, import friendly game for the price. I was able to watch play-asia.com for this game to go on sale and purchased the game for $25. The only reason I would have needed to know Japanese was for the story, but lucky the game was still fun without the story. However, when I ordered the game I expected more of a challenge from the platforming experience. Even though it wasn’t as tough as I thought it would be, I did still enjoy the game and I think I will pick up one of the early games or import the next game in the series.

Review of Space Invaders Extreme for the Nintendo DS

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:53:29 -0700

Space Invaders Extreme oozes with nostalgia and fond gaming memories for many people out there. You may have played the original in an arcade, at home on an Atari console, or many of the other iterations of the game. If you have, you’ll remember the simplistic game play that somehow never got tiring; challenging you to get further in the game and get a higher score than the last time you played. Get ready to feel the same way about Space Invaders Extreme.

Worth the Price:
• Simple, almost addicting, game play
• Great audio that aligns with how you are playing the game
• Wi-Fi and local multiplayer
• Budget pricing

Not Worth the Price:
• I can’t find a reason that you shouldn’t pick up this game; it is worth the price

With an update to the graphics and some additional game play mechanics, the Space Invaders formula still feels intact, and you won’t be disappointed with this game. The single player game is great, and the additional multi-player and Wi-Fi challenge adds even more to love about this game. At the price of $20, this is a game that should be picked up.

Review of Front Mission for the Nintendo DS

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:31:12 -0700

Front Mission DS is my first foray into the Front Mission games, and this game is another solid title from Square Enix. Front Mission DS is a remake of the first game in the series that debuted on the SNES. While the graphics were not given a significant boost since the SNES, the turn-based strategy game play still holds up.

In Front Mission, you choose from two lengthy single player campaigns, control a group of pilots and their mechs (called Wanzers), and battle through a series of missions and side missions. After each mission, you have a chance to build up your team by fighting in an arena and betting to get extra cash. Then use your money in the shop to customize each of your team’s Wanzers. You’ll have the options to choose from many different types of arms, legs, bodies, arm weapons, shoulder weapons, CPUs, backpacks, plus paint color. This part of the game was the most enjoyable for me as I was able to pick a fighting style for each of my team members (melee, short, or long range) and build them up with each customization.

Front Mission DS initially had the price of $35 or $40, but has since been reduced to around $20. At the $20 price point, this is a great game to pick up for anyone who enjoys turn-based games. There are two long single player campaigns, and each campaign can be played again at a harder difficulty level after each time you complete it. The only caveat I have Front Mission DS is that it doesn’t play like a portable game. When you start playing a mission, it could easily take you 30 minutes or more, plus the customization part could take another 30 minutes. It is hard to just pick up and play, but if you take your time with each mission and customization, you should really enjoy the experience.

Review of Worms: Open Warfare 2 for the Nintendo DS

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:19:14 -0700

You’ve probably played a Worms game before, but if you haven’t, Worms: Open Warfare 2 would be a good place to start. For those who have never played Worms before, Worms is a game where you take control of a team of worm soldiers and battle against the opposing team or teams. You have an arsenal of weapons including things like the bazooka, shotgun, sheep, fire punch, and ninja rope, plus many more. You move your worms into position, take aim with your quirky weapons and destroy the enemies.

Worth the Price:
• Polished Worms experience
• Lots of multiplayer options, including WiFi
• Lengthy and challenging single player campaign
• Customizations of team and level schemes
• Puzzle mode
• Unlockables to extend the life of the game

Not Worth the Price:
• May be a little difficult for a first time Worms player
• Controls take a little getting used to

Worms: Open Warfare 2 has been reduced in price since its release and now sells for about $15. This game has been greatly improved since the first release on the DS; the AI, the graphics, the challenge, and the multiplayer options are all better. With the WiFi option and quick play setting, this game has a huge replay value. I would recommend this game to almost any DS owner and is well worth the price.

Review of River King: Mystic Valley for the Nintendo DS

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:10:00 -0700

Your sister has fallen asleep and won’t wake up, so what are you going to do? Go fishing, of course. In River King: Mystic Valley for the Nintendo DS, you take control of the main character who is on a mission of catch the River King because one scale from the fish will magically wake your sister from her slumber. Along the way, you meet a few sidekicks with different abilities and other characters who will compete against you in tournaments.

Worth the Price:
• 8 places to fish and over 100 types of fish to catch
• Simple touch controls
• Wi-Fi fishing tournaments

Not Worth the Price:
• Hooking and fighting the fish is too easy
• Grinding to catch multiples of the same fish
• Sub-par sound effects and music

River King: Mystic Valley sells for about $28, and was a let down. A fishing game should have an entertaining and challenging fishing mechanic, but this one doesn’t. The touch controls work really well, but felt dumbed-down making hooking and catching the fish too easy and feeling more like a chore than fun. Although the tournaments are fun and put more challenge on catching fish and doing it quickly. You’ll still enjoy River King: Mystic Valley if you like fishing games, but you may want to wait for a sale before picking this one up.

Review of Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja for the Nintendo DS

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:10:00 -0700

Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja for the Nintendo DS is a rogue-like game, or in other words, a randomly generated dungeon crawler. In this game you control Izuna, a female ninja, in her adventure where her “Grandboss” wanders off and Izuna offends a village’s gods. Izuna must stay in the village to battle each of the village’s gods and set things right.

Worth the Price:
• Difficulty and harsh rogue-like penalties
• Quirky story, humor, and interesting characters
• Upgrading and refining your weapons and armor
• Replay value of the random dungeons

Not Worth the Price:
• Short but sometimes overly difficult dungeons
• Lower quality graphics
• The level-up grind

Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja sells for around $25 and will probably only appeal to a select group of people. To like this game, I think you have to enjoy randomly generated dungeon crawlers, but also a punishment system that requires you to be careful about every move you make; since dying in a dungeon will cause you to lose everything you are carrying, including the weapons and armor you spent so much time upgrading. But at least you will have another reason to go back through the dungeons, besides trying to level-up. I enjoyed this game, the story, and the characters, but was frustrated with the difficultly level of some of the dungeons.

Review of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates for the Nintendo DS

Mon, 19 May 2008 08:29:00 -0700

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates for the Nintendo DS is a hack and slash role-playing adventure, which takes you through multiple locations and the ability to control four different types of characters. Each character has their own weapon type and special moves, but all of the characters can use magic though magicite orbs.

The single player portion of the game will take you about 10-12 hours to complete, and tells an interesting story. Switching between characters in the adventure is easily done by tapping the name of the character on the left, but some of the puzzles that require you to use multiple characters to complete can be cumbersome. Even with these cumbersome puzzles the adventure is very enjoyable, and keeps you interested with a lot of loot, customization for each character, and crafting items for additional bonuses. Even when you are done with the single player mode, you can play through it two more times with increased difficulty.

Where this game really shined for me was the multiplayer mode. You choose one of the four character types and play through each of the dungeon locations, focusing on gathering loot and customizing that specific character. You can play though multiplayer by yourself if no one is around, or you can use the local wireless to player with other friends who have the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates cartridge. Puzzles become a lot easier with additional players controlling the different types of characters, and some parts are already solved if there isn’t a player with the right character type. This mode is great for replay value and I played many of the dungeons over and over again, just to find another scroll to craft an item better than what I already had.

Even though Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates is a little more expensive at $40, the game is easily worth that much with so much replay value. If you have someone else to play with in multiplayer mode, the game is even more fun and a better value. I would recommend this game to anyone who likes hack and slash adventures, or anyone who enjoys role playing games.

Review of Picross for the Nintendo DS

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:05:00 -0700

Picross is a puzzle game with what seems like an endless amount of puzzles. These puzzles are like a crossword puzzle where you create a picture, rather than figure out words. You are presented with a grid where each column and row is given a set of numbers. The numbers are the clues and with these clues you need to figure out which blocks to fill in. When you complete a puzzle you will have created a fun little picture, and, if you did it fast enough, the picture will change to full color and animate.

The reason this game is so endless is because of two features: the puzzle creator and the Wi-Fi connection. The puzzle creator lets you draw your own picture and then turns it into a puzzle. Plus, you can share them with other people around the world. The Wi-Fi connection will let you battle against other Picross players in a challenge of speed to see who can complete a set of puzzles first. Also, the Wi-Fi connection lets you download new single player puzzles that are stored on the game cartridge.

You can get Picross for about $20 and it is worth that much and maybe more. The puzzles are a lot of fun to figure out, there are multiple ways to play the game single player, plus you get great Wi-Fi features and an almost endless amount of replay value. This game is great for anybody who likes puzzle games and a good game for someone who wants to try a puzzle game.

Review of SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS for the Nintendo DS

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:58:00 -0700

SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS is a collectable trading card game where every card is based on an SNK or Capcom character, many of which you may not recognize. As you start the game, everyone in the card tower is under the control of an artificially intelligent computer trying to take over the world through the card game. You are a spunky teenage card battler and it is your job to stop the computer.

During the card battles in this game, each player will need to generate energy of different colors in order to summon fighters or cast spells. Your fighters will then be used to attack your opponent’s fighters, ultimately to attack your opponent’s life points, until you or the opponent’s life points reach zero. The battles are kind of broken, due to the full turn of waiting before a fighter can be used to attack or defend. Also, cards can be discarded to generate additional energy and bring out fighters quicker, such as multiple fighters in the first turn.

When you win matches, you will earn credits to buy more card packs or card scratchers. You will use the DS touch screen to open the packs or scratch off the cards, which is fun the first few times you do it. But revealing new cards and finding the rare cards is always fun. The problem with collecting the cards is that you are limited to one side of the tower your first run through. This means you get to collect mostly Capcom or mostly SNK cards until you play through the second time.

SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters for the Nintendo DS sells for about $27 and is probably too much to pay for the game. The game lacks an overall polish with bad translations, and a completely broken game in the first run of the cartridge. If you ignore some of the exploits in the game, you can have some fun with it, but the game lacks the one feature that could have made it good, a Wi-Fi connection. If you are fan of collectable trading card games, you will probably enjoy this title, but it definitely isn’t a game for most people.

Review of Eco Creatures: Save the Forest for the Nintendo DS

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:09:00 -0700

Want to help save the environment? Or at least pretend to save the environment? Eco Creatures: Save the Forest for the Nintendo DS will put you in charge of Dorian, a strange looking, yellow forest creature, and his real-time strategy quest to stop pollution from ruining his forest home.

During the game-play, you will have different choices of creatures to control, all of which look like little, different colored squirrels. Each set of creatures has their own abilities, attributes, and characteristics. You can use your creatures to plant trees, build bridges, or carry items around the level. While you control Dorian, you can also use his spells to help you progress through the missions.

The hardest part of this game is controlling Dorian and trying to control your “squirrel army” at the same time. As soon as the creatures are off the screen they run around on their own and you have to herd them back together before you can continue your mission. But you can’t just click on the creatures, you have to walk Dorian to each creature and command them to follow Dorian.

After each mission, you will have the choice to play with your creatures and try to change their characteristics so they spend less time running away. You can also use different gems to build their attributes and levels.

Eco Creatures has more than just a single player campaign; you can play local wireless and Nintendo Wi-Fi games. However, I wasn’t able to find anyone else to connect to online.

Eco Creatures: Save the Forest’s eco-friendly game and messages can be yours for about $30, but you may want to wait for it to go down in price. The game’s controls feel thrown together and this game could have been a lot better if they focused more on flushing out a better control scheme. However, even though the game’s controls may be tough to use, the game is fun to look at. The graphics are simple, but they are very colorful, bright, and cute. The wireless play and Nintendo Wi-Fi connection may help you get more out of the game, but you will have to find someonr to play against.

Review of Touch Detective 2 1/2 for the Nintendo DS

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:42:00 -0700

Touch Detective 2 1/2 is a continuation of the first Touch Detective game for the Nintendo DS. Like the first, it is a point-and-click adventure with funny dialog, great artwork, and a set of silly mysteries to solve.

You will again control the Mackenzie and, if you played the first game, you will recognize many of the characters that you met before. However, this time there are new areas to discover and additional characters to meet.

Touch Detective 2 1/2 sells for about $30, and I think it has a better value than the first game. The game is a little easier because it has less confusing puzzles, and you don’t need to play Touch Detective to have fun playing Touch Detective 2 1/2. However, this game is very linear and doesn’t have much replay value, so it may not be worth $30 unless you really enjoy point-and-click adventures.

Review of Meteos for the Nintendo DS

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:59:00 -0700

Meteos for the Nintendo DS is a fast paced puzzle game. While playing the game, different color blocks fall from the top of the screen and you will need to match 3 or more of the same type of block to launch them skyward. To match these blocks you will only be able to move blocks on the screen vertically. Blocks that launch over the top of the screen will be sent towards you enemies’ planets, and to win, you must overwhelm your opponents with Meteos without being overwhelmed yourself.

Strategy comes in to play in Meteos because each level has its own set of blocks, sound effects, and gravity rules. Different gravity rules will make it easier or harder to launch Meteos, as well as string together combos. As you launch different Meteos blocks at your opponents, you will also be collecting them as resources. Once you have enough resources, you can unlock different items and Meteos blocks to help in the game.

You can find Meteos for around $15 and if you are a fan of puzzle games you shouldn’t pass this game up. It is a lot of fun, and almost addicting, with almost endless replayability. The game gets even better when you have a few friends around to compete against. For the price, I would suggest Meteos to anyone who enjoys puzzle games and even more so to anyone who likes playing Tetris.

Review of Touch Detective for the Nintendo DS

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:05:00 -0700

Touch Detective is a point-and-click adventure game where you control the main character, Mackenzie, and help her join the Great Detective Society. In order to join the Great Detective Society, Mackenzie must solve four cases and submit her investigation reports. It just so happens that you will help Mackenzie solve four mysteries that happen in her town.

The game play in Touch Detective uses only the touch screen, as you would expect by the title of the game. To move Mackenzie, tap the location on the screen and she will start walking. To interact with a person or an item, just “touch” it. The controls are very simple, and a quick tutorial in the beginning of the game will help you get the hang of it.

The style of the Touch Detective game is a little bit mixed. The art direction seems dark, but the script is very funny and light-hearted. The mysteries are kind of silly, but during the game the characters seem to take everything very serious. It is a great mix and the style is one of the best features of the game.

Although the art is great, the steps to complete some of the puzzles can be very confusing. You will find yourself getting lost and not know where to go next or who to speak with to progress. The solutions to some of the puzzles are really far outside the box, which goes along with the feel of the game, and sometimes that item in the background is really an item that you need to use.

If you are a fan of adventure games, you will enjoy Touch Detective. But if you have never played an adventure game, this one shouldn’t be your first. For about $25, I don’t know if you get enough game play to make it worth the purchase. Once you complete the game, there isn’t much that would make you go back and play it again. However, there are a few mini-cases and a touch list to complete. Overall, Touch Detective has a great art direction for a quirky, short, and confusing story.

Review of Contra 4 for the Nintendo DS

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:23:00 -0700

Contra 4 will have you running, gunning, jumping, and grappling your way through multiple stages and boss battles in this classic, side scrolling, action platformer. This game brings older players back to the roots of the Contra series, and new players will understand how hard games used to be.

Contra 4 will be one of the hardest, if not the hardest, Nintendo DS game that you will play. Not only is there a ton of action on the screen and lots of enemies to shoot you down, but this game does not have save points. If you spend hours to get to the last boss on the final stage, and then you run out of lives and continues, you will have to start over. And you won’t start over from that stage, but start over from stage 1 and play through the whole game again. While that may seem frustrating, it really just helps you get better at the game and entices you to play it again.

This game does not use the touch screen; instead, you will control your character using only the d-pad and buttons. The controls work really well and you will rarely be moving your finger off of the shoot button. Also, to make use of the second screen, this game has added a grapple control. You grapple on to rails to pull your character to the upper levels or grapple to a rail in order to crawl across a large gap.

There is also a set of unlockables that are unlocked by completing mini challenges. Two of the best unlockables in the game are the original Contra and Super C from the NES. With these added games, there is so much to play on this cartridge that you won’t be putting it down any time soon.

Contra 4 costs about $30 and is worth the money for pure nostalgia alone. If you have ever played and enjoyed a Contra game, you will love this game. It has everything that you would expect from Contra. To add to that, you get two classic games, a ton of unlockables, and additional mini challenges to keep you busy. If have never played a Contra before, you may get frustrated with the difficulty, but keep with it an you will understand why this game is so great.

Review of Mega Man ZX Advent for the Nintendo DS

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:51:00 -0800

Mega Man ZX Advent is the second in the ZX series, but you don’t need to play the first to enjoy this game. Mega Man ZX Advent is a polished Mega Man game with great 2D graphics and platforming action.

In this game you will control Ashe or Grey, a hunter who encounters and merges with the biometal Model A. Biometals are the robots that give the user powers, and Model A gives you the ability to copy the powers of other biometals. As Ashe or Grey, you will set out on missions to stop the havoc being caused by other biometals. When you defeat the other biometals in battle, you will obtain the ability to transform into those biometals and user their powers.

As you progress through the 2D levels in Mega Man ZX Advent, you will need to make accurate jumps and shots while using the proper biometal to make it to the end of the level. There are some biometals that you will rarely use, but each biometal has their own strength and weakness. Knowing which biometal to use and at what time will make the game a little easier because this game can be very challenging. However, there is an Easy mode and a Normal mode. If you have never played a Mega Man game before I suggest Easy mode, and if you are really up for a challenge, Normal mode will give you a frustratingly tough challenge.

Mega Man ZX Advent sells for around $30, which isn’t a bad price for the game, but you might be better off waiting for it to go on sale. This game is one of Mega Man’s yearly outings, and while it does play really well and is a fun game, it isn’t anything too special. This game should dip in price once the next game comes out and will still offer a great experience, so you may be better off waiting until that time. However, you will be better off getting this game over the original Mega Man ZX. Mega Man ZX Advent has improved on the mechanics and game play of the first in the series.

Review of Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends for the Nintendo DS

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:00:00 -0800

Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with friends is an extension of the original Cooking Mama game for the NDS. As in the first game, you will be preparing recipes through a series of mini-games under the guidance of Mama. You will get a score based on how well you prepare the recipe and how well you perform the mini-game actions.

As in the previous game, you complete each of the actions in the recipe through different motions on the touch screen. But this time, some of the actions are combined into one mini-game. Instead of having a mini-game for slicing and then a mini-game for chopping, you have one mini-game where you slice and then chop, which is definitely an improvement from the previous game.

There are 80 different recipes in the game, which are obtained by changing the ingredients used to make the recipe, or by scoring well on each recipe and unlocking new recipes. You can also unlock items to customize the way your game and Mama look, as well as stickers to use in a diary of photos you take of completed recipes.

Another addition in Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends is Mama’s friends. When you cook for friends, you will be cooking the same recipes as before, but this time you will not get hints from Mama and you will perform all the mini-games without a break between each action. This is much more challenging and adds a little more fun to the game.

Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends sells for $30, which seems a little steep, especially if you have the first Cooking Mama game. There are more recipes and additional features, but if you played the first game, you might be a little disappointed with this game because it is more of the same. There are some mini-games in Cooking Mama 2 that just don’t work and you will rarely use the diary feature, but cooking for friends and the combined mini-games are welcome features. If you want to experience Cooking Mama, I suggest the first game to save some money and, if you can’t get enough of Mama, get the second one too.

Review of Cooking Mama for the Nintendo DS

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:52:00 -0800

In Cooking Mama for the Nintendo DS, you will be cooking and preparing different recipes under the guidance of Mama. Each recipe that you prepare is made up of a group of mini/micro-games that will take a few moments to complete before moving to on the next action. Mama will be grading you on how well you perform the cooking action, and your points build up to an overall score for each recipe.

You complete each of the actions in the recipe through different motions on the touch screen, and sometimes by blowing into the microphone. Some of the actions can be tough at first, but by repeating the recipe, or using the practice mode, you can perfect the action and get a better score.

There are 76 different recipes in the game, which are obtained by changing the ingredients used to make the recipe, or by scoring well on each recipe and unlocking new recipes. With this method to add new recipes, you will find yourself repeating the same recipe multiple times to unlock a new recipe or to perfect the recipe and get a gold medal.

Cooking Mama was released as a budget title for the Nintendo DS at $20 and sometimes you can even find the game on sale for $15. This is a great price for this game and I would recommend picking it up. The game is a reasonable challenge and with 76 recipes to unlock and play, there is great replay value. With each recipe being a group of mini-games, the game is easy to play for a few minutes at a time or for an extended period by completing multiple recipes. Plus, Mama is a very entertaining character.

Review of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings for the Nintendo DS

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:35:00 -0800

In Final Fantasy: Revenant Wings you take control of a group of heroes that have set out on an adventure to find treasures. The adventurers will come across a lost city in the clouds that is being attacked by evil sky pirates and, being the heroes, they will do battle to rid the city of the evil sky pirates. Early in the adventure, the heroes will obtain a powerful stone that will allow them to summon creatures called espers. With your group of adventurers and their summoned creatures, you will do battle in a real-time strategy environment.

After an initial tutorial, your battling will begin. To advance the story you will fly an airship from one location to the next and engage in another battle to try to complete the objective. Objectives range from defeat all enemies to race to the end while a specific character must survive. After completing a battle at each location, you can return to the location and battle in a monster melee or complete a side quest.

During each battle, the strategy will be based around the party members you choose and the espers that they will control. Each party member and esper has their own attributes, which include melee, flying, or ranged, and a specific elemental strength and weakness. Before you begin the battle you can see the attributes of the enemies in the battle and you will need to do your best to match your party’s strengths to the enemies attack and elemental weaknesses.

The hardest part of this game is the randomness of the battles’ difficulty. At first, many battles will seem too easy and then you come across a battle that you just can’t figure out. It will take you a few tries to find a weakness in the enemy and try different espers, but the overall difficulty is not consistent.

The touch screen controls work well in this game, but take some time to get used to. However, the better controls are a combination of the touch screen and button controls. If there is an improvement that needs to be made in the game it is definitely the path-finding of the characters and a way to pick out the correct character in a pile of 2D sprites mashed together in a battle. But the more you play, the better you will get at controlling your party.

You don’t have to be a Final Fantasy fan to enjoy Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, but you will have to give it some time to get used to the controls. The game has lots of battles, side quests, and melees to keep you engaged, and will take you more than 20 hours to complete everything the game has to offer. But once you complete the game, there isn’t much replay value, unless you want to go back to level your characters. For a game that costs about $40, you will get a lot of play time for your money, but you will have to enjoy the real-time strategy play to get your money’s worth.

Review of Kirby Canvas Curse for the Nintendo DS

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:51:00 -0800

Being one of the early games released for the Nintendo DS, Kirby Canvas Curse is becoming difficult to find. But if you can get your hands on a copy of the game, you will find an enjoyable game with great stylus controls and lots of unlockables.

The stylus controls are what this game is about. You control Kirby, who has been transformed into a ball, and the only way he moves around is when you draw a path for him to follow or give him a tap with the stylus. The drawing controls are precise and as you play through each level you build your drawing skills and will find yourself easily traversing tough obstacles while defeating enemies and using them to your advantage.

Kirby Canvas Curse offers more than 20 levels and multiple mini-games to help you build your stylus skills. As you play through the levels you will collect medals, allowing you to unlock new characters, new mini-games, and additional features for the game. All this adds up to great replay value, especially by playing the levels again as the unlockable characters.

Overall, the game feels like a well put together 2D platformer, even though Kirby isn’t really doing any jumping, and this game isn’t exactly a platformer. It really is a new concept that relies on the NDS touch screen to make it work, and it works really well.

With this game getting harder to find, and the used price reaching about $30, it’s hard to say that it is worth that price. However, if you can find a new copy for $30 or a used copy for around $20, I say buy it. The only reason I wouldn’t recommend it at $30 for a used copy is because some people may find the game too easy, especially if you have been using the NDS and the stylus for a while. Those people will probably blow through the levels quickly and wouldn’t see as much value in the game. But if you do choose to buy Kirby Canvas Curse, I think you will get a great experience that can only be had from using the NDS touch screen.

About DSGameReviews.com

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:04:00 -0800

DSGameReviews.com reviews games released for the Nintendo DS. However, our reviews do not have a score. Instead, our reviews provide the reviewer’s general opinion of the game and whether or not the game was worth the price.

Why the value of the game and not a score? Because no matter what score or scale is used, the number means something different for each person who is looking at the review. Instead, the reviewer determines whether or not they feel they got their money’s worth and provides reasons to support that opinion.

Why the Nintendo DS and not a different handheld console? In our opinion, the Nintendo DS provides a great handheld experience focused on the games and not other multimedia functions. The Nintendo DS is a great value and offers different types of games for every type of gamer.

You will also notice that DSGameReviews.com reviews previously released games. These games are reviewed because there are many games that a Nintendo DS owner can get for a better price since the games have been on shelves for a while. Previously released games still have a lot of potential, but may have been overlooked when they were first released, or you may not know about them because you only recently bought a Nintendo DS.

We hope you enjoy the reviews. Happy gaming!