NintendoDS In-depth Reviews

            Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon is yet another handheld presentation for the widely loved Harvest Moon series, turning its attention back to the Nintendo DS for an appealing exploration into new territory. Alongside the traditional resource management and farm life simulation prevalent in the series comes an expansion into Role-Playing Game (RPG) territory, supported by the strengths of Harvest Moon’s often emotive storylines, bringing dungeon crawling and real-time combat into the equation.

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            Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has received a great deal of attention since it’s unveiling at E3 2008, perhaps more so than any other third-party Nintendo DS game. This probably won’t come as a surprise to most Hardcore Gamers, as many feel that the handheld system has rarely catered to their demographic in recent times, and such a stand-out “mature” game should undoubtedly grab the headlines. However, these headlines have been limited to that exact audience, and the sales since release have been decidedly sluggish. So, is Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars a case of growing awareness, or having made the wrong market aware?

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            The NintendoDS conversion of iWin’s free-to-play PC game, Jewel Quest Solitaire has now arrived in Europe. As the second Jewel Quest release on Nintendo’s handheld system, after last year’s Jewel Quest Expeditions, there’s undoubtedly a fervent fanbase out there eager for more, but can the addition of Solitaire to the formula entice any new followers?

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            Challenge Me: Brain Puzzles is one of two titles leading the Challenge Me brand from Oxygen Games this Easter. Both titles incorporate two different puzzle games, Challenge Me: Maths Workout concentrating on mathematics exercises, whilst Challenge Me: Brain Puzzles is more concerned with logical puzzles.

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            Pass Your Driving Theory Test, published by Avanquest, demonstrates the future of videogame consoles laid down by Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?. After nearly three years of copycat titles and unimaginative transplants of puzzle books, it’s surely the next logical step to progress into consumer software? Pass Your Theory Driving Test isn’t entertainment, it’s a tool designed to aid the user, unsurprisingly, pass their Driving Theory Test (hence the incredibly low gameplay score awarded).

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            Travel Games for Dummies is the latest NintendoDS release designed around the ideal of gaming-on-the-go. Including Sudoku, Solitaire and Chess, it’s obvious from that start that Travel Games for Dummies is not intended for the Hardcore Gamer market.

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            Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure has arrived on UK shores almost entirely unnoticed. Minor coverage of yet another NintendoDS Puzzle game is all that can be afforded by the specialist press and with videogames being so scarcely deemed relevant by the national press, it’s unlikely such a relatively small title would feature heavily next to titles such as Resident Evil 5 and MADWORLD. But Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure may not be just another in the ever-growing line of NintendoDS Puzzle game releases; indeed, the Puzzle involved in this adventure is only half the story.

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            Bleach: Dark Souls is the latest Beat-‘Em-Up title to arrive on the NintendoDS based upon the successful anime series. With a handful of titles not having made their way to UK shores previously, it no doubt comes as a relief to fans that Treasure’s newest title has made the jump intact, courtesy of SEGA. Featuring an exclusive storyline, online play and a Single-Card Download option, the bullet points suggest quite a package. But the Beat-‘Em-Up genre has become unusually crowded of late, and so Bleach: Dark Souls will have to feature more than just appealing taglines to gain the attention of the increasingly large NintendoDS audience.

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            Big Bang Mini has been on the radar for some time now. Originally suggested for release last year, Arkedo Studio’s latest labour of love finally arrived in Europe at the beginning of this month. The first NintendoDS release from the studio – Nervous Brickdown – was well received, and Big Bang Mini has all the same hallmarks of a developer’s appreciation for their original inspiration.

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            Populous DS is a game that many may feel has been a long time coming. From the very first details of that Touch Screen, gamers worldwide drew conclusions of it’s compatibly with franchises such as SimCity, The Settlers, Command & Conquer, Theme Park and Zoo Tycoon, and while many of these series have seen release on the NintendoDS already, Populous has remained suspiciously absent.

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