Forum Overview :: Reviews

Feel the Magic XY/XX by Funkula 11/24/2004, 2:10pm PST Rather than take the obvious Mario route, I decided to gamble on Sega's launch title for the DS. It's got that funky Sega thing going on, which is good, cause otherwise it'd probably be some kind of dating sim bullshit. Basic premise: you want to get into some chick's panties. You join a performance group called the Rub Rabbits (who remind me a lot of Frank from Donnie Darko, mostly thanks to their first appearance being in a movie theater) and do stupid shit to get her attention. You then get special "love scenes" where you interact directly with her (not like that, although the audio might make those around you think otherwise). The gameplay is very much Wario Ware in nature, by which I mean you're doing stupid nonsensical things for brief periods of time. Unlike Wario Ware, you tackle one minigame at a time which gets progressively harder. The game accepts no input from buttons whatsoever; everything is handled through the touchscreen and microphone. The minigames include ridiculous shit like inputting key codes to unlock the parachutes of skydivers, chasing goldfish around someone's stomach and up his esophagus, and brushing caltrops out of the path of dumbasses riding downhill in shopping carts. Other inputs besides stylus-on-screen are used: a couple of minigames (such as sailing a yacht to rescue the girl's drowning ass from sharks) require you to blow on the touchscreen, while at least one makes you shout into the microphone to get her attention. And then there are the love scenes. So far, these are the most hilarious situations in the game. The objective of each is to make the love meter reach full. In one, you hold her hand (keep the stylus over it) to make it rise, but you periodically have to let go so you can kill furious bees. The funniest one I've seen yet requires you to undo her dress buttons while periodically rubbing furiously to keep your bonerthe bonfire from dying out. And my god, you would not believe how much rubbing is required to clean mud off her (or the noises she makes while you do so). Presentation is overall pretty good. The graphics are simple in an elegant way. The characters are flat-shaded black models with accents like hair and clothing, which works really well in context because you can imagine your face on the guy and that hawt Japanese chick you stare at on the girl. At least, I'm guessing that's one intended application; it is a pretty nice visual style regardless. Sound and music are pretty good, but I'm sure we'll be seeing better as the platform matures. As it stands, the audio is better than GBA, but not by enough. I'm not really sure how long the game is or how much replay value it will have. Right now I'm having a blast with it. I'd definitely recommend it over most of the usual launch crap. For anyone who likes stupid funky games, it's a definite keeper.

Feel the Magic XY/XX by Funkula 11/24/2004, 2:10pm PST     positive: music reminiscent of Katamari Damacy NT by FABIO 07/21/2005, 11:04pm PDT     Sequel announcement by Siskel and Ebert 08/12/2005, 4:43pm PDT         Re: Sequel announcement by FABIO 08/12/2005, 5:02pm PDT