PDorr3
11-24-2004, 09:26 PM
I must admit a week before the DS launch I was pretty psyched up (I never reserved, but I camped best buy).
Once the glorious day had finaly come I had to admit, the DS is pretty bulkey, I mean if you compare it to the SP is damn large, and at this point I was wondering if 2 screens were completely neccessary. Once I held it in my hands it was not that heavy, and its wasnt too combersome. The ABXY buttons are awfuly small, and reaching my thumb out to the bottom screen is awkward at first.
The overall video is awsome, the backlight really makes the DS shine, and will really put my SP in the grave when it comes to GBA games. The stereo quality sound is very noticible, no more need for headphones.
DS overall design - 8.5/10
-Its a bit larger than I had hoped, I know I know it has two screens, but still compared to the SP its basicaly double the size. Its not exactly comfortable to hold, but the visual quality and audio make up for it, and who could forget the touch screen!
Now, I was a bit skeptical on what launch games I wanted, but in the end I decided to play it safe and just get mario for now (looking foward to mr driller, ridge racer, rayman).
After reading reviews, the controls were complained about alot. When I first picked up the game I couldent agree with them more. It felt a bit too responsive, with no feedback from the touch screen, it was a bit too free gliding (I use the thumb pad only) But after about 2 hours of playing, I had the controls down pat. I must say that I can run though the toughest of levels now with little difficulty. There are the few times where I will fall off a cliff due to unresponsive or a slip of the finger type of occasions, but other than that the thumb pad does a nice job of dealing with the DS' limited analog support.
The graphics rival if not surpass its n64 counterpart, and the character models are so much smoother.
Sound quality if as I said, awsome, and the character voices to not sound overly "digitized" as many reviews say (eventhough wario sounds horrible)
Heres my main gripe, the new features. Now I'm not complaining about the extra 30 stars or new levels or anything, but some things just do not work as well as in the original. For example, in the original things were kept siimple by assigning mario different hats with different abilities, but now all they have done is assigned each of the abilities to each of the 4 characters, making it a bit more work than you need. Switching between characters in the castle itself is bothersome, a simple selection before entering a level would be nice.
I still do not like to play as wario, he is very unbalanced, cannot jump high, and he runs slow, you will find that he is only used when needed for the few stars you need him for. yoshi feels way out of place from the other characters, and luigi is really the only new character that I can cope with. Adding luigi as the only new character would have been awsome, but 4 is overdoing it especialy if you find yourself only playing as mario and luigi.
The new abilities such as the mushroom for mario are far between, and the new baloon ability is boring, and un-needed. The few new levels are worthy of the rest, but feel out of place, especialy the first one you get to play.
There are other things added for collecting stars, which are not needed but are welcome, ill move along the review to multiplayer.
I played a little multiplayer, not enough to criticize it yet but I can tell you that it was rushed, and will not occupy much time.
The mini games are extremely fun (some) and make great use of the stylus. all the minigames could have been made into one whole separate DS game. truly a nice addition to waste some time.
Overall mario DS score- 9/10-Sure the controls take some getting used to, the camera isnt perfect, and the new characters are not needed, the game still holds up extremely strong on the DS hardware, and many of the new additions are highly welcome.
I never expected the metroid prime demo to occupy much of my time, so I will try to review it for what it is.
The graphics are capable of n64, and could pass as a ps2 launch game believe it or not. yes the graphics are that good, the framerate is smooth and colors vibrant. The controls are a bit hard though, I am a lefty but I am forced to play with my right hand due to extremely awkward control setups for us left handers. I am used to it now, but the thumb pad is very slippery, and that makes aiming with accuracy extremely difficult unless you are very careful not to move your thumb too fast. Its a nice demo offering 3 modes of play, im sure you all know what they are so I will get right into them
The first training option puts you into what I think will be an actual level in the final game. if so they really need to add some more viarity to it. Its really only going room to room blasting away at nearly imobile targets and a little jumping around on platforms and a little morph ball puzzles. But if they think this can occupy an entire game they need more viarity in enemies and objectives. the final fight involves fighting a dark samus, which is the highlight of the demo. the samus is suprisingly smart, and often has the chance to kill you. If the retail can offer up more of these battles, it will be nice.
Im not a fan of the survivor, killing as many slow moving, life sucking enemies as possible before diring does not float my boat.
the morphball race gives you a very limited time to reach the finish, and is not fun at all to me.
Multiplayer is fun, its a VERY nice way to test out the ds wireless multiplayer capabilities and its a solid addition to the demo sporting 4 levles to play and stat tracking (kills, deaths, games won, nice!)
Metroid prime demo 7/10Overall a solid demo ,takes high advantage of the touch screen. Needs work though, if there are basicaly going to be the final types of gameplay (especialy the main 1pplayer mode) it needs some work .I really am not sure on any of this, I could be totaly wrong as these are only training levles. Multiplayer is extremely nice.
If you were one of the few people to read this review entirely though, please begin your post/comment with a "~" just so I know you took the time to read this lengthy review through. Thanks for reading up on my opinions, the DS is a great piece of hardware with alot of capabilities.
Once the glorious day had finaly come I had to admit, the DS is pretty bulkey, I mean if you compare it to the SP is damn large, and at this point I was wondering if 2 screens were completely neccessary. Once I held it in my hands it was not that heavy, and its wasnt too combersome. The ABXY buttons are awfuly small, and reaching my thumb out to the bottom screen is awkward at first.
The overall video is awsome, the backlight really makes the DS shine, and will really put my SP in the grave when it comes to GBA games. The stereo quality sound is very noticible, no more need for headphones.
DS overall design - 8.5/10
-Its a bit larger than I had hoped, I know I know it has two screens, but still compared to the SP its basicaly double the size. Its not exactly comfortable to hold, but the visual quality and audio make up for it, and who could forget the touch screen!
Now, I was a bit skeptical on what launch games I wanted, but in the end I decided to play it safe and just get mario for now (looking foward to mr driller, ridge racer, rayman).
After reading reviews, the controls were complained about alot. When I first picked up the game I couldent agree with them more. It felt a bit too responsive, with no feedback from the touch screen, it was a bit too free gliding (I use the thumb pad only) But after about 2 hours of playing, I had the controls down pat. I must say that I can run though the toughest of levels now with little difficulty. There are the few times where I will fall off a cliff due to unresponsive or a slip of the finger type of occasions, but other than that the thumb pad does a nice job of dealing with the DS' limited analog support.
The graphics rival if not surpass its n64 counterpart, and the character models are so much smoother.
Sound quality if as I said, awsome, and the character voices to not sound overly "digitized" as many reviews say (eventhough wario sounds horrible)
Heres my main gripe, the new features. Now I'm not complaining about the extra 30 stars or new levels or anything, but some things just do not work as well as in the original. For example, in the original things were kept siimple by assigning mario different hats with different abilities, but now all they have done is assigned each of the abilities to each of the 4 characters, making it a bit more work than you need. Switching between characters in the castle itself is bothersome, a simple selection before entering a level would be nice.
I still do not like to play as wario, he is very unbalanced, cannot jump high, and he runs slow, you will find that he is only used when needed for the few stars you need him for. yoshi feels way out of place from the other characters, and luigi is really the only new character that I can cope with. Adding luigi as the only new character would have been awsome, but 4 is overdoing it especialy if you find yourself only playing as mario and luigi.
The new abilities such as the mushroom for mario are far between, and the new baloon ability is boring, and un-needed. The few new levels are worthy of the rest, but feel out of place, especialy the first one you get to play.
There are other things added for collecting stars, which are not needed but are welcome, ill move along the review to multiplayer.
I played a little multiplayer, not enough to criticize it yet but I can tell you that it was rushed, and will not occupy much time.
The mini games are extremely fun (some) and make great use of the stylus. all the minigames could have been made into one whole separate DS game. truly a nice addition to waste some time.
Overall mario DS score- 9/10-Sure the controls take some getting used to, the camera isnt perfect, and the new characters are not needed, the game still holds up extremely strong on the DS hardware, and many of the new additions are highly welcome.
I never expected the metroid prime demo to occupy much of my time, so I will try to review it for what it is.
The graphics are capable of n64, and could pass as a ps2 launch game believe it or not. yes the graphics are that good, the framerate is smooth and colors vibrant. The controls are a bit hard though, I am a lefty but I am forced to play with my right hand due to extremely awkward control setups for us left handers. I am used to it now, but the thumb pad is very slippery, and that makes aiming with accuracy extremely difficult unless you are very careful not to move your thumb too fast. Its a nice demo offering 3 modes of play, im sure you all know what they are so I will get right into them
The first training option puts you into what I think will be an actual level in the final game. if so they really need to add some more viarity to it. Its really only going room to room blasting away at nearly imobile targets and a little jumping around on platforms and a little morph ball puzzles. But if they think this can occupy an entire game they need more viarity in enemies and objectives. the final fight involves fighting a dark samus, which is the highlight of the demo. the samus is suprisingly smart, and often has the chance to kill you. If the retail can offer up more of these battles, it will be nice.
Im not a fan of the survivor, killing as many slow moving, life sucking enemies as possible before diring does not float my boat.
the morphball race gives you a very limited time to reach the finish, and is not fun at all to me.
Multiplayer is fun, its a VERY nice way to test out the ds wireless multiplayer capabilities and its a solid addition to the demo sporting 4 levles to play and stat tracking (kills, deaths, games won, nice!)
Metroid prime demo 7/10Overall a solid demo ,takes high advantage of the touch screen. Needs work though, if there are basicaly going to be the final types of gameplay (especialy the main 1pplayer mode) it needs some work .I really am not sure on any of this, I could be totaly wrong as these are only training levles. Multiplayer is extremely nice.
If you were one of the few people to read this review entirely though, please begin your post/comment with a "~" just so I know you took the time to read this lengthy review through. Thanks for reading up on my opinions, the DS is a great piece of hardware with alot of capabilities.