The Games of my Life

Bought it last night. Still haven’t had much time to play it. Got 4 stars so far (all of them in the “Bob-omb Battlefield”), out of 150, and I played the 8 mini-games which don’t need to be unlocked.

I’ve never played Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64, only in emulators, but the DS port is technically excellent – the characters, in particular, noticeable have more polygons than on the N64, and the game is perfectly smooth and fast. Even though graphically it’s not a game on the same league as modern ones on “big” consoles (after all, the original is 9 years old), it’s still considered by many people (just google for it) as one of the best platform games of all time, if not the best. The game’s design is brilliantly original, and the game takes us to another world in a way almost nothing else can.

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Bought it yesterday, and played it for an hour or so. Here’s a few random thoughts:

• It’s a puzzle game, as everyone knows. Reminds me of Bejeweled and Puzzle Pirates‘ bilging puzzle, with a little bit of Tetris added to the mix. Basically, pieces (called “meteos”) fall from the top, and you don’t control them there (unlike Tetris); instead, you have to move them, after they’re down, using the stylus, to make columns or rows of three or more identical meteos. When you do so, they “ignite” and move to the top, taking everything on top of them with them. The goal is to make them leave the screen (if you’re competing with another player, or a “bot”, it’s even more important, as they fall into their screen), but sometimes you need to make more than one column or row quickly so they have enough thrust to leave the screen.
• The graphics are really great. For some reason, even though it’s using the same screen(s) as GBA games, the game seems much more colorful and “hi-res” than them. The game’s presentation is fantastic – those guys have put more care into the game’s menus than many developers put into entire games!
• Music and sounds are excellent, too. Dozens of different tunes, in many separate genres – reminds me, in a way, of Star Control 2. I’ve heard techno, trance, rock, even something like country, there. And you can unlock many tracks to play in the “extras” section.
• Each “planet” has different graphic styles, different music, and different rules. Even though the game’s basic rules are the same, in each level you have to adapt to different conditions – for instance, gravity may be lowered (which means you have to make simple rows or columns really fast) or increased (forcing you to plan your moves and make big combos). This is only one example, there are many more variations.
• There are lots of unlockables. New planets, materials, items and tunes. You’ll have to play a lot to get them.
• Can be played with up to 4 players, though I haven’t done so yet.

So far, I’m happy.

Finally, and (warning: cheap shot at the PSP incoming!) since the DS is all about games, unlike certain other “media centers which also play games” I could mention , what about some games?

Well, I only have one yet, Mario Kart DS, which came in the bundle I bought. And I haven’t played a lot of it yet (it was late yesterday, and now I’m at work).

Still, some first impressions:

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