the NEO Reviewer report zone
GBA/NDS Game Reviews (Final as of Apr 1.) --- By
sumiguchi
The NDS/GBA GAME division of NEO SPRING COMPO 2008 (25 entries
total)
I tested with DSMotion for all games supporting motion and
considered that in the score. The games are sorted by score
with the first being the best.
Position Project Title Author/Poster Score
[NDS GAME] Super Wings [GBA] eKid 9.5/10
A really cool retro shooter! It offered up a tough challenge
but really fun gameplay. The story had lots of funny lines like
"The more good luck of the next time" and "Somebody set us up
the bomb!" adding to the overall retro appeal. The weapon power
ups are awesome and the bombs blew up big. Very fun game but I
really wish I could power down my gba and start it up again on
any level that I already beat once.
[NDS GAME] LoneWolfDS - Flight From The Dark Michoko
9/10
The DS is well suited for this type of game - which is a choose
your own path novel type of experience. The games is very well
done with profesional graphics and solid interface! Keeping
track of all your attributes manually is a thing of the past
since this version takes care of it for you - which makes the
experience a little more casual and enjoyable (at least now...I
can't be bothered with that kind of tedium - but it was fun as a
kid).
The game could use a few more animations, maybe some content
specific stuff(?) and I like to see the page # reference go away
but this is nitpicking - this is a great idea and I hope more
adventures will come!
[NDS GAME] Legion smealum 8.5/10
This is a very original 3d shooter with a lot of style and
humor. It has some great graphics and cutscene images, the
music sets the mood well and the sfx all sound good. The
dialogue was good - which is important because there is a lot of
it. I wish that touching the screen or pressing a button would
advance to the next page immediately instead of waiting a couple
seconds.
The inventory system is there but doesn't really seem to be
functional or necessary yet. The controls were intuitive and
the shooting was great! This would have been more fun if there
were more bad dudes as the action seemed to end too quickly.
The zoom level would work better if there was a good cover
system in place as implied in the dialogue. I really enjoyed
playing through this game and will be checking for updates.
[NDS GAME] Game Melody Oratorio DesertDog
8.5/10
This is a great concept that teaches you how to play some great
classic video game music on piano. I have a piano that I can't
play...well couldn't play I guess - now I can play super mario
and bubble bobble! The graphics are very clean and the menus
work very well - though I wish I could replay a practice stage.
There are three practice stages to help you learn the song - but
I found I had to play through a few times to memorize all the
notes before I could get through the recital.
I'd like to have the songs start playing when you select them in
the main menu and I think a level editor would be a great
addition or just more more more songs!
[NDS GAME] Scogger 0.2 scognito 8/10
This is a simple concept puzzle game where you need to sink all
the pads by jumping on them. The game features nice looking
graphics and good sound effects. Each game consists of 10
levels that start out easy and get hard as you progress. The
beauty of this game is that everytime you play, you'll play a
different combination of levels out of a total of 100 - so there
is a lot of gameplay here if you like this type of puzzle. I
do.
I wish the game had some highscores - maybe just the amount of
time it takes to complete the 10 levels with some penalty for
restarts (or something like that) so that you could compete with
yourself. As it stands though this is a great game to pick up
and play if you have 10 minutes to spare though I have to wonder
if it wouldn't be better if all 100 levels were avialable by
progressing through the game (like how Casses DS does it) .
[NDS GAME] Piztog Tower Defense Shoog 7.5/10
This is a really nice tower of defence game that has a nice look
and very good purchase/place mechanism and no need to keep
switching screens. The top screen has all the information about
the options, a birds eye view of the map and a tip box. The
bottom screen is the area zoomed in and sports some slick popup
menus that are complimented by the information panel on the top
screen. Very nicely done.
The game does suffer a little in that it takes a really long
time to play and I haven't quite figured out how to stop some of
the monsters...those damn fish make it through every time.
This game seems to be mocking me - I last a little longer, a
little longer ...and die!(repeat) I think my best is to get
28/30...but I'm not sure what happens if I get 30/30 so I'll
have to keep trying.
[NDS GAME] Escape From Island Ben2303 7.5/10
This a remake of an online point and click game. If you haven't
played the online version, which I hadn't, then all the better
because the fun part is to figure out what you need to do to
escape the island. I checked out the online version and the ds
version has the same graphics but is missing some of the
animations.
It does add some fitting music and the inventory control worked
well. It took me several tries to get through this game and
beating it is a very rewarding! You get ###### ## ## ######.
(censored by spoiler alert!) This is a great experience but by
its nature lacks replayability.
[GBA Game] Super Mario : The Last GBA Quest omg
7.5/10
This has really good retro gameplay - it is a very well done and
very mario-ish as subtly implied by the title. Every detail
has been considered from sound effects and animations. I have
to say that I hate spawn points where you immediately fall into
a hole if you are impatient like me and are holding down the
d-pad as you respawn. Dead. Dead Ok I remember don't hold the
dpad...whoops Dead. Dead....
I had to supercard patch this game to get it to work with my
supercard sd - which is really unusual - most homebrews don't
need patching. I found the game a little frustrating but I
think fans of this genre will really enjoy this.
[NDS GAME] DiceSoldiers t4ils 7/10
This has familiar gameplay to risk which overall works very
well. The game is very functional and could use some animations
and better sound effects. The game does move at a fast pace
and does support a range of local multiplayer options. This
would be a good game to get online or to further develop the
local game play modes - maybe some gameplay to sway the outcome
of the battle.
[NDS GAME] Puzl SiW 7/10
Hey! - a really good puzzle game and puzzle maker! Adding my
own jpeg images worked effortlessly and the mechanism that
locked your peice into place worked really well. The main menu
seems to have a few options, but only one option was available -
which basically allows you to browse folders and select an image
to use.
Overall this worked well and was easy to use so I think any
puzzle fan will be very pleased with this offering. I'm not the
only one that added a boobs folder to the puzl directory am I?
[NDS GAME] 15a. ULTIMATE SLIDING PUZZLE - Pack Ecchi kukulcan
7/10
[NDS GAME] 15c. ULTIMATE SLIDING PUZZLE - Pack Arcade
kukulcan 7/10
[NDS GAME] 15b. ULTIMATE SLIDING PUZZLE - Pack Sci-Fi
kukulcan 7/10
The three Ultimate Sliding Puzzle Pack games offer the same
gameplay with a variety of different themed images. This takes
a little time to get your head around how to move peices around
but by the time you solve the first puzzle it all makes sense.
There are 50 puzzles to unlock in each game which gives a lot of
selection! The menu's, transitions etc are all well polished
but I think I prefered the music in Virus DS. Something a
little more mellow would have been nice.
[NDS GAME] ChessNET - Online Chess Game (Release 1)
CYBER_Aeon 7/10
This is a really clean looking chess game that supports 2 player
local or asyncronise online. The iterface is slick, the
animations and icons are good. The interface for the main
menu's and the gameplay is really good and so far the online has
worked flawlessly - though these menus were mostly text based
and used some crazy long number as an id instead of, say the
name on your ds. The game is unfinished and there is no music
or sound effects but its a terrific & very functional start. A
live-mode online version would be a nice addition as I tend to
forget that I'm in a game if it was more than 5 minutes ago!
[NDS GAME] Electro chris28 6.5/10
This is an interesting game that has two modes - one is a
falling blocks game and the other is more like tetris attack.
The difference is that to clear blocks you need to make a
connection from one side of the screen to the other with the
same type blocks. So think Tetris and Tetris Attack mixed with
Polarium.
I found the gameplay to be challenging and unique but I think it
could be much more fun. I hope the author plays around with some
different ideas to jazz up the gameplay. The graphics looked ok
but there really wasn't much animation or sound effects and that
small font was hard to read! I think this game has a lot of
potential but this version falls a little short.
[NDS GAME] MarbleMan: The Arena MagNet 6.5/10
Stay alive as long as you can by moving your marble into the red
zone to add time to the clock. The game plays pretty well
especially with motion - but after getting used to it, the
stylus controls worked well too. I'd like to see some more
variation in the gameplay - maybe multiple balls on the screen
or maybe different zones or power ups - like one to add speed,
one to add power (to blast through obstructions). It is a well
done game but there wasn't enough gameplay to keep my attention
for too long. The game does keep track of scores, so I'll
probably go back in and see if I can't beat my record!
[NDS GAME] 13. AREA TEN kukulcan 6.5/10
This a very polished game based on a simple concept. The menu's,
transitions, and all the graphics look professional (apart from
the clapping sound :p). The music in the game really adds to
the atmosphere and overall I love the style. I did find the
gameplay to get frustrating as you level up because it gets
really really hard - though I left my ds running while I type
this up and
I just got another round of applause so I did something right!
[NDS GAME] DualShooter eadmaster 6/10
Dual shooter is a top down shoot'em up with really fast moving
bullets making this game quite challenging. I found the stylus
control to be only option to stay alive through a level. The
graphics were ok but not great and they weren't animated. There
was an overall lack of polish on the game -f or example the bomb
kills everything on the screen but there wasn't any sign of the
bomb (except that everything died!).
The HUD was impossible to read and I had no idea when my energy
was gone until I died. Trying to read that tiny hud would
basically insure my demise negating the need for me to have
looked at it in the first place.
[NDS GAME] Star Wars Battles space1 6/10
This is a single player battleship type game set in the star
wars universe. The game does add a twist - where you have to
battle 1 vs 1 across a meteor belt when you hit the enemy ship
or when it hits you. So just because you got hit does not mean
all is lost - you have a chance to defend yourself. While this
is a great twist - it gets monotonous and I found it to be too
easy to exploit the AI in this shooting match which heavily
swayed the odds of winning in my favour.
[NDS GAME] ASCIIWAR 0.9999 samel 6/10
I have mixed emotions - an interesting adventure game that
suffers from ridiculous controls and ascii graphics. I guess
the ascii-ness gives it some retro-appeal especially when you
consider the story but I found it to be just too destracting and
the controls were too bizarre. I think just changing the
controls would make this game a whole lot more playable and I
may be able to get past the ascii.
[NDS GAME] Snake Dual Screen edddy 5.5/10 (Updated
April 1)
This is a classic snake game that is so classic it moves the
snake in blocks. I found that this made the control a little
harder because if I just tapped the direction - it didn't seem
to register if I didn't time it right.
I can see that the author put a lot of polish in this in terms
of menus options and the static graphics (well level gfx are ok
too). Once I got used to the controls I got better but still
gave it a low score because it is a snake game, but the game was
put together very well.
[NDS GAME] NoobMiniGames tiancai 4.5/10
This is a spot the differences game that tracks your highscores
by seeing how many differences you can spot in a set amount of
time. Since there is only one type of game it got pretty old
pretty fast. Needs more minigames!
[NDS GAME] PongClassicDS (0.5) minishlink 4.5/10
This is a pretty good pong game with a lot of attention to
detail. I like the fast pace but it would have been nice to see
classic mode run a little slower. The psychodelic mode wasn't
what I was expecting but it does add a nice brain twist to the
game.
Overall I wish the length of the game was shorter - say 5 points
instead of 25, and a I found the menu to be cluttered/confusing.
[NDS GAME] jaPongG leinad 4/10
This pong game seems a little more true to the original but does
offer a new 3 player mode which is interesting. The menus could
have been improved a little but overall this plays as well as a
pong game should!
[GBA GAME] Chocobo World Deluxe Davgav 2/10
Well this is a start of a game but is buggy and not done enough
to be fun. There are some interesting ideas in it but.... well
- what can I say? |
NDS Division reviews by thebawp --- By:
thebawp [
* No.1 NEO Reviewer *
]
Neoflash 2008 Competition NDS/GBA Game Reviews
My Top 10 Games (in order)
1. LoneWolfDS ~ Play the popular gamebook on your DS,
with automated battles, game saves and more!
2. ASCIIWAR 0.9999 ~ This is a faithful homage to the
classic game Rogue, but with a technological twist. Addictive
and fiendish fun.
3. Super Wings ~ A frantic but retro flying shooter with
awesome power ups and fast action.
4. Escape From Island ~ Adventure fans everywhere
should give this a whirl, this game showcases what an excellent
platform the DS is for the genre.
5. Game Melody Oratorio ~ Learn to play classic video
game tunes with this polished piece of kit.
6. Legion ~ Quirky dialogue, 3D graphics and some fun
shooting action - and this project's only in its early stages!
Definately one to watch the development of.
7. Electro ~ A puzzle game that's just a bit different,
but still plenty of fun and with great visuals and acoustics.
8. AREA TEN ~ Another interesting puzzle game, it starts
off simple, but soon gets frantic!
9. Piztog Tower Defence ~ A very well laid out, polished
piece of homebrew, that sees you constructing defence towers
(No, really!) to attack any passing invaders.
10. Dice Soldiers ~ Play with up to 5 other opponents
(CPU or humans) to CONQUER THE WORLD. With dice. Although
actually, there are no dice in the game.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Snake Dual Screen edddy
Impressions: Being a fan of the original snake, I was intrigued
by the idea of playing the game on the DS. The idea of making
the game play over both screens is a nice idea, but I'm not sure
if it's entirely successful, as I often found myself clearing
one screen then the next, rather than scrolling back and forth
over the two.
Presentation: Cheap and cheerful, with a very homemade look
about it, although I'd like to stress this is no bad thing. The
music is fairly pleasant and upbeat, and suits the graphical
style well.
Gripes: First few levels are almost painfully slow. The sound
effect of your snake dying is a bit random (sounds like a duck!)
Closing Comments: It's a nice effort which is quite well
realised. I'm not sure if it's a classic, in a way, there's
almost too much added to this game which detracts from the
essentially classic gameplay.
Score: 7/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Game Melody Oratorio DesertDog
Impressions: This is a simple idea, with the aim of helping
players to learn classic video game themes on the piano. The
keyboard is perfectly responsive, and the 'recital' stage is
nicely executed.
Presentation : It's simple without anything overly fancy, but
it serves its purpose well enough. It's presented in a clean
and pleasant manner.
Gripes: None, this is a smart, well executed idea. A few more
songs might be nice but as it stands, this is a very nice piece
of homebrew.
Closing Comments: Very impressive. This type of homebrew is
what really makes me think the DS homebrew scene is great to be
a part of.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ChessNET - Online Chess Game (Release 1) CYBER_Aeon
Impressions: Everything is responsive, and well implemented. I
liked that you could easily resume local games.
Presentation: The presentation is simple but slick.
Gripes: It would have been nice for a single player option, but
I know it's meant to be multiplayer. Also, I could not connect
to server for online gaming, which is a great shame.
Closing comments: Development is still ongoing, but I think
this seems to be a well supported project that's definately
worth keeping an eye on.
Score: 7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Legion smealum
First Impressions: Everything about this game is very
impressive from the start. It has a very professional air about
it, with lots of dialogue (with some fun ideas), interesting
characters, and a very 'fallout' feel to it.
Presentation: Very slick, very stylish. Music is well suited to
game and is as slick as the graphics. However, some areas seem
a little lifeless though and because your own character takes up
a large part of the screen, sometimes you don't see enemies
until you're face to face with them which makes shooting them a
bit tricky and wild at times.
Gripes: In the dialogue sections, when trying to go to the next
page, you have to tap 'next' more than once which can get a
little tedious. There are still some bugs present (you're able
to enter areas you shouldn't).
Closing comments: Overall, I think this is extremely promising
and is probably the most ambitious of all the entries, but this
is not a finished product which makes it hard to rate it above
more polished entries.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Star Wars Battles space1
Impressions: I'm a big battleships fan, and a Star Wars fan to
boot, so I was interested in this immediately.
Presentation: Nice use of sound effects and music (I paused the
game whilst writing down my thoughts and was treated to the Star
Wars bar music!) and appropriate graphics, the controls are also
fairly responsive.
Gripes: The mini game, although a nice idea, can get a little
tedious especially when you've hit a ship one turn, and your
opponent hits your ship the turn after. Also, the AI is
definately flawed. Additionally, there is no indication of your
own ships damage, or when you've actually destroyed one of your
opponents ships. No 2 player option?
Closing Comments: Overall, this is a nice effort, with an
interesting twist on a classic game. However, there are too
many niggling flaws in this to make it a mainstay on my homebrew
cart.
Score: 6.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PongClassicDS (0.5) minishlink
Impressions: I really wasn't keen on the music at all (to the
point that I had to turn it down completely.) There's plenty of
levels of difficulty to choose from, and the psychedelic mode
makes things a little more interesting.
Presentation: Very basic, I expected 'psychedelic' mode might
bring in a touch of colour, but everything remained a resolute
black and white.
Gripes: The music (as already mentioned) and that I just didn't
find it very fun to play.
Closing comment: Not a bad effort, but it's not something I'll
be playing in the foreseeable future.
Score: 6.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Escape From Island Ben2303
Impressions: This is a smart and fairly fun adventure game,
with some nice little nods to old school Lucasarts point n
clicks like Zak McKracken, Indiana Jones and Day of the
Tentacle. The puzzles aren't terribly taxing, and the game only
took about 20 minutes to complete, but it was fun nonetheless.
Presentation: Very nice presentation, with nicely drawn graphics
and nice music. The game works well on the NDS, with good use
of the touch screen/dual screen. It's easy to travel from
screen to screen using the stylus or the cross pad, and it's
equally easy to flip to your inventory screen via touching the
back pack icon with your stylus or just clicking L or R. Again,
it's easy to combine items via drag and drop.
Gripes: None really. There are one or two leaps in logic and a
red herring or two, but those are things commonly present in
most adventure games!
Closing Comments: A fun diversion that has been ported well to
the DS. The interface is pretty much without fault, and it's
hard to think of a more perfect candidate for conversion to the
DS.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ASCIIWAR 0.9999 samel
Impressions: Wow, just wow. I have always been a massive fan of
roguelikes, so to see asciiwars and play it on my DS is
amazing. The command list at first is a little daunting (a lot
to remember), and I didn't take it all in to begin with. The
game itself is extremely smooth and well implemented. The
keyboard works very well and is very responsive, and the
controls are well thought out. Being able to map a command to
the A, X, and Y button is a definite plus.
Presentation: Sure the graphics are only asci characters, but to
me they're beautiful.
Additional thoughts: The intro is a nice touch, with missing
characters and broken English which perfectly illustrate the
idea that things have gotten corrupted in a nasty way. The
first few plays saw me die very quickly but I got to see that
the scoreboard seemed to work perfectly. I soon learned that
resting is essential to survival, as was the help menu (easily
found by touching L and hitting h on the keyboard). Also, the
spell system is essential, and a very nice feature which I don't
really recall using so much in a rogue-like game before.
Gripes: Some 'monsters' can be hard to see (dark grey c's on a
black/light grey background) and of course you can't attack
diagonally (though that is a fault of the DS rather than the
game).
Closing comments: I sense there's a lot of depth to this game
despite the deceptively simple appearance of it. This is
definitely a game I will be keeping on my supercard.
Score: 8.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scogger 0.2 scognito
Impressions: The opening screens of this game are pretty
polished for homebrew. From the title, I expected a fogger
esque game, and I wasn't misled.
Presentation: Quite polished. I wouldn't quite say it's
commercial quality (although it definately beats some of the
shovelware commercial releases!) with clear, colourful graphics,
and soundtrack that was quite reminiscent of Banjo-Kazooie.
Gameplay: This is a fun little puzzle game that I actually
found quite challenging.
Gripes: The 'herald' music at the start of each level is fine,
but as it repeats every time you restart a failed level (which
can happen very quickly), it soon gets a bit irritating, but I
could mute it.
Closing comments: This is an entertaining and well thought out
diversion. It's not the most flashy game in the contest, but
it's well realised.
Score: 7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DiceSoldiers t4ils
Impressions: I've never played Risk, so I wasn't sure what to
expect. After a few turns (and after watching the cpus duke it
out) I soon got the idea, though I've got a lot more to learn.
Presentation: I thought the music was suitable for the game,
and the graphics weren't bad, although having everything cramped
onto the bottom screen wasn't ideal.
Additional thoughts: As a new comer to this type of game, I'll
admit to being a bit overwhelmed at first. I found it very
difficult to begin with, but I can see myself learning to enjoy
this.
Gripes: A tutorial mode might have been a good addition for
those new to the game, and not everything is labelled clearly
(that button you can put a red X through when beginning a game -
what is that for?).
Closing comments: This is a good game which is enhanced by the
fact you can have multiple players. It's well executed, with
responsive controls.
Score: 7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DualShooter eadmaster
Impressions: There's little to form first impressions on, but
this is a scrolling flight/shooter which utilised the dual
screen function and the touch controls.
Presentation: The graphics and sound are both nothing too
advanced, but they do the job. They do seem a little 'flat'
though. The start screen is also disappointingly basic.
Additional thoughts: I thought this game made good use of both
the dual screens and the touch controls, although you could use
the D pad if preferred. I was also impressed by how fast the
game was, with no slowdown despite all the action.
Gripes: I wasn't that keen personally on the music.
Closing comments: This is frantic, fast, fun shooter, but it's
a touch on the basic side.
Score: 7/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Electro chris28
Presentation: The presentation of this game is excellent, and
I'd say it could easily be mistaken for a piece of commercial
software. The graphics, whilst not anything amazing, are
polished and look good. There's a nice selection of tunes to
listen to while you play aswell.
Additional thoughts: This is an original game that is quite fun
to play, although, as with a lot of puzzle games, it can also be
frustrating.
Gripes: Sometimes, the screen doesn't register your stylus taps
which can be frustrating. Also, I'm still not sure if I'm sold
on the left to right concept.
Closing comments: I think this is certainly a piece of homebrew
I could see myself recommending to others.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JaPongG leinad
Impressions: Not a lot. This is a faithful recreation of
Pong.
Presentation: Everything about this game is extremely basic.
There's no sound, and the graphics are what you'd expect from a
Pong game. I did like that all the instructions were on the top
half of the screen at the start.
Gripes: The basic presentation will not appeal to a lot of
people.
Closing comments: If you want to play Pong on your DS, this is
the game I'd recommend. Yes, it's simple, but it's fun. You can
play vs. the cpu or a friend, and I liked that there was an
option to play across the 2 screens too.
Score: 7/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15c. ULTIMATE SLIDING PUZZLE - Pack Arcade kukulcan
15b. ULTIMATE SLIDING PUZZLE - Pack Sci-Fi kukulcan
15a. ULTIMATE SLIDING PUZZLE - Pack Ecchi kukulcan
Impressions: There's a lot of detail, here, so if you like
sliding puzzles, this would be heaven.
Presentation: Everything is clean and clear, and well presented
and the music is fairly interesting to listen to.
Additional thoughts: I found it disappointing that you couldn't
use the stylus when playing the puzzles although I suppose it
makes more sense to use the dpad. There are a lot of different
puzzles in each pack, almost to an exhaustive extent!
Gripes: No touch screen control in the puzzles.
Closing comments: For sliding puzzle fans, I wouldn't recommend
anything else!
Score: 7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AREA TEN kukulcan
Impressions: I had to read the info screen to find out what to
do (it's good that it was provided), but I was initially very
impressed by this game. Further investigation proved it to
fulfil my early expectations.
Presentation: The presentation for this game has clearly had a
lot of work put into it. The menus look good, the controls are
responsive, and generally, the graphics are pretty good. The
music is pretty cool, but after a while, I had to turn it down,
as it's quite brash.
Additional thoughts: This is quite a fun puzzler that can soon
get quite challenging. I did like that the speed and size of
the balls could be altered to your own preference.
Gripes: I got the blue and red areas confused because I was
looking at the sides of the screens rather than the colours of
the actual play area.
Closing comments: An interesting concept that's well executed
and fun to play.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Super Wings [GBA] eKid
Impressions: The introduction sequence and title screen is
pretty basic, but none of that really matters once you begin to
play.
Presentation: Although you could argue the graphics look dated,
I think they look great. There are some nice vehicle animations
and varied back drops which reflect any explosions by leaving
dark patches behind. The music is well suited to the action.
Additional thoughts: I love the dialogue in this game,
particularly the text you get when you die. It made me
chuckle! Also, the power ups you can pick up are very cool!
Gripes: I could have done with more lives and when I first
began to play, the game did stutter very slightly.
Closing comments: This is fast paced and frantic, and actually
very fun. It's also quite challenging, but not annoyingly so,
it just makes it more satisfactory to play as you get better.
Really, this is an excellent game and one I would happily
recommend to shooter fans.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LoneWolfDS - Flight From The Dark Michoko
Impressions: I must admit that I am a huge fan of the Lonewolf
game books, so when I saw this had been made for the DS, I was
very excited by the prospect. Just to replay the books would
have been enough to make me very happy, but what Michoko has
delivered was above and beyond even my wildest expectations.
Presentation: The presentation of this homebrew is stunning. I
think I could easily convince any of my friends that this was a
commercial piece of software. The music is very suitable for
playing along too, it's quite dark and atmospheric, and the
composition quality is very good. The page turning sound effect
is a very sweet touch.
Additional thoughts: The execution of this homebrew is note
perfect. The layout is superb, and there has not been a feature
implemented that does not work incredibly well. The touch
screen controls are responsive, the battles and stats all work
well and of course, it's based on a great story. You can also
save your progress at any time, and it's so much fun, you'll
want to play each and every path you can.
Gripes: This is only the first game book, so I hope the entire
series is converted to this format.
Closing comments: I've been a Lone Wolf fan for years, but it's
projects like this that should win the series a whole new set of
fans. LoneWolfDS is certainly my favourite entry of the Neoflash
contest, but also the most impressive piece of homebrew I've
played. It actually makes the gamebooks more fun to
play, because it takes away all of the tedious elements (rolling
the dice for battles/keeping track of inventory) and does it all
for you.
Score:9.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MarbleMan: The Arena MagNet
Impressions: The howto screen is quite helpful, and the whole
style of the game feels quite retro to me.
Presentation: The graphics are fairly simple, but are
effective. The music is okay, but I had to turn it down after a
while.
Additional thoughts: This is a game of survival against the
clock, and the action can get quite frantic, with lots of
obstacles thrown in the way. It's fun and fast, and although
the concept is fairly simple it is well executed.
Gripes: I found it tricky to get to grips with the stylus
controls.
Closing comments: It's a shame I couldn't try out the DSMotion
controls, as I really think Marbleman would be a lot more fun
using them.
Score: 7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chocobo World Deluxe Davgav
I'm afraid I had some problems running this. After patching it
for my Supercard, it did run, but I got error screens. I
restarted, got into the game properly but it froze.
Score: Unable to score.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NoobMiniGames tiancai
Impressions: I thought this was going to actually be a
collection of mini games, but it's actually spot the difference,
with a few different pictures.
Presentation: Everything is well laid out and the touch screen
is pretty responsive. The graphics are quite nice and fairly
polished.
Additional thoughts: I think there has been some nice work done
here, the interface really is very good, and you can even save
your scores, but it lacks any depth to be anything more than a 5
minute play.
Gripes: Basically you just have to touch the differences,
rather than circle them, but this can be a touch frustrating on
some as you might not touch the right spot. Also, the same
pictures seemed to cycle through quite quickly. It would have
been nice if you could choose which picture you wanted to play.
Closing comments: This isn't a bad piece of homebrew and it's
mildly diverting, but it really lacks the depth to make it stand
out at all.
Score: 5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Piztog Tower Defence Shoog
Impressions: I was quite interested in this game as I've never
played a Tower Defence game before. Playing it was certainly a
different experience.
Presentation: The graphics and music is fairly slick, with
options to change the song in the level. Although there's quite
a bit to take in, the actual layout of the game is very good,
with some nice info screens and on screen instructions to give
you an idea of how to do things.
Additional thoughts: There looks like there has been quite a
lot of effort put into this game. Everything seems well thought
out, there are plenty of options, and I think fans of this type
of game would love it.
Gripes: This really could have done with some kind of tutorial,
or more detailed info for the unitiated. Also, as this is only
a beta, there are parts that don't work yet (like the save).
Closing comments: This is one of the more polished entries
(though it's not complete), but offers a simple and easy way to
play a tower game on your DS.
Score: 8/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Puzl SiW
Impressions: This is not far from seeming a professional piece
of software, with everything fairly straight forward and well
laid out.
Presentation: The presentation is fairly slick and effective,
with some fairly peppy music to accompany while you play.
Additional thoughts: This seems to be a work in progress, as I
could only select one of the options (quick play). The touch
screen controls are responsive enough.
Gripes: The area for all the jigsaw pieces (bottom screen) is
just too small to make this easy to play. Also, I could find no
way to quit a game and get back to the main screen, or to mute
the music (which after a while did grate).
Closing comments: I'm not a jigsaw fan at all, and Puzl did
little to change that. I can, however, see it's merits as a
game, and am sure jigsaw puzzle fans would enjoy it.
Score: 7.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Super Mario : The Last GBA Quest omg
Impressions: Being a big fan of Mario games, I was quite
intrigued by this game. Early signs are promising.
Presentation: This could easily be an genuine Mario game in
terms of the graphics and sound. Very polished and colourful.
Additional thoughts: For fans of Mario, this is a nice wander
down memory lane. I thought the bomb koopas were an inventive
touch (not seen them in any other Mario platformer).
Gripes: The controls weren't quite as smooth as I would have
liked, and Mario seemed very slow if you didn't hold down B (but
I find that with most Mario games!).
Closing comments: Although this looks and almost plays exactly
like a Mario game, I found the level of difficulty early on a
bit frustrating. It could just be me getting old, but it
drained my enjoyment considerably.
Score: 6.5/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As with the applications, I am pretty much blown away by how
creative and hardworking the coders in this community are.
Almost every game I tried made me look at the DS in a slightly
different way, and although it was quite a long process to play
each game and also review it, I never found it to be a chore.
Again, I bow down to the coders behind these games.  |
My reviews of the NDS-games --- By
The Compiler
My reviews of the NDS-games
First of all, my English isn't that good, because I'm Swiss, so
sorry for all mistakes I make.
But let's start with the reviews:
Game Melody Oratorio by DesertDog
A game that teaches you how to play game melodies from
several games (Super Mario Bros, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tetris,
Bubble Bobble and The Legend of Zelda) on a keyboard/piano.
pros and cons
+ Nice and polished UI
+ Good samples
- Only 5 Songs
   3.5/5
graphics
Very nice UI, everything looks very polished.
4.5/5
sound
Good samples, all the sounds it needs.
4.5/5
ideas, innovation
It´s a completely new idea to teach piano on a ds!
5/5
usability
Everything good, too!
3.5/5
motion support
No (but it won't make any sense)
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
Yes, I´ve got a keyboard some time ago, but I can´t play
anything on it, so I´m going to let me teach the Zelda music
What I would improve/add
overall ranking
   22.5/30
ChessNET by CYBER_Aeon
This is a online or local chess game for two players
(online via "play-by-mail")
pros and cons
+ Nice and polished UI
+ Online gaming in a new form
- No En Passant/Castling implemented
3/5
graphics
Very nice UI, everything looks quite polished
4/5
sound
There isn't any.
2.5/5
ideas, innovation
Chess on the ds isn't new, but it's a great idea how to play it
online.
3.5/5
usability
The icons in the GUI should have a label, but bedide of that
it's good.
3.5/5
motion support
No (but it won't make any sense)
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
No, because I can't play chess (I really should learn it!)
What I would improve/add
- Probably a CPU-mode to play against the DS (maybe you
could take the one from
DSChess)
overall ranking
18/30
Chocobo World Deluxe by DavGav
I couldn't really rate this, because I haven't got a way to play
.gba-homebrews. So it's non-competitive.
Super Mario : The Last GBA Quest by omg[/url]
Same here.
Puzl by SiW
A puzzle-game where you can puzzle with your own images.
pros and cons
+ Cool GUI
+ You can puzzle with your own images
+ Love that penguin
- Image-previews load slowly
- All the pieces are visible on the screen, so that's a little
bit a mess
3.5/5
graphics
Quite nice gui, puzzle-pieces also look good.
4/5
sound
Many music-tracks, nothing that's annoying, so simply excellent.
5/5
ideas, innovation
Well, a puzzle is nothing new, but you can puzzle with your own
images on your ds!
3.5/5
usability
It's a little bit messy when you're puzzeling with many pieces,
all other things are good
3.5/5
motion support
No (but it won't make any sense)
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
No, I don't like puzzle games!
What I would improve/add
- It would be cool if you add the grayish features in the
menu
overall ranking
21/30
DiceSoldiers by t4ils
A "risk"-like game.
pros and cons
+ Nice graphics
- Messy GUI
2.5/5
graphics
I like them, good graphics for a "minigame" like this
3.5/5
sound
First not bad, but it's getting annoying after some minutes.
3/5
ideas, innovation
The idea is not new, but it's something like a "port" to the ds.
3/5
usability
The GUI is quite messy, and you need to read the readme before
you really can enjoy playing.
2/5
motion support
No (but it won't make any sense)
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
Yes, I like playing this.
What I would improve/add
overall ranking
15.5/30
LoneWolfDS - Flight from the dark by Michoko
A port of a gamebook to the DS
pros and cons
+ Very very nice graphics and sounds
+ Great port to the DS
+ 3 save slots
5/5
graphics
Wow! Simply WOW! (Nah, I don't mean World of Warcraft, and even
not the Windows Vista-Ad). Looks like a commercial game does!
5/5
sound
Fits to the book, and also smooth, so it doesn't interfere with
the reading.
4.5/5
ideas, innovation
Well, the first port of a gamebook to the ds. The story isn't
new, but anything other is
4/5
usability
Couldn't be simpler and more intuitive!
5/5
motion support
No (but it won't make any sense)
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
No, but only because I already play throught this
What I would improve/add
- I can't wait for LoneWolf 2....
overall ranking
25.5/30
Legion by smealum and Lobo
It's a mix beetween an RPG, an action game, and a shooting game
in a isometric perspective
pros and cons
+ 3D
+ Polished GUI
+ Nice jokes at the topscreen while playing
- I can only see a yellow ground at the beginning.
3.5/5
graphics
Looks good in the menu, but in the game it could be better. But
hey, it's 3D!
4/5
sound
Not bad, but also not that good.
3.5/5
ideas, innovation
Some new ideas in it, but all others are not new.
3/5
usability
Well, you can't do more than walk and shoot, so it's usable
3/5
motion support
No
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
No, because it hasn't got a story or something. If a want a
shooter, I rather play doom or so.
What I would improve/add
overall ranking
18.5/30
ASCIIWAR by Samel
A completely sick mix beetween adventure and shooter, but in
ASCII
pros and cons
+ Sick idea
+ ASCII is cool
- Not very usable
3.5/5
graphics
Uhhmmm, graphics? What's this? I only know what ASCII is! And I
like ASCII.
3/5
sound
There isn't any, would be cool if there would be some beeps or
so
2.5/5
ideas, innovation
A very different story, and very sick and new ideas.
5/5
usability
You have to use the keyboard and type a command if you want to
do something. Cool for nerds, but confusing to non-nerds.
2/5
motion support
No.
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
Yes, of course!
What I would improve/add
- A simple GUI (or TUI - text based interface) for
selecting the spells, etc.
overall ranking
17.5/30
Star Wars battles by space1
A battleship-game with a starwars look-and-feel.
pros and cons
+ Nice idea to mix battleship with starwars
- Very buggy
2/5
graphics
Nice graphics and ideas, but the need some more polishing.
4/5
sound
Yay, Star Wars sounds!
4/5
ideas, innovation
Everyone knows battleship, but you mixed it with starwars,
included a mini-game, and so on.
4/5
usability
You easly can do everything you have to do.
4/5
motion support
No, but it won't make any sense
0/1.5
original enter
Yes.
1.5/1.5
Will this stay on my flashcard?
Probably. It would, if it would include some more features.< | |
