Gaming on the Nintendo DS

Hannah Montana Music Jam for Nintendo DS is an action adventure game based on the Hannah Montana Disney Channel show.  The game is a pretty good reflection of the general stuff that goes on in the show.  The gameplay is mostly running around between places and switching between being Miley and Hannah.  There are different mini games you play along the way doing things like posing for pictures, playing guitar, and figure skating.  Overall these mini games are pretty easy and fun.

This game, however, has very limited game depth.  It will probably take most only a few hours to beat and the mini games may offer some more entertainment beyond that, but I doubt it is worth purchasing for anyone.  The worst part is that the graphics make the plot part pathetic, especially since the characters look nothing like themselves for the most part.  In particular, Miley’s dad looks quite odd.

Franklin’s Great Adventures is an okay game for kids, however, I found by level 3 the adventure levels got pretty challenging.  In fact I had to give up on level 3 because I could not figure out what you are supposed to do to get further.  The mini games nicely use the DS controls, such as blowing a sailboat through a level and touching the screen to sort stuff in Franklin’s room.  The other controls and graphics, though, are pretty much GBA quality and I think that is because this was released as a GBA and DS game at the same time in almost identical format.

Overall this game may entertain fans of the turtle, but it can also get frustrating.  Also, there is a lot of on screen words and no talking of the text, so younger kids may need help to really enjoy the game or they may just find it confusing because they skip the text.  I recommend this as a rent and not a buy if not just a game to be entirely skipped.

The Cheetah Girls: Pop Star Sensations is an adventure type music game.  It is set after between the happenings of the second and third Cheetah Girls movies.  It may be a fun game for Cheetah Girls fans, but other than that it is not a very well put together game.

The game levels are organized into days.  You do a variety of tasks helping different members of the band and try to have the target score by the end of the day.  You can go back and do tasks to get the target score.  The tasks include things like composing music by tapping the notes in the correct order, dancing by tracing paths, and singing in rhythm by blowing or singing or pressing B at the right time.  The last part is  the most disappointing, as you really cannot just sing along unless you really know the lyrics because it does not show the lyrics and you are just seeing bubbles reach a meter.  I found the only way to do it is pressing B as constantly blowing in rhythm is tiresome.  I think singing would work, but I do not know the songs good enough to even try that way.

While this game does have a decent plot and some good games that I think fans of the Cheetah Girls will enjoy, I found it tedious and boring.  Then again I do not like the Cheetah Girls or music or fashion.  The main thing that put me off about this game is the graphics are horrible.  I usually could care less about graphics and I tend to care more about gameplay, but boy are these graphics so unrealistic and poor quality for a DS game. The girls do not look like themselves at all and the downtown scenes are incomplete with odd pinkish background stuff around the edges.

Kim Possible: Global Gemini for Nintendo DS is a game based on Disney’s animated Kim Possible television show.  The game is very well animated much like the show.  I have not seen the show in a long time, but the missions in the game mostly do not seem to resemble anything from the show.  However, since I have not seen it in a long time and I have not seen at least half the episodes I cannot definitively say the plot is not at all based on certain episodes.  The characters at least are definitely much like in the show mostly featuring Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Rufus, and Wade.

The game is a relatively  easy adventure style game with you going through the levels by jumping with B, using a grappling hook with A, and other special gadgets with X. The first level gives a good tutorial advice as you go through.  Depending on the mission you play as Kim Possible or Ron Stoppable.  The game has two difficulty modes.  The first is Agent.  I did not find it interesting enough to go through this whole mode, but I assume you unlock the Spy difficulty level after beating Agent mode.

Overall this is an okay game.  I think fans of the show will probably enough the game.  I just am not much into adventure style games these days and get bored after a few levels unless they have something extraordinary about them.

Babysitting Mania for Nintendo DS is a Diner Dash like game with you acting as a babysitter instead of a waiter.  You basically just tap the screen to pick up messes, change diapers, stop the kid from causing more messes, pick up laundry, do laundry, and get bottles ready.  It is really easy to play.  The ultimate goal is pretty vague and the progress towards the goal is pretty much non existent.  Thus I quickly just found this a tedious game with no point to playing.

The graphics are okay for a Nintendo DS game.  The sound is just as annoying as all other portable games, but that is just due to my dislike for playing portable games with the sound on.  The controls are entirely just tapping the screen and nothing else.

Overall I do not recommend this game even if you like Diner Dash, which I personally do like.  Perhaps some Diner Dash lovers will like this game, too, for a change of activity, but I would recommend renting it first because you may be disappointed in this like I was.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for Nintendo DS loosely follows the plot of the book/movie.  It does not exactly follow it, as it skips parts and to make levels it sometimes creates the challenges a little differently.

The game is pretty easy to play. I especially like doing the spells on the touch screen in the one on one battles with usually creatures.  Mostly, though, you can just use buttons.  It is a pretty straightforward game and I like that it is not too complex.  It still can offer some challenge, though.

Overall this is one of the best adventure games I have played on the DS. The graphics are average. I also like the mini games that can be unlocked.

Club Penguin is a community website type game.  I only played it once when my cousins showed it to me about a year ago.  I really do not know enough about the website to compare it to the game, but I do know that playing the game without and account is not the same as on the site because you have no interaction with others.

The game allows you to connect to have interaction, I think, through the WiFi DS connection.  I did not try this because I do not have a Club Penguin account.  The one connection with your actual account and the game I did figure out is you can upload your coins from the game to your website account.

Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force is mostly a mission adventure game.  It is kind of fun at first and I found some interesting mini games.  As soon as I got into the first mission, though, it quickly turned darn near impossible and I got stuck in a room.  I spent at least half an hour trying to figure out how to get out and then gave up.  This game seems like it should be for the younger crowd, but getting so frustrated so early on makes this a game I would not recommend.

I love penguins.  The graphics are pretty interesting.  The mini games are mostly fun.  The interactiveness with the website is cool.  Basically it is an awesome game concept, but the extreme difficulty on the first mission made me turn the DS off and quickly mail it back.  Maybe it turns easy and fun again after that part, but what is the point if I could not figure it out.

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.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is based on the movie of the same name.  I saw the movie earlier this week, so I can tell if the game and movie follow same or similar plots.  I have also tried the Wii version of this game.  That version follows the movie plot, but also has a lot of added stuff at least in the beginning.  The DS version does not seem to have quite as much added stuff, but it is still a good game.

In the game you play as the different main animal characters.  It is mostly playing as  Melman, Alex, Gloria, and Marty.  There are some penguin missions, though.  The first penguin mission is available after the first two levels, which is way faster than a real penguin playing experience in the Wii version.

Overall the game is a fun adventure game.  Part of the interest is playing the plot of the movie, but what makes it really engaging is the little added parts and the almost puzzle like penguin missions.