Gaming on the Nintendo DS

Travel Games for Dummies is a collection of games to entertain yourself on the go.  It has three main categories, which are sudoku, solitaire, and crossword.

Each section has tutorials that give you somewhat in depth instructions and tips for playing the games.  The sudoku and crossword parts have puzzles with three difficulty levels.  The solitaire section has a variety of solitaire type card games.

The game mostly uses the touch screen.  This includes writing the numbers in the boxes for sudoku and the letters for the crosswords.  The crossword letter part does not work that great, though, as it kept misidentifing the letters I wrote.  There is a drop down keyboard option, which works good.

Overall this is a decent game to pass the time playing.   The main thing I do not like is that it does not have some of my favorite solitaire games like clock solitaire, although it does have quite a variety still.

Cradle of Rome is a puzzle type game.  The game is a lot like 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, but much more addicting (at least it was for a puzzle game lover like me!).  The basic gameplay involves you moving tiles around to match up three in a row and clear the background blue tiles until you have cleared them all.  There is a time limit, but at least until around level 50 it never was an issue for me.  Plus even if you run out of time you can just try the level over.

The gameplay is more interesting because as part of the story mode you try to accumulate enough resources, gold, and food to build Rome.  You know the saying Rome was not built in a day.  Well, try as I did even in the game I did not build Rome in a day, although it did only take me three days to complete all 100 levels.  That may seem like the game lacks depth, but I played it almost non stop to beat it and even after beating it the game still holds appeal because the levels are very replayable.

Overall this game is awesome in my opinion.  If you do not like puzzle games, then you probably will not like this game, but if you do like puzzle games like me then you probably will enjoy this game.  The graphics are decent, although there is some poor graphics on the side with the bonus item meters being kind of messed up looking often.

I wrote about the limited edition Nintendo DS bundles about a month ago here.   Tomorrow is the day they go on sale and if DS sales are anything like last year they will not be available for long.  It seems pretty much every store that normally carries Nintendo DSs will have at least some of each bundle.  Both bundles appear to be selling for $149.99 at most places and if I remember correctly Toys R Us had an extra bonus of a free accessory with purchase, but that may have referred to buying just a DS and not the bundles.

One bundle contains a Mario Red DS, which is a red DS with a Mario M logo on the front, and the New Super Mario Brothers DS game.

The other bundle contains an ice blue colored DS, which is a great color in my opinion, the Brain Age DS game, and  an ice blue carrying case.

Below is the list of Nintendo DS new releases scheduled to be in stores by tomorrow.

Chrono Trigger - In this new version of Chrono Trigger, Crono travels back in time 400 years and tries to save the planet as past, present, and future worlds collide.

Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force - This is based on the Club Penguin online community.  With the video game it sounds like you can do much of the same stuff including interacting with the Club Penguin community (I assume you need to connect your DS to WiFi to do this).

Neopets Puzzle Adventure -  This is a puzzle game.  This game is also related to an online gaming community.  In this game you can earn codes redeemable for virtual prizes on the website.

Below is the list of Nintendo DS new releases scheduled to be in stores by tomorrow.

Emma in the Mountains - This game’s plot appears to be about spring coming and the groundhogs still not leaving their dens.  In the game you help Emma and her dog figure out what is wrong.  The game sounds like it teaches about protecting nature, how to identify animal tracks, and about mountain plants.  It has at least 20 mini games.  It is supposed to use the different DS capabilities including the microphone and the touch screen.  Activities include solving puzzles, going through mazes, building snowmen, and having snowball fights.

Dora Saves the Snow Princess is a special episode (and DVD and Video Game) of Nickelodeon’s Nick Jr. Dora the Explorer television show.  I have not seen that episode, yet, so I am not sure how well the game follows the plot, but I imagine it definitely uses aspects of the episode’s plot.

The game has some positives, but they do not make up for the big negative.  The main positive is that it is an easy game for young kids to play.  Also, the graphics are pretty good.  Another positive is that the game gives the instructions verbally, which is important since most that this game will appeal to probably cannot read very well.  The game is also nice in that it uses the microphone, touch screen, and button controls in easy to use ways that do not overwhelm the player.  Lastly, it does promote the basic concepts like in the show and in fact plays out a lot like the show, except when Dora invites you to help you really are helping her.

Now the game may sound great and everything from the above paragraph (at least for a Dora fan).  There is, however, a major negative.  The gameplay depth is extremely limited.  It took me less than 20 minutes to play through everything and even a young kid will probably exhaust the depth in an hour.  Bottom line is it may be fun for a kid to try once as a rental, but I highly doubt anyone would find it worth purchasing because of the very poor game depth.

Cory in the House is a DS game based on the Disney Channel show of the same name.  I think the show is a decent one and this game follows the show character and plot aspects nicely.  It is not exactly like you are playing out show episodes, but it definitely has parallels to the show.

It is basically an adventure game that you go through playing as Cory doing different things like sneak around the White House, go to the mall to try and sell his bobbleheads, and play in his band, DC3.  The controls vary from using the regular DS buttons and the touch screen.

Overall this is a pretty good game and I think most fans of the show will enjoy it.  The depth of play seems to be pretty decent.  The only issue I have with it is that the graphics are really low quality for a DS game.

Below is the list of Nintendo DS new releases scheduled to be in stores by tomorrow.

Cradle of Rome - This is a puzzle type game.  It sounds a little like 7 Wonders of the Ancient World.   It sounds like you match 3 resources (wood, tools, gold, etc) in a row to clear them and collect them for using in building Rome.  You start small and work your way up to building bigger things including the Colisseum.  There are over 100 levels to play through as you rebuild the ancient city of Rome.  This totally sounds like my kind of game.

Below is the list of Nintendo DS new releases scheduled to be in stores by tomorrow.

Disney’s Bolt - This game is based on the new Disney movie about a dog who thinks he is a superhero and must rescue a girl.

Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine - This is a cooking competition game.

Luminous Arc 2 - This is a sequel with 30 chapters and supposedly over 30 hours of play.  You can also battle with others through WiFi connection.

Petz Crazy Monkeyz - A game about playing as a monkey and/or taking care of one?

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - This is another Raving Rabbids party game.  This time they have taken over all the TV channels.

Robocalypse -  This is a real time strategy game in which you try to save the world from robots.  It sounds like it exclusively using the touch screen for the controls.

Rune Factory 2: Fantasy Harvest Moon - A role playing game that is supposed to be pretty good in its first version.

Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff -  This is a football type game for the DS.  It is capable of WiFi and wireless multiplayer play.

Tomb Raider Underworld - This is the newest Tomb Raider game.  It works with the DS rumble pak.

Tony Hawk’s Motion - This sounds like an interesting new Tony Hawk, as it has a special motion sensor peripheral that plugs into the Game Boy Advance slot.

Ultimate Band - This is a Rock Band/Guitar Hero type game, although not sure how good it will be in comparison because it uses no peripherals.

Below is the list of Nintendo DS new releases scheduled to be in stores by tomorrow.

Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams - This game is about Hello Kitty moving to a big city.  In the game you help her realize her dream of moving into a luxury top floor penthouse.

Robocalypse -  This is a real time strategy game in which you try to save the world from robots.  It sounds like it exclusively using the touch screen for the contols.

Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff -  This is a football type game for the DS.  It is capable of WiFi and wireless multiplayer play.