A Good, Solid, Board Game Package

This is one of those games that people who don't generally like video games will like. The interface is easy, the rules are handy and succinct, and the games are familiar. No cards, boards, dominoes are necessary to play. Just the cartridge.

As such, this is a great game for parents or grandparents to buy to play with their kids. If they feel disconnected for lack of things in common, they can buy a DS and this game and get some quality time in. Today's kids have no idea how to play dominoes or chess unless taught by the older generation. Accept this pleasant duty & go to town.

One other neat thing is that only one cartridge is needed to play. The wireless multi-player feature is really worthwhile on this. It is fast and well-executed.

The evening we got this game, my wife and I sat and played it together on our DS's for about 4 hours. We like Dominoes, the Battleship clone, and checkers the best so far.

I have not tried the WiFi features, as we don't have WiFi at home right now.

I agree with the previous reviewer that chess is pretty weak. Chessmaster: The Art of Learning is much better. Chess really deserves its own game if you're looking for a strong computer opponent. However, the chess game is great for two human opponents to play.

One other thing I have to point out is that to a gamer, this game gets boring fast. For those folks, it would really need multiple human players to stay interesting.

***Update***

Start-up - One thing I like about this game, and it is admittedly a small thing, is that there aren't a whole bunch of ads to have to sit through before I can play the game. Just one screen that flashes for about one second, then right to the main menu. Other games have one animator after another for about 30 seconds before I can play the game. Super-annoying. It isn't like I'm going to go out and shop for games based on who wrote the codec that plays cut-scenes...




I've played a bunch more of the games a bunch more times.

Darts - More fun than I thought it would be.

Pool - Seems to be 9-Ball only. Controls are not really that good, and the balls don't roll realistically.

MahJong Solitaire - The Chinese characters are hard for me to see with enough detail to play the game well. If you recognize Chinese characters already, it will be a different story. My wife, a true Solitaire fan just loves this game. She has beaten all 10 levels. It is kind of refreshing and interesting to have different suits than our typical spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds.

Solitaire - Just what you'd expect. It is the best Solitaire game on DS. We also have the Travel Games for Dummies game, which has a version of solitaire in which the graphics and interface are not as good.

Bowling - A fun game! This one is executed better than the pool game. We come back to this one pretty often.

Rummy - Very good, and just what you'd expect from the cards version of this game.

Blackjack - A good version overall, but it is annoying to have to wait for the CPU players to go. I don't know why 4 players + the dealer are required. I'd rather just play against the dealer and not have to wait for the rest of these chumps to bet.

5 Card Draw - A good version. It would be nice if there were an option to turn off the betting.

Backgammon - Pretty good, but the easy player is still pretty strong. It never misses the opportunity to knock me up onto the rim, and has perfect strategy. The real version of this game with another person is better.

Turncoat - This is the DS version of the board game "Othello" Very good.

Connect Five - This is like the Egyptian game "Pente" There's a board with a  grid drawn on it. It is a two player game in which each player takes turns placing their own color stones on an intersection, trying to get five in a row. (either diagonally, vertically, or horizontally) A very good but basic strategy game.

In the Advanced Board Games section, there are 5 games: Backgammon, Chess, Shogi, Field Tactics, and Ludo. Sadly, one has to "unlock" the last three. One can't just go into the Free Play mode and play any game. This is lame. Not everyone wants to mess around with Stamp or Mission modes just to have access to all the games.

In the Variety Games Menu, there are four games: Soda Shake, Dominoes, Koi-Koi, and Word Balloon. Word Balloon is locked until one completels some goal or mission in one of the other modes in order to play it. Lame.

Soda Shake - Players take turns shaking a soda bottle, trying not to be the one who causes so much pressure that the cork bursts out. This is a lousy game and a waste of space.

Dominoes - Very good, I spoke about this earlier. There are five different games of Dominoes that can be played: 5 Up, Block, Draw, Muggins, and Sniff. I've only played 5 Up so far, and it was good. I had no idea so many different games could be played with a basic set of double-six dominoes.

Action Games - This menu contains Bowling, Darts, Billiards, Balance, and Takeover.  Bowling and Darts are good. Billiards is OK. Balance is OK, and Takeover is lousy.

Balance - There is a round table, balanced on a single point at its center. Blocks are added, and one tries to NOT be the guy who causes the table to tip & spill. Not bad, but doesn't really have staying power.

Takeover is kind of like a more complex shuffleboard, but on a table top. It isn't that good, since it is so easy to knock one's opponents off and take all their squares. The last person to go has the advantage here. He can just wait until the last round, then knock off the guy with the most squares to win it.

Escape - This is a very good 2D puzzle game. It is played on a flat board with different sized rectangular blocks. One has to slide them around until the crown block can escape the chute. It is much harder than it looks, can be a bit frustrating. (like most puzzle games, it can make you feel stupid)