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Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Adventure
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 16 Nov 04
User Rating
6.7 (3 votes) -
- Going against the flow of 'normal' launch titles, Sega duly obliges with this quirky and groovy party game.
Overview
It seems like every system, no matter which one you look at, has a slew of launch titles most of which are rather normal, and are just there to show off what the new machine can do. Well with these releases, we tend to see one or two games that just stand out as weird games, and for the Nintendo DS this latest game from the guys over at SEGA fits right into that category. Here is our review of Sega's very weird, Feel the Magic: XY/XX, Is it as much good as it is weird?
Gameplay
Judging from the title, Feel the Magic: XY/XX could feel right home in any game genre. My first thoughts when I heard SEGA was doing the game was that it could be a new sort of platformer, or maybe even a fighting game that involves both males and females. But no, this game doesn't fall into the typical game genres; instead you play as some unknown guy who bumps into an unknown girl and falls in love with her instantly. He then gets picked up by the Super Performance Group called the Rub Rabbits, who then makes him complete different tasks in order to win the girl's approval. Now I know a lot of you (like I was) wonder, how in the heck did this even become a game? Well, the purpose of the game of course, is to win the girl and you do this by winning the host of the mini games that the game allows you to play. Does this make for a good game though?
Well, as I said, this is a game that compiles a bunch of different mini games into one game, something that very few games have ever done successfully. One of the only series to do that was the Mario Party series, and even that hasn't been all that great the last couple of times. So if this game was going to succeed, it was really going to need to come up with some new ideas.
And that is exactly what Feel the Magic: XY/XX did, by using a lot of the different technologies that the DS has to offer. For example one of the first mini games I took part in was a game that made use of the onboard microphone that had you blow into the DS to "blow out the candles" in the game. A lot of the different mini games make full use of the DS's touch pad, which was quite a neat endeavor. The mini games of course range in difficulty and length, but all of them are supposedly helping you get closer and closer to this girl whom you love.
To be quite honest, besides the few times the game does throw some different quirks at you, it never really get that interesting. Most of the mini-games just seem either too slow, or just not all that original. Of course there are a few that will make you want to come back for more, but besides that, most of them just don't have that fun replay value that makes these sort of games entertaining! Although the use of the new DS hardware was there, the execution just plainly was missing at a lot of crucial points.
Graphics
The one thing I really did enjoy with Feel the Magic: XY/XX was the graphical style. I don't really know how to describe the style, but to say that it looks like something that would be related to the "groovy" era of the 60's and 70's. The uses of colors in the game just closely resemble what I would picture the era's style to look like. All of the characters in the game are in silhouette style, which actually works pretty well for the game.
Inside the game, there is still quite a bit of use of color and detail that made into a pretty good-looking experience. It may not be the best game the DS has to offer yet, but it definitely wins the award for the most unique style thus far!
Fun Factor
For a game that was made to encompass a batch of mini-games, whose sole purpose is to be fun, this game just didn't bring the results we all were hoping for. Instead, Feel the Magic: XY/XX has way too many dull moments to be considered a true party-style game. The game does show some nice ideas for future games to use the DS capabilities, but for this game the fun just ended up being there only some of the time.
Overall
If there is one thing positive that is to come from Feel the Magic: XY/XX it is that it showed off a lot of the capabilities that the DS has. Now did this formulate into a great game? No, but the game did have some neat ideas and a few interesting mini-games. Should you purchase this one? It just really depends on how badly you're craving for some mini-games. If the answer to that is very high, then this game will do the business, for the time being.
- Gameplay
6.0 - Graphics
7.0 - Fun Factor
6.0 - Overall
6.0
