The Best of DSiWare - Part 9: Games beginning with 'H' & 'I'

I'm covering two letters this week as the selections for both 'H' and 'I' are pretty slim pickings - they do include one of my favourite puzzle games of all time though!

Quick recap: To facilitate this exercise I played every game made available on the DSiWare service and, once I weeded out the shovelware, I have divided the remainder into four categories:

Hidden Gems: Games you've probably never heard of that are utterly brilliant

Well Known & Wonderful: Still gems, still potentially brilliant, but perhaps not quite so 'hidden'

Honourable Mentions: Those games that are good, but lack the real spark required to fit into one of the top two categories

Also Rans: Not bad enough to be completely ignored, but probably not quite good enough to warrant higher status

Two caveats: Firstly, I don't enjoy RPGs. Like, at all. So you won't see any of those at any point. And secondly it's very hard to define 'Hidden Gem' on DSiWare, as the service itself was never hugely popular, so please excuse a potential few miss-categorisations along the way!

 

Well Known & Worthwhile

Ivy the Kiwi? Mini

In case you're unfamiliar with this title I should probably make it clear that the question mark isn't a typo. The plot of the game (such as it is) involves a young flightless bird and a quest for her identity.

Story, however, is not at the forefront of this experience. This is a kind of endless running puzzle platformer where our cute protagonist runs, initially left to right, and must be guided over and through obstacles by manipulating 'vines'.

These are drawn directly onto the touchscreen in real-time. This means that not only can you draw bridges and ramps, but you can also use them to flick Ivy around the levels.

It's a compelling mechanic, and one that encourages experimentation, but over the course of this 'mini' version's 50 levels it runs out of steam a little. The full game, released physically for the DS and the Wii, had the same 50 'Story' missions, and extr a50 besides, so there's an argument that the downscale to fit the limitations of DSiWare has done the game a favour.

Yuji Naka has made a career of making games that are 'pretty good' since the heady day of Team Sonic, and Ivy the Kiwi? is no different.

It's a great idea, and fun to play in short bursts, but it lacks a little in depth and variety to be considered an essential play.

 

Intersect (Art Style Series)

Back in 2005, around the time the Game Boy Micro was released, a series of simple, stylish games were released - Minimalist console, minimalist games.

6 of the 7 were developed by Skip Ltd, the 7th, and last was Digidrive - the first game developed by Q-Games, the company who went on to make the brilliant 'Pixeljunk' games.

The idea of  'Bit Generations' didn't die with the GBA. Three of the games were brought to the WiiWare service under the same 'Art Style' banner that we've already seen plenty of on this blog. A fourth, Digidrive, was the only one of the 7 originals to make it to DSiWare, where it was rebranded (in PAL regions) as 'Intersect'.

The game is quite difficult to explain. So please trust me when I say it is a fantastic, tense, original puzzler that balances risk and reward better than most other games in existence. You should absolutely go and play it right now - before I make it sound far more complicated than it actually is.

The main play area is a cross shape that mimics the d-pad. Different coloured chevrons, probably representing vehicles, travel along the arms of the cross from the outside. When they reach the centre they must be directed in one of the other three directions. Here, if they match, they stack up, waiting for a multi-coloured chevron to arrive and fire them into the 'Plunger'.

Still with me?

The Plunger is on the right hand side of the screen. It slowly lowers as you play and if reaches the bottom it's game over. But, by stacking and firing chevrons into it, an explosion is set off that pushes it back up, away from the bottom of the screen.

And that's it. Direct traffic, build chains, charge the plunger, build the score. There's also layers of multipliers to consider as well as that risk/reward balance of when to keep stacking and when to cash-out, as it were. It starts very slowly but the whole thing builds to an incredible pace and it becomes a genuine feat of mental agility to keep on top of all the elements.

I don't want to oversell Intersect/Digidrive, but when I played it back in 2005 I thought it was the best puzzle game I'd played since the original Tetris. Not only do I stand by that today, but I also haven't played anything better since.

Honourable Mentions

Hero Puzzle (G.G. Series)

You'll be getting the idea of 'Honourable Mentions' by now, games with good ideas that don't do enough with them - and the games that form the 'G.G. Series' are becoming a permanent fixture here.

Hero Puzzle takes the Tetris format and applies old school RPG elements. Match 3 swords and you'll attack your CPU controlled foe, three shields will defend against their assault.

It's a neat concept, but as mentioned in the preamble, it doesn't do enough with it. For starters it's very very slow. I suspect this is an attempt to drag out what is a very short game, but I'd rather a few repeated bosses if the benefit let the dev's double the game's speed.

It's worth a go to see a fun idea play out, and you might even get through to the end, but it's unlikely you'd ever play it again if you did.

Horizontal Bar (aka Let's Swing) (Go/G.G. Series)

When I first started playing this one I thought it was destined for the 'Also Rans'. After a couple of minutes I was hopeful for a 'Well Known...'. Ultimately though, this is the right level for a game that - you guessed it - is fun for a short while but doesn't really evolve enough from it's central concept.

That concept involves jumping to, and spinning around the Horizontal Bars of the title and releasing at the right time to propel yourself to the next. And the next. And the next, until you reach the exit.

Learning the correct timing to get this right will take a good few levels, but that challenge is sadly the last one you'll come across. With the basic level design not bringing enough changes or complexities as they go, it won't be long before you've seen everything the game has to offer - despite being a long way from the end.

Also Rans

Hero of Sparta

I went on at length last time about the perils of judging a book by it's cover. That was in relation to a game that was ostensibly childish but, in reality, was a challenging and brilliant action puzzler.

The opposite is true of Hero of Sparta, a game that looks like it's going to be a neat God of War clone but ends up a damp squib lacking challenge, clarity, and anything approaching player agency.

And that's it for 'H' & 'I'.

'J' is often pretty barren ground when it comes to alphabetical game list making - so we might get another double-header next time. 

I guess we'll find out in a week or so, see you then!

The Best of DSiWare - Part 8: Games beginning with 'G'

A nice selection to get through this week, with three games receiving the illustrious Hidden Gem status - so let's not hang about.

Quick recap: To facilitate this exercise I played every game made available on the DSiWare service and, once I weeded out the shovelware, I have divided the remainder into four categories:

Hidden Gems: Games you've probably never heard of that are utterly brilliant

Well Known & Wonderful: Still gems, still potentially brilliant, but perhaps not quite so 'hidden'

Honourable Mentions: Those games that are good, but lack the real spark required to fit into one of the top two categories

Also Rans: Not bad enough to be completely ignored, but probably not quite good enough to warrant higher status

Two caveats: Firstly, I don't enjoy RPGs. Like, at all. So you won't see any of those at any point. And secondly it's very hard to define 'Hidden Gem' on DSiWare, as the service itself was never hugely popular, so please excuse a potential few miss-categorisations along the way!

 

Hidden Gems

Go! Go! Island Rescue!

The idiom that tells us not to judge a book by it's cover has been around in one form or another since the mid 19th century. Taken literally, it could not appear more anachronistic than when applied to digital video games - and yet I'm not sure there is any other form of media to which it is more relevant.

The digital gaming era emerged contemporaneously with Youtube; a time when visual media has grown exponentially and snap-judgements became the norm.

Go! Go! Island Rescue! may not actually have a cover, but I would imagine a large number of people read the title, saw the icon, maybe even saw a Youtube trailer - and quickly moved on from what they believed was a child's game.

The opposite, we shouldn't forget, is then probably also true: Youngsters or parents would have made a judgement on the same criteria and are likely to have been infuriated by what turned out to be a tight, creative, and challenging action-puzzle game - because that is exactly what lies beneath the cheerful cartoony graphics, bright and breezy presentation, and a title with almost as many exclamation-marks as words. 

The game takes place from the standard 2D perspective and looks much like any number of similar games from over the years. There are ladders and pits, platforms and traps. 

As a firefighter on one of four island locations, it is your job to rescue the locals - or 'Darwins', to give them their proper, slightly over-literal, name by guiding them safely to the exit of each level.

As their name suggests, Darwins will run around in blind panic without your interaction. There may be fire between them and the exit, for example, which will need to be extinguished. 

Unlike the NPCs, our heroic first-responder is controlled directly. You move about the level collecting fire extinguishers, catching falling Darwins, throwing them at the exit, and so on. Yes. Throwing them.

Throwing Darwins is a major part of the fun in the game. Quite often they will need to be hurled across gaps, onto higher platforms, or over flames. And it's not just them. I'm not sure what school of fire-safety our hero attended, but Fire extinguishers, too, are thrown directly into the flames. It appears to work though so, I guess, whatever means necessary!?

As you would expect, mechanics gradually get more complicated with the introduction of NPCs that follow set paths, levels with multiple exits, and other new elements that keep the game fresh and challenging.

Which brings me back to books and covers. Marketing works. It's not a billion dollar industry for nothing. Go! Go! Island Rescue! has a difficulty level and complexity that is clearly aimed at an experienced audience. At some point in it's post-development the decision was made to market it otherwise and this can't be seen as anything other than a huge mistake. 

On the flipside, there's probably a kid out there in the world who's first experience of a 'real' (for lack of a better word) video game was this excellent little gem of a puzzler. Envy that kid.

Go! Go! Kokopolo

Of entirely no relation to the game above, this is nevertheless another action puzzle game with a cartoony design. However, here it's much less geared towards the very young. Kokopolo, our scratch happy feline protagonist (who put me in mind of Professor Genki from the Saints Row series) comes from the Sonic the Hedgehog school of 'edgy' design.

This is a game that feels very much based in the maze games of old; Pac-Man or Clean Sweep, for example. Kokopolo can walk, run, and jump around the levels attacking enemies as he goes. Unfortunately for him, his attacks only serve to annoy these various creatures who will then begin to chase him. 

It's here that the main mechanic of the game comes in. The Mazes are filled with various traps and pitfalls that Kokopolo is equipped to avoid but his enemies are not. So, the player must run away, avoiding other enemies, and eventually leading his pursuers into one of these traps.

Despite being a game with quite a steep learning curve, it's also one that, for me, really nails great replayability. It's one thing to offer the player a time trial mode, but it's quite another to make them actually want to play it. 

Every level could be cleared by meticulously working through the enemies. But most, maybe even all, can also be cleared in one long smooth run. With the experience bolstered by the quality graphics and visual style, I found the desire to go back and do a run that looked as much like a cartoon as possible almost irresistible.

For me, there isn't much greater praise.

Glow Artisan

Colour-mixing puzzle games are nothing new. Even before their ubiquity on mobile phone platforms applying the concept that 'yellow and red make orange' has been an ever present in the medium for decades.

So what's Glow Artisan, the most pretentiously named game in history, doing here as a Hidden Gen if the concept is so rote? Well, simply put: It has great rules.

Even the simplest games need rules. Think of the most basic childhood game; 'Tag', or 'It', or whatever your regional name for it was. Rule 1: Chase someone with the aim of making any physical contact. Rule 2: If the chaser tags the runner the roles immediately reverse.

Glow Artisan has rules almost as simple, but they work to bring the game such beautiful complexity.

On the DS's top screen is a pattern, formed on a grid, made up of between 2 and 8 colours. You are tasked with matching this pattern on a second grid on the touchscreen, using only the primary colours, in as few 'moves' as possible. In doing this, you are restricted by the following rules...

Rule 1: Colours must be 'pulled' from the top or left side of the grid. This means that if you want to colour the fourth square red, you must draw a line from the edge from square one, then two, three and finally four. Think of like stacking, only sideways, or upside down!

Rule 2: You can mix colours to create sub-colours; Blue+Red = Purple, etc by overlaying or crossing over one colour with another.

Rule 3: You can erase the colour from squares, but only by deleting an entire row or column

And that really is just about it. Using only some fiendish grid designs and applying these rules the game becomes tortuously compelling. There's no time limit or other 'urgency' in the game, so it falls into the sub category of 'Zen Puzzlers', and the mental agility and focus required to unpick the levels later in the game make it very worthy of this title.

It may ostensibly be very simple, but prolonged play will reveal a game of genuine complexity, challenge, and quality.

  

Honourable Mentions

Game and Watch (All)

There were nine 'Game and Watch' releases on DSiWare spread over two years and, as you would expect, they are of hugely varying quality. There are examples here that are still eminently playable, like Donkey Kong Jr., but there's also games of such moronic simplicity that they would fail to entertain even the most basic brain for more than a minute or two, like Ball.

If you, like me, have zero nostalgia for any of these titles then I would posit that none are really worth going out of your way to play. However, if you do remember some, or all, of them fondly then the presentation and extras offered are actually pretty cool and will doubtless bring a rosy-hued smile to your face.

Galaxy Saver

A neat twist on the fixed position shoot 'em ups of old like Space Invaders or Galaxians, Galaxy Saver attaches your craft to the outside of a circular force field protecting a planet.

Waves of enemies attack from every direction and it's your job, using a combination of the radar on the top screen, a limited arsenal, and a personal force field to fend them off long enough for the planetary defence system to come online.

Things don't get much more complicated than that and, given the genre, that's not much of a surprise. But Galaxy Saver is well made and the circular play field is a nice change of pace so it makes for a fun diversion for genre fans.


Great Whip Adventure (G.G. Series)

There's a kind of sub-series within the G.G. Series of games that are clearly built using the same coding DNA.

They tend to be single screen and built (in the background) on a grid with the goal of navigating platforms to find and use the exit. The mode of traversal is the main change in each of these games, and it does seem to make all the difference as there are good ones (Mighty Hammer) and bad ones (driller). Great Whip Adventure falls somewhere in the middle, perhaps just on the good side.

The method of getting around the platforms this time is the titular Whip. This is both your only weapon against the various enemies and means to latch onto hooks, moving platforms, and various other gaming tropes. Disappointingly, however, you are unable to swing.
'Pretty Decent Whip Adventure', as I'm renaming it, does a good job of gradually ramping up the difficulty and keeping things pretty fresh as the short levels fly by.

Actually. Thinking about it, I'll upgrade it to 'Good Whip Adventure', this seems the best fit to me.

Next time we make it to one-third distance with 'H', and I might even roll in 'I' depending on how many games there are to choose from.

Thanks for reading, I'll see you next time.

The Best of DSiWare - Part 7: Games beginning with 'F'

The letter 'F' provides another small haul this week, but a very nice selection nonetheless.

Quick recap: To facilitate this exercise I played every game made available on the DSiWare service and, once I weeded out the shovelware, I have divided the remainder into four categories:

Hidden Gems: Games you've probably never heard of that are utterly brilliant

Well Known & Worthwhile: Still gems, still potentially brilliant, but perhaps not quite so 'hidden'

Honourable Mentions: Those games that are good, but lack the real spark required to fit into one of the top two categories

Also Rans: Not bad enough to be completely ignored, but probably not quite good enough to warrant higher status

Two caveats: Firstly, I don't enjoy RPGs. Like, at all. So you won't see any of those at any point. And secondly it's very hard to define 'Hidden Gem' on DSiWare, as the service itself was never hugely popular, so please excuse a potential few miss-categorisations along the way!

 

Hidden Gems

Flip the Core

There's an excellent horizontal shmup from a few years back called REVOLVER360 RE:ACTOR, and it virtually impossible not to think of it while playing Flip the Core.

Whilst the PC game is obviously good bit slicker than anything the DSi could even dream of producing, the central question that drives both games is the same: what happens if you put a 2D shooter in a 3D world?

The answer, in both cases, is 'awesomeness'!

It's all very familiar to start with. Your craft flies from left to right in the usual way, blasting enemies and collecting the little pink dots they leave behind. You have three distinct weapons at your disposal and these dots raise the level of them in the way you would normally see from a traditional power-up. There's a touch of RPG about this as a bar is filled that gives a step upgrade to your selected weapon with each third filled.

The literal and figurative twist happens first when a wall of white blocks would seem to block your path. You can fly into these without damage, but they will push off the back of the screen eventually, causing you to lose a life.

Luckily, a tap of the 'L' shoulder button will rotate the entire level 90º on the y-axis. What was once a screen-blocking pillar can become just a small square in the middle of the screen. What was a huge circular explosion of enemy fire radiating outwards instant becomes a single line of easily avoidable bullets. Even the power pick-ups only exist on a single plane at a time and you must be sure to match the the correct one to collect them.

In truth this isn't the game's 'twist', it's the game's core mechanic. As a shooter it's pretty good, the lack of level bosses isn't great but the visual style is nice and the power-up system is solid. But it's as a kind of puzzle journey through hybrid 2D/3D space that it's a joy to play. Making sure you're in the right place before rotating and flipping from one perspective to the other as you dodge and weave around enemies and their ordnance is brilliant, unique fun.

Flip the Core may be simple if a little lacking as a shooter, but the gimmick it brings proves to be more than enough to make this a must-play title for anyone interested in games that try and do something a little different.

Well Known & Worthwhile

Fatal Blow (G.G. Series)

Games like Final Fight and Streets of Rage have been firm favourites for decades, and Fatal Blow (AKA Super Hero Ogre) is an attempt to bring that style to the limitations of DSiWare.

The first thing to fall by the wayside is the usual scrolling format. Fatal Blow takes place in mini arenas, about two screens in length with an impassable invisible wall at each end. There's also no movement on the y axis, all the action takes place on a single lane as seen way back in the likes of Kung Fu Master, or Vigilante.

At this point you're probably thinking that this doesn't sound much like Street of Rage at all, and you'd be absolutely right, but what this game might lose in movement and mobility, it more than makes up for with combos.

It may seem like a simple thing, but the combo and juggling system in Fatal Blow really kick the playability up a considerable notch.

The standard attack is a basic punch flurry which can be embellished with a standing or jumping 'Hero Kick'. There's a 'Hero Punch' too, and landing any of these moves not only adds knock back to your attacks with the chance to juggle, but will also charge up your Hero Gauge. This is divided into three segments. Fill one segment and you have the opportunity to perform one of three 'Super Hero Attacks'.

The game will usually throw three enemies at you at one time. Then, after you've put the minions to the (laser) sword, there's a boss battle to contend with.

The three different types of attack, and the variations within them, all have different knock-back and bounce effects on these enemies. When you get the hang of how and when to link them together you really can start to feel like the Super Hero your avatar represents. 

The best advice I can give for this game is to give it a go and then, after the first boss destroys you, watch the trailer on Youtube (you'll find it by searching the AKA) to get the idea of what is possible in the game.

Then go back to the game and have some real fun!

Flipper 2

The first 'Flipper' was something of a darling to Nintendo fans and media, but there are good reasons that it appears further down the page than it's sequel. This does, however, make it hard for me to explain just how different the two titles are... so I'm not going to bother.

Flipper 2: Flush the Goldfish is a one button platformer that is most easily (lazily!?) compared to a Warioware mini game. 

Each level is broken down into several single-screen events that you, in the role of the sub-titular Flush, must navigate using a super secret robot suit (fans of both Earthworm Jim and The Umbrella Academy may well raise an eyebrow) and the 'A' button.

Appearing on the left side of the top screen, the game will provide a simple instruction on the lower one. "Jump!" it might say, or "Inflate". "Tap to keep moving" is probably the most detailed order given, but whatever the suggested action is, the 'A' button is always the way to perform it, with just the timing of the press, the length it held, or the speed of the tap adding variety to proceedings.

The game has three main modes and it's interesting how they build into one another. Story mode comes first and is a great introduction to the basics of the game. Finish this and 'Random Castle' opens up which, as one might imagine, generates random levels based on a couple of parameters set by the player. Finally there's edit mode, in which you can play around with any level unlocked in 'Random Castle'. Truthfully, this final mode falls a bit flat - not least because any genuine ability to share with friends has been lost to the annals of time.

Fortunately, the other two modes offer more than enough entertainment to make this a recommended play. And that's before I've really talked about the presentation.

Flipper 2 has a hyper-detailed sprite style that looks like it should exceed the limitations of DSiWare. The animation and art clearly benefit from the pared-back interaction style and simple level design. As a result it can, at it's best, feel like a cross between the fast paced simplicity of the Warioware games and interactive cartoons such as Dragon's Lair or Space Ace.

I'm aware that there's plenty who won't get on with the hyper-simplified controls in this game. But I think if you go into it knowing what to expect there's a lot of fun to be had here. 

  

Honourable Mentions

Flipper

As mentioned above, this game caused a lot of fuss in the community even before it was finished. The voxel foundations were pretty fresh back then, and the allowance they gave for free-form destructible environments struck a chord with gamers.

In that context it was difficult not to be a little underwhelmed by Flipper; a partially 3D puzzle game concerned with a boy moving from A-to-B to rescue his goldfish. I say partially 3D because you can only rotate the levels in increments, even though, as you would expect with voxels, they are rendered fully in 3D.

The destruction that was the focus of the tech demo that brought the game to public attention, is now mostly reduced to forming ramps and removing obstacles and, as such, it's hard not to wish this was a project designed for a slightly less limited platform.

In the end it's a well made but limited action-puzzle game, more interesting than entertaining after a few levels, sadly, but worth a look out of curiosity.

 

Ferrari GT: Evolution

I mentioned in my recommendation of Drift Street International that the whole DS platform is woefully short of (relatively) realistic racing games. I also made it clear that, for that game, it wasn't a case of big fish - small pond.

Can the same be said of Ferrari Gt Evolution? Well... I think probably not. This is a game with all the polish and class that you could hope for from a racer bearing the most famous license in motorsport. And at first glance everything is here to follow through on the promise made by the prancing horse - but sadly it goes wrong at, quite literally, the first corner.

Yup. The handling is atrocious. Aiming for the sweet-spot between fun and realism it is instead too stiff one moment, and too loose the next. Even with a fair few options available to address this they don't change things enough to make any of the cars enjoyable to drive.

So. Why are we here in Honourable Mentions and not languishing amongst the Also Rans? Well. I have to admit that I can never resist looking at reviews around the net to see what other players thought of the games I write up. This is pure curiosity and never something that influences what I think - or what I write. But, in this case, I couldn't help but notice that very few agreed with me about the handling of this game.

So, we're here in Honourable Mentions so I can recommend you try this game for yourself. If you look more favourably on the handling than I do then this is a quality product. Otherwise, meh.

Flight Control

The very first game I remember playing on an Apple handset, Flight Control has you using the touchscreen to draw flight paths for various aircraft to land while avoiding crashing into each other. The graphics are as simple as the concept, but this is nevertheless, still, a very addictive little game.

There's a little extra depth added from the original with a couple more airports and aircraft types, but it's nothing revolutionary. You know exactly what you're getting here, and that's a tight, enjoyable, if essentially very limited little game.

Also Rans

Fire Panic

Disappointing, this one. Reminiscent of the overworld map of the 1986 Ghostbusters game, you guide your two fire trucks around the city extinguishing infernos and pulling cats out of trees by drawing a route with the stylus. It's all good fun for about a minute, after which there are so much unquenchable fire and so many unrescueable felines that the game becomes entirely impossible. 

Don't get me wrong, this was never going to be a barnstormer, but it's robbed of a lot of enjoyment and charm by (ahem!) burning out so quickly.

Sorry for the dark pictures in this entry, I'm on a stand-in phone for a few month and I'm just getting used to it. 

And that's it for 'F', another good spread across the categories with some genuinely great games in the mix.

I'll see you next time for 'G'.

The Best of DSiWare - Part 6: Games beginning with 'E'

As expected there's not a huge number of games stating with the letter 'E' for DSiWare. Luckily, what little there is makes for a particularly eclectic selection including two cracking hidden gems, one of which is among the best games I've found so far!

Quick recap: To facilitate this exercise I played every game made available on the DSiWare service and, once I weeded out the shovelware, I have divided the remainder into four categories:

Hidden Gems: Games you've probably never heard of that are utterly brilliant

Well Known & Wonderful: Still gems, still potentially brilliant, but perhaps not quite so 'hidden'

Honourable Mentions: Those games that are good, but lack the real spark required to fit into one of the top two categories

Also Rans: Not bad enough to be completely ignored, but probably not quite good enough to warrant higher status

Two caveats: Firstly, I don't enjoy RPGs. Like, at all. So you won't see any of those at any point. And secondly it's very hard to define 'Hidden Gem' on DSiWare, as the service itself was never hugely popular, so please excuse a potential few miss-categorisations along the way!

 

Hidden Gems

Escapee Go!

Now this is more like it! When I start a project like this, it's games like Escapee Go! that I'm hoping to find.

This slightly isometric, but mostly top down maze game has you in the role of 'Clare', a young girl who starts her adventure locked in a cell in some kind of institution with no recollection of how she got there or even who she is. As the title suggests, you have but a single goal: Escape!

Played over 17 levels, each combining fairly standard maze mechanics with those you would find in a more stealth focused effort, this brilliantly tense but nevertheless fast paced game will have you hooked from the very beginning.

Developer Gevo have layered a couple of complexities over the 'escape the labyrinth while avoiding bad guys' gameplay that really bring the game up to the next level.

Firstly, there is a mcguffin in each level that must be found to open the exit. In the first stage it's good old fashioned key-cards, in level two it's a crowbar, in three a lever must be flipped, and so it goes on. Finding whatever item is required, while avoiding the enemies who are searching for you, ensures that each level is more than just a mad dash to the finish line.

Secondly, there are power-ups, or 'abilities' to use the proper name. These grant temporary superpowers to Clare to aid her escape. Early on these are pretty simple; heightened senses to know where unseen assailants lie in wait, or an extra burst of speed. But later they become more advanced, with a personal favourite being a teleport ability that zaps you away from harm, but lands you in an entirely random part of the map. That's risk vs reward in a nut-shell right there.

The core elements of Escapee Go! are strong as it is, but these additions bring remarkable depth. 

It has very tidy visuals too. There are clever representations of line-of-sight and both you and your and enemies statuses. The character graphics are simple but very neatly done, with tiny sprites cleverly conveying menace or vulnerability as required. Finally, the icing on this very well made cake: A brilliant soundtrack that conveys every bit of tension required for the game's taught but frantic atmosphere.

Escapee Go! is by far the shiniest hidden gem I've found on DSiWare so far. It's a simple idea delivered incredibly well and a perfect example of how playing games you've never heard can be far more rewarding than playing Zelda for the four-hundredth time.

Earth Saver (Go Series)

I'm a little bit confused as to where the G.G. Series ends and the Go series begins. There's more than a little cross-over with the two but, in this case, Earth Saver appears only in the 'Go' half of that imaginary venn-diagram and lacks the single-screen design standard you see with G.G. Series. So I'm allowing it a place in the rarefied air of hidden gems because of this, and because it's a cracker of a game.

In a clear missed opportunity for a belated 'Armageddon' movie tie-in, Earth Saver is a puzzle game that sees you setting off explosives on an asteroid, as it hurtles towards Earth, in a bid to break it into pieces small enough to burn up in the atmosphere. Fail and you'll bring about a Cretaceous-Tertiary style extinction level event - and make Liv Tyler cry. Or was it Alicia Silverstone? It doesn't matter, that film is terrible.

This game, on the other hand, is brilliant fun. You run around asteroids, restricted to their square fault-lines, and set explosives in places judiciously chosen (you hope) to cause the pieces at the bottom of the screen to break away. 

The lower DS screen has a depiction of the Earth and, if you are successful, you'll see the small pieces of asteroid glow red and disintegrate before impact. 

However, if you miscalculate, any large chunks will remain in tact and leave a huge crater in the Earth's surface. Do this one too many times and it's game over - for all life on Earth - but more importantly for you. 

The visuals lean towards the more serviceable end of the spectrum but are not without charm, and there's only one tune throughout but, luckily, it's an absolute belter! 

Gameplay is freshened up with additional elements as you progress but, as with many DSiWare games, you'll reach the end of Earth saver rather quickly. The upside of this is that it ensures the tweaks to the core mechanics keep things fresh throughout. 

I've mentioned before that standing out as a puzzle game on this platform is very difficult, but with energy and fun to spare, Earth Saver absolutely shows it's not impossible.

Well Known & Worthwhile

ElectroPlankton

4 years after the original launch as a physical DS game, ElectroPlankton, a minimalist music-making game from Nintendo, arrived on DSiWare, with each of it's 10 different 'instruments' released as an individual download.

Each of these is not much more than a musical toy. Some simple interaction, different for each one, will start the little creatures specific to each title emitting their signature sound. Master what sort of interaction generates which sound and you can start to compose simple tunes.

The genius of ElectroPlankton is what it does in the background beyond the player's inputs. I have a dark abyssal void where others have musical ability, and if you share this utter lack of talent then you'll know that sitting at a piano hammering random keys will not make a piece of music, no matter how hard you try.

Yet, the equivalent haphazard interaction in ElectroPankton will perform something that not only resembles an actual piece of music, but a quite pleasant one at that. There's magic in this toy that makes you always feel in control, even when you don't know exactly how you're doing what your doing.

All told, each of these musical playthings is little more than a brief diversion of very little consequence. But there's something about the minimalism and classiness of the presentation that makes you want to come back more often than you otherwise might. 

  

Honourable Mentions

Energy Chain (G.G. Series)

Not for the first time a game is dragged up from the ignominy of the 'Also Rans' more due to it's idea than its execution.

Energy Chain is a pretty unique puzzle game where you have to join any two of four electricity emitting pylons on a grid, by connecting them with blocks of a single colour.

Despite the blocks, the matching, and the grid, this is far from a 'match 3' game or a Tetris clone. Yes, the blocks are a little Tetris-like, and, yes, the combination of colours that make them up could come from Dr Mario or Columns. However, in play, the only other similar game that comes to mind is Rampart. Only here instead of building walls you're building a path for electricity to travel along.

As has been the case with quite a few of the games in the 'G.G. Series', Energy Chain doesn't really do enough with its central concept. But there is enough on show here to make an addictive puzzler, even if chasing your own high score is the only longevity on offer. 

Earthworm Jim

Not the best way to play this 16 bit classic, but far from the worst either, with the main issue caused by the much smaller screen.

Very little has been done by way of scaling the game. Instead the action is somewhat 'zoomed in' to what would have been the bottom left corner on the Mega Drive/SNES version.

But such is the quality of that irreverent original that it shines through despite these limitations. If you've never played Earthworm Jim then this probably isn't the place to start, but if you're a long time fan it's worth a look - if only to see what's been done to squeeze this onto the DSi. 

Also Rans

Escape Trick Trilogy

Remember escape room games? Yeah, me neither. I've collected these three 'Escape Trick' games, Convenience Store, Rock City Prison, and Ninja Castle together as there's little besides the location to differentiate them. They don't offer anything new to the genre, nor do they do much wrong. So, if for some reason you're still into escape room games, these are serviceable, unspectacular examples.

Exciting River (G.G. Series)

A decent idea; using alternate buttons to paddle a little canoe around a course, is let down by very little in the way of challenge or evolution on that concept. That's not to say there's not some fun to be had with this game, but basically I'm saying that 'Mildly Diverting River' would have been a more appropriate name.

 

Thank you 'E', for bringing Escapee Go! into my life, but onward, ever onward, to 'F', where I have no idea what to expect.

I look forward to finding out with you next time!

The Best of DSiWare - Part 5: Games beginning with 'D'

Loads to get through this week, racers, shooters, classic ports, (kind-of) twin-stick shooters, and (sort-of-but-not-really) tower defence games. So let's get on with it.

Quick recap: To facilitate this exercise I played every game made available on the DSiWare service and, once I weeded out the shovelware, I have divided the remainder into four categories:

Hidden Gems: Games you've probably never heard of that are utterly brilliant

Well Known & Wonderful: Still gems, still potentially brilliant, but perhaps not quite so 'hidden'

Honourable Mentions: Those games that are good, but lack the real spark required to fit into one of the top two categories

Also Rans: Not bad enough to be completely ignored, but probably not quite good enough to warrant higher status

Two caveats: Firstly, I don't enjoy RPGs. Like, at all. So you won't see any of those at any point. And secondly it's very hard to define 'Hidden Gem' on DSiWare, as the service itself was never hugely popular, so please excuse a potential few miss-categorisations along the way!

 

Hidden Gems

Drift Street International

No matter what iteration of Nintendo DS you have, there is an astonishing dearth of 'proper' driving games.

Yes, there's a good version of the ubiquitous Ridge Racer on each, and Codemasters made a good fist of bringing their 'Race Driver' series to the system with some added touch-screen benefits, but by-and-large there are very slim pickings for petrol heads on the dual screens.

Which is not to damn Drift Street International with faint praise. This is by no means a 'best of a bad bunch' recommendation. Tantalus, more used to porting various licenced games to handheld systems, have squeezed a full on street racer onto the DSiWare format and, while this means there are understandable limitations (Just 9 tracks, for example), it is a joy to play while it lasts. 

On the down side the 'nighttime, every time' races mean it's occasionally difficult to see where the track is going. This can be mitigated with the brightest turned up to full whack and ensuring you take the occasional glance at the map on the lower screen. Do this and you'll soon be drifting majestically through the sweeping turns and the alternate routes offered by the nicely designed course layouts.

A real stand-out aspect of this game is the sound. The polygon car models are nice enough and the track layouts are varied, but the engine noises on offer here are on a different level. It's an unusual thing for me to notice in a game, so hopefully that says something about how good it is. The cars positively roar around the courses and it adds a tangible layer of quality to proceedings.

Importantly, the game is no easy ride either. So despite the limited content (compared to what you may find in a full price racer) the challenge presented means that progression takes skill and practice to achieve. This little game is big on style, big on fun, and big on reward.

Well Known & Wonderful

Dark Spirits (Go/G.G. Series)

Where Drift City International was one of the more expensive offerings on DSiWare, and offered a level of polish to match it's relatively premium price point, the opposite is true of Dark Spirits.

This is worth keeping in mind if you're inclined to judge a game by it's visuals first and foremost. This is a horizontal shoot-em-up with but a single scrolling background image and a catalogue of enemies that, while quite nicely drawn, aren't going to blow your mind with their originality or animations.

I've played a great many shmups in my time. I enjoy the genre as much as the next person, but wouldn't call myself an aficionado by any means. However, a previous blog where I played every game on MAME to unearth genuinely hidden gems saw to it that I was exposed to dozens and dozens of vertical and horizontal shooters.

What I learnt from that experience is that the essence of a good shmup is often it's power-up system - and it's here where Dark Spirits really shines.

Your humanoid avatar has four familiars, these float around him in one of 3 configurations and provide the firepower. In a brilliantly intuitive control scheme the formation they take, and therefore the direction in which they fire, correlates to the DSi's four face buttons. Press 'A' and they'll fire to the right in the usual way. Press 'Y', however, and they'll move to the rear and fire behind you, while pressing 'Y' will position them to fire in a broad 'spread' pattern.

This is satisfying enough as it is, but in addition the game also has power-ups that function in the usual way - but they only affect the familiar that made contact with them. In this way you can have 4 different fire effects in action at the same time.

But even this isn't all. You can also stack the power-ups to create RPG style upgrades; by collecting the same power-up on the same familiar you raise it's level, and thus can have a team of ultra powerful bodyguards at your disposal.

It would be remiss of me to claim that this is a perfect game. Beyond the sometimes workmanlike graphics the sound effects and music are nothing to write home about, and learning the position of the tiny hit-box on your massive varpiresque character takes some work. But this is nevertheless a fine example of a horizontal shooter. It may be plain where others are flashy but it has creativity and bombast where it really matters.

If you're even the slightest fan of the genre then I insist you give this a go.

D-Tank (Go/G.G. Series)

There aren't exactly an abundance of reviews for this game around the internet, but those that there are all refer to it, directly or otherwise, as a tower defence game.

There's every chance that this is a genre to which you have a negative reaction; a genre that was ubiquitous in the extreme on every platform a few years ago, and one for which the few genuinely good examples were drowned out by those with better (or bigger budget) marketing campaigns.

But never fear, D-Tank isn't a tower defence game in any way that you would recognise. There is no placing of static turrets, no upgrading or repair, and no channels through which to funnel your enemies.

Yes there is a tower to defend, but you do so by driving your little tank around the screen picking up power-ups and blowing the bad guys to hell in a fashion that has far more in common with twin-stick shooters than that which you might expect from that other genre. 

This is a fun and, thanks to an infinite supply of tanks, very accessible action game that breezes along for a few short hours until you reach the end. Any extra longevity will depend on how concerned you are by high score chasing because, although those lost tanks are replaced instantly, they don't come for free. The cost is a withering comment from your CO and a fair chunk of points. So if you want to get to the top of that leaderboard you're going to have to be on your toes and use your lives very sparingly.

If you're not into scores then this is still well worth a few hours of play. When you get the hang of the controls, the blast effects, and the power-ups the game really clicks. It's not long before you really begin to feel like a little tank-ninja as you weave between the enemies dropping mines while blasting in every direction. Who wouldn't love that?

Dark Void Zero

Oh, Dark Void, what went wrong? You were supposed to be a fun new franchise of steampunk jetpacks and covershooting adventures, but instead you were a bland nothing of a game, entirely devoid of interest or invention... Oh well, at least we got Dark Void Zero, an early example of an ongoing trend for de-making games in the style of the 8 and 16 bit adventures of yesteryear.

If you've ever hit 'Select' to view the instructions on a DSiWare game you'll know that you get the same bland, white, tabbed set of details for every game. Dark Void Zero has this same layout, but it livens up the delivery with the inclusion of a revisionist-history for the game that frames it as a 'lost project' from the 80's. This, like the gimmick of blowing into the console's microphone to 'clean the cartridge' before playing, are neat little touches that show a genuine love for the 8 bit era.

This continues into the game, where a two button control system is used and the pixel graphics are a great representation of those from the 80's - unlike any number of faux-old school games I could mention - and the music is similarly authentic, if perhaps a little more 16bit than 8.

Gameplay is pretty simple; you have to run/fly around levels collecting keys to open doors to other parts of the level until you reach the exit. There are secondary goals too and an abundance of enemies to keep you on your toes. There are also, pleasingly, a number of excellent power-ups to keep things interesting, and a boss battle at the end of each of the game's three levels.

Yes. Just three levels. Dark Void Zero is ostensibly a very short game, but it's not an easy one. Although it can be beaten in about an hour, you certainly won't be doing so on your first, or even your first dozen, tries. In true retro style there are three difficulty levels to extend your time with the game should you desire, with the hardest one providing a significant challenge to even the most seasoned player.

Dark Void Zero is everything Dark Void wasn't; fun, clever, and inventive. It's been one of the high points of this project so far, and is a game I have no hesitation in recommending.

Oh, one last point. The Steam reviews for the game don't look great, but this is due to some DRM issues with that version and no reflection on the game itself. 

 

Honourable Mentions

Datamine

Not for the first time in the relatively short running of this series we have a game clearly influenced by the arcade classic Pang!

In case you're somehow unfamiliar; the Pang! style of play involves a single screen playfield filled with large bubbles. The player runs along the bottom of the screen firing directly upwards to pop the bubbles or split them in two (depending on the size).

In this clearly low-budget effort from 'Enjoy', however, you are not limited to shooting from the ground. 

Datamine plays across both of the DSi's screens but the projectiles fired by your little uni-wheeled robot avatar only reach the top of the lower one.

Luckily our little Pang-bot has a very sticky tire and can roll up the side of the screen and shoot horizontally allowing the sphere's in the top display to be attacked.

As far as gameplay innovations go this isn't exactly huge. But the Pang! mechanics have stood the test of time with good reason and this tweak certainly takes nothing away from that.

Pang! clone it undoubtedly is, but it's just enough fun in it's own right to get away with it.

DoDoGo! & DoDoGo! Challenge

With Gen 7 digital gaming really arrived on home consoles, and in it's wake followed the widespread death of the video game manual.

It's a sad loss for collectors of gaming ephemera, but has also meant that most games today spend the first half-hour or so of a player's time in tutorials.

In DoDoGo! it, unfortunately, feels like a lot longer than this. Level after level at the beginning of the game you have to sit through long videos explaining the game's many mechanics - and it's this slog through the early stages that stop this game from earning itself  'Hidden Gem' Status.

The game plays in the vein of Lemmings and others in the 'guide little characters to the exit' sub-genre of puzzle games. Player input takes the form of directional control of several little DoDo eggs, patching them up after falls, mood manipulation, and platform building. There's a lot to get to grips with but luckily, the game makes great use of touch screen swipes and gestures to slicken up the experience. 

I've lumped the game's sequel 'DoDoGo! Challenge' in with the first game as it feels very much like a level-pack style expansion rather than a game in it's own right. 

And once you get past those super-slow opening tutorial levels I think you'll be glad that there are more stages available, because this is a fun and nicely designed game with a good level of challenge - it just takes a while to get there.

Dr Mario Express

Never my favourite contemporary of Tetris, Dr Mario was given the 'Express' treatment early in the life of DSiWare.

In this example, the 'Express' basically means 'no multiplayer' which, given the ageing nature of this hardware, is not really a loss any more.

Dr Mario, in case you are somehow unaware, plays very much like Tetris 'B' mode; in that you always have a screen of clutter to clear.

In place of different shapes you have the far less interesting different coloured pills to rotate and slot into place to achieve this. 

Honestly, if you're a fan of Dr Mario then this is more Dr Mario, if you're not then this won't win you over. If you've somehow never played a game in this spin-off franchise then Dr Mario Express could well have been a very good place to start - were it not for the less than ideal presentation.

Why this game doesn't make use of 'book mode' is beyond me. As it is, the play area takes up about half of a single screen which makes it squint-inducingly small.

In the end though, this is another of those games where you know exactly what you're getting, so you'll know if you'll like it (or not) before you've played it.

Divergent Shift

It’s the sad truth of all models of the DS (and latterly the Wii-U) that the second screen is far too often not given anything of note to do. If it weren’t for inventories or navigation there are hundreds upon hundreds of games that wouldn’t use it at all. Which makes it all the more of a shame when a game tries to do something different and doesn’t quite pull it off. 

Perhaps sadder still is that what Divergent Shift fails at has already been brilliantly achieved by Chronos Twin, leaving it to feel a bit like a pale imitation of that game.

Which is a little harsh really, as Divergent Shift does have a personality of its own and offers a few things to differentiate itself.

There are two modes of play, for example. Reflection is all platforming, all the time, with your character on the top screen exactly replicated, albeit upside down, on the one below. The levels they’re traversing are different, however, meaning that hitting an invisible dead end on one screen might be because there’s a wall or tree in the way on the other.

Shadow mode offers a slightly more puzzle focused experience as you control the avatar on both screens independently, each manipulating elements to aid the others passage.

Together these aspects are just enough to earn the game a hesitant recommendation. It’s not as good as Chronos Twin, but it’s different enough to be worth a play.

One last word of warning; the visuals are beyond basic. And while the music is pretty effective, the sound effects are on a par with the sub-game-maker level graphics.

Dracula Undead Awakening

Skirting the border of 'Also Ran' territory this grimy twin stick shooter was previously released on iPhone and WiiWare before turning up on DSiWare.

It's saved from a lower status by simply being pretty good fun to play. This genre is understandably sparse on the decidedly one-stick DS, but using the face button as a d-pad works pretty well and the weaponry on offer is really satisfying to unleash on the otherworldly foes.

It won't change your life, or even your afternoon, but as this kind of diversions goes, it's good fun for a while.

Dragon's Lair 1 + 2

Of course these games are on DSiWare, they're on every other game system/dvd player/toaster in the world so why not the DSi too?

I'm not going to waste the skin on my two precious typing fingers with descriptions of the most famous interactive cartoons ever made - but if you've never played them, or if you're a fan and wanted to own these on yet another console, you should know that these are perfectly serviceable ports that, despite a fairly low resolution, play pretty much identically to the arcade original.

Personally, I I think Space Ace is a better game (which we'll come to in a few weeks) but that might be due to my preference for red-heads over blondes.

Also Rans

Doodle Fit
Similar to tangram puzzles, this game has the neat idea of using the stylus to 'colour in' Tetris style blocks to fit a template. Sadly it's not enough to save this puzzler from the repetition and boredom caused by its fundamental simplicity.

DoDoGo! Robo
A pale imitation of the first 2 games (reviewed above), this sequel is far too light on the challenge, complexity, and charm that elevated the originals.

Delbo 
Played in book mode, Delbo is a game that will immediately put you in mind of Puzzle Bobble… Actually, that’s not strictly true. Because when Delbo starts up you’re greeted by the most annoying harpsichord music ever recorded and a scrolling text relaying a story about a girl who has to smash coloured orbs to rescue her lover from hell… I’m not even exaggerating. So before you’re put in mind of Puzzle Bobble you’ll be put in mind of some kind of baroque ball-pit inspired nightmare. 

However, Debo was saved from the pit of shame known as ‘not even mentioned’ and hauled into the relative glory of ‘Also ran’ by virtue of it’s one original mechanic. The orbs in Delbo are arranged in a grid and rather than just fling other orbs at the mass and make chains (although you absolutely do that) here you are able to pull single rows of orbs towards you to create better combo opportunities. It’s a neat idea but the game’s production values let it down on all other fronts.

Drilling Attack (G.G. Series)

The rift in quality between the best and worst in the G.G. Series is vast, and this is well represented by Dark Spirit (above) and this game. Where Dark Spirit brings a nice twist to genre tropes, Drilling Attack takes it's quite neat presentation and applies an incredibly dull gameplay model - Drill through all the blocks to reveal the exit.

It feels fun to play at first, but gets repetitive incredibly quickly.

Drift Circuit

A top down racer with drifting? What's this doing in 'Also rans'?

Well. Alongside the cardinal sin of audio visual genericity, this also about the slowest racing game I've ever played. 

And that's it for 'D'. Quite the selection, I'm sure you'll agree.

'E' is traditionally more barren ground when it comes to video game titles. I'll see you next week to find out if DSiWare can buck that trend.