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• DSiWare Reviews: Week of February 1 2010(3)

   

  DSiWare Releases:

  Week of January 4, 2010

   

   

  

  Trajectile Developer: Q-Games Publisher: Nintendo Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points Review by: Craig Harris Q-Games is best known for its work on the PS3's Pixeljunk series, but the company is not locked to any specific console. Last year it brought its Japan-only GBA game Digidrive to the DSi Shop channel, and now it's got another new abstract game for the Nintendo handheld gamers. Trajectile is probably best described as Bust-a-Move meets Breakout, as you'll have to aim and fire special missiles at brick walls to destroy specific targets. Each challenge has a set amount of turns, a set amount of missiles, and a specific brick layout. You can't alter the position of the missile – just the firing trajectory. It does feel like an old pet DS project that's been given the go-ahead as a DSi download. Apart from some wonky touch screen controls where your rockets occasionally fail to fire if you lift your stylus off the screen just right, the game's pretty fun and a nice pick-up-and-play design with tons of levels of a variety of designs. It's also got a pretty cool retro style, and music that sounds suspiciously inspired by Metroid Prime Trilogy…not surprising since two Trajectile sound composers worked on the Retro Games design. #FormatImgID_17# #FormatImgID_18#Hell's Kitchen Vs. Developer: Mistic Publisher: Ludia Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points Review by: Craig Harris This is all the stress of working with Gordon Ramsey without actually meeting the guy. The Nintendo DSi version of Hell's Kitchen Vs. is a simple conversion of the game that's been available on Wii, PC, and Facebook…as well as the standard Nintendo DS cartridge. It's a straightforward "cooking" portion without the recipes or "dining room service" parts of the original design, so for eight bucks you're getting a scaled back Hell's Kitchen experience. Not that the original game was all that special. All you do is watch the tickets appear and make sure your ingredients go in at just the right time. Each pot and pan have set cooking times, and you'll need to make sure your food goes in at just the proper moment to ensure they hit the hot plate at the same time. It does get chaotic, and the DSi version has a competitive portion against other players, but since it doesn't support Download Play you'll need to buy a copy for each system. It can be fun, but it's mostly repetitive and intentionally stress inducing. And why would you play a videogame that gives you stress? #FormatImgID_19# #FormatImgID_20#Animal Puzzle Adventure Developer: ARC Systems Publisher: Aksys Games Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points Review by: Craig Harris Aksys Games gives us a Japanese DSiWare import: an over the top, cutsey puzzle game where players have to guide animals into their home. The challenge: you're controlling the animals simultaneously with the D-pad and using the level's obstacles to intentionally block their way in order to swap their positions, or to put distance between each animal. It's very similar to games like, say, Chip's Challenge, where you're controlling your puzzle pieces one tile at a time. It's an okay design but it's something that's been done a billion times before as a free browser game, and no amount of unlockable wallpapers with seductive anime characters is enough of an encouragement to plow through these mind-breaking level designs. The style is nauseatingly happy, so if you do decide to go against our recommendation, at least for the sanity of people around you, turn down the volume. Please. #FormatImgID_21#