DS #4115: Shorts (USA)

Chanser · Aug 25, 2009

^^ndsrelease-5305^^

Chanser · Aug 25, 2009

Frog · Aug 25, 2009

I like shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear!
sorry, couldn't help myself.

This game doesn't look too bad.

spiritofcat · Aug 25, 2009

Wow, watching that video it looks not bad. The rainbow line business reminds me of Kirby Canvas Curse.
Is this based on a TV show or something or is it an original property?

Edit: In answer to my own question, it's based on a movie.

QUOTE said:
Bring the outrageous and enchanting mayhem of Shorts, the movie, to your Nintendo DSTM. After a magical rainbow rock that grants wishes brings chaos to the suburbs, players must fix wishes-gonewrong in this entertaining platformer with classic puzzle elements. Play as 4 of your favorite characters from the movie. Free your house from booger monsters as Nose Noseworthy. Escape the canyon of doom and the castle that Loogie Short wished into existence. Choose between Toe Thompson and Helvetica Black to destroy the power-mad Mr. Black in the Black Box factory. It’s up to you to return the community of Black Falls to normal.

Features
- Run through 26 replayable levels in 3 distinct episodes from the movie that take place in a laboratory-like house in the town of Black Falls, a factory, and a castle with a moat
- Play as Nose Noseworthy, Loogie Short, Toe Thompson and Helvetica Black, each with their own special jump and unique ability
- Activate special jumps and unique abilities like the alien and wasp hoverjumps, telekinesis super-attack, invincibility, and growth and shrink ray guns for sticky situations
- Use the stylus to draw temporary platforms to jump on and get around obstacles or create a shield to avoid dangerous threats
- Face a multitude of enemies like booger monsters, bomb shooting crocodiles, poison spitting snakes, bats, and sparking robots

mrfatso · Aug 25, 2009

looks interesting from the trailer, i guess i will get that and try it out myself

AlexFili · Aug 25, 2009

"Use the stylus"
-Any movie game that utilizes the stylus is an instant no-play for me.

The only thing I'm going to use my stylus with in the next month is Scribblenauts.
What's with all these movies that only have one word; Cars, Up, Shorts...

Seriously, where are the other words?!
Doesn't anyone remember "The Land Before Time" or "The Cat in The Hat"...
MORE WORDS = MORE VOCABULARY
And they wonder why kids suck at english lessons now.

Donato_Dobango · Aug 25, 2009

I can see not playing a movie game that controls like Prince of Persia, where you are forced to use the stylus to play haphazardly when direct controls would be more fun, but the whole concept of this game kind of revolves around the stylus. It'd be like playing Canvas Curse without the stylus, making it the worst Kirby game of all time.

I'm checking this game out now. I shall have my patented Donato first impressions review up soon!

Edit:

First Impressions With:

After playing though the first chapter of the game, I can now contribute with some sage words of advice.

This summer has seen a rush of platforming games based on G-rated fluff on the DS. After Night at the Museum 2 and Aliens in the Attic bringing next to nothing to the table except using the same game engine, the Shorts enters the picture with its own engine and game mechanics. All of these contribute to an overall experience that easily beats out other licensed games of this season.

The graphics are quite favorable to the Shorts, as the developer, Troublemaker Studios, throws out trying to look realistic and just goes for a superdeformed, big head cartoon style that works perfectly. Characters that appear to talk to your character show up on the top screen in a Tin-Tin-esque cartoon style as well. Both styles work off each other perfectly. Being a licensed video game, the enemies are an issue. Here in the first chapter you face an army of noses full of snot that look not unlike the tentacles from Day of the Tentacle. There are really only 3 variations of them, but they can be repetitious.

The controls are spot-on for this game, as well. While stylus control is a big selling point the publisher has used, I'm here to quell that myth. Throughout a level, you'll find a cube that gives you 3 "rainbow" lines you can draw to use as platforms or keep enemies at bay. Sound like Canvas Curse? Well, yes, it does, and it is exactly like that with one exception: you can only draw a straight line (so far in the game, I'm sure this might change later on). What this means for the stylus weary is you can use the d-pad controls all you want and just use a finger to draw a quick line. Since you only get 3 lines per level (and most adult gamers might only need 1 at that), your hands will barely be off the d-pad long enough to notice.

So far, the Shorts is a fun platform game with some fun color-key door and switch puzzles that definitely feels inspired by the likes of Great Giana Sisters and classic 8-Bit platform games. Thankfully the developers added way more of their own character to the game, making it just as good as a standalone experience if you, like most of the world, didn't know this was a movie first and foremost.

mrfatso · Aug 25, 2009

I see, thanks Donato_Dobango for the mini review.

shakirmoledina · Aug 25, 2009

still looks like a game worth trying but the name is weird

GeekyGuy · Aug 25, 2009

I like it so far. The only thing I've used the stylus for is to draw platforms and walls; otherwise, everything else is mapped to the face buttons. The game doesn't seem to be reinventing the wheel or anything, but it's certainly worth checking out.

@ shakirmoledina: I believe it's based on a movie, and considering the gameplay so far, I think the movie is broken up into short stories.

Maktub · Aug 25, 2009

I absolutely HATE Spy Kids. Their intentionally cartoony-like fx to an extent of shabbiness and their stupid humor for people who're looking for exactly what they're gonna find.

-Hahahahaha I never X.
X happens to that character right after.
That character looks like Yosemite Sam after an anvil's fallen right top of his head.
People laugh like idiots.

OR tiny stupid animal/creature jumping around making mischief. A là monkey from pirates of caribbean. Oh, ha, ha, how funny, a monkey jumping around. TEH FUCKEN HEELARUUZZZZ.

Let's not mention when I saw this movie's trailer on the cinema I felt like puking. They haven't changed a bit in their pukable-at special effects.

/flaming.

Even if this was proven not to be shovelshit, I wouldn't give it a try. Also, I get the feeling the standards we used for games in the DS are each time lower and lower. Before, we'd throw stones at devs for games like MKDS not having better graphics (which is merely stupid but shows how much we've lowered standards) and now I see praise on this crup. I think too much shovelware can be harmful for criteria.

GeekyGuy · Aug 25, 2009

Maktub said:
I absolutely HATE Spy Kids. Their intentionally cartoony-like fx to an extent of shabbiness and their stupid humor for people who're looking for exactly what they're gonna find.

-Hahahahaha I never X.
X happens to that character right after.
That character looks like Yosemite Sam after an anvil's fallen right top of his head.
People laugh like idiots.

OR tiny stupid animal/creature jumping around making mischief. A là monkey from pirates of caribbean. Oh, ha, ha, how funny, a monkey jumping around. TEH FUCKEN HEELARUUZZZZ.

Let's not mention when I saw this movie's trailer on the cinema I felt like puking. They haven't changed a bit in their pukable-at special effects.

/flaming.

Even if this was proven not to be shovelshit, I wouldn't give it a try. Also, I get the feeling the standards we used for games in the DS are each time lower and lower. Before, we'd throw stones at devs for games like MKDS not having better graphics (which is merely stupid but shows how much we've lowered standards) and now I see praise on this crup. I think too much shovelware can be harmful for criteria.

Not to send you into a tizzy or to be purposefully argumentative, but what a load of horseshit. Really.

Not sure what you're referring to when you reference Spykids. If this game is somehow related to that license, I had no idea. Either way, I've played through more of it, and I find it to be quite entertaining. I'm also fairly certain that the majority of folks who game here don't just game on DS, so they have some point of reference when comparing the value of a particular piece of work.

More importantly, however -- and I'm not accusing you individually of anything -- no one who pirates games is in any position to throw stones at any developer/publisher for any game, regardless of how bad it might be. Let's just be clear about that.

berlinka · Aug 25, 2009

Maktub said:
Also, I get the feeling the standards we used for games in the DS are each time lower and lower. Before, we'd throw stones at devs for games like MKDS not having better graphics (which is merely stupid but shows how much we've lowered standards) and now I see praise on this crup. I think too much shovelware can be harmful for criteria.

I totally agree with you. Lately there not have been much good games out for the DS (luckily we got Professor Layton 2 now) BUT....I'm convinced that the fact that piracy has gotten totally out of hand has partly caused this crapware explosion. So I personally think it's the fact that you can buy a flashcart in a local store (which is literally the case in our country) for less than the price of a game, that developers don't want to put a lot of time and money in DS-games anymore.

PS: There are loads of parents that don't even know the DS has got a touch screen, but DO know you can buy a flash cart for it!!!

Maktub · Aug 25, 2009

irpacynot said:
stuff (too long, don't wanna bother other users, not that I don't think it's worth reading)

This license is taken from a movie whose director is the same director as that one from Spy Kids' movies.

Also, whereas I do pirate, I also buy certain games every so often (I'm not just throwing in BS here) and am very fond of quality gaming and developing. Even if I did not, I would certainly have the right to criticise a game. I mean, that's what these forums are for. Think of game reviews. They're made byb people who probably never bought a game since they get them for free from dev's and companies. Don't they have the right to throw stones at a game if they think it's shit? You gave your positive feedback, I gave mine, specifying I haven't tried it and that it was all flaming derived from the films this guy makes. Not very hard to bash me taking that stuff into account huh?

Just think of it this way - if shovelware is 99% of the times crap with movies that are not so crappy, then imagine how crappy a game from a crappy movie can get to be?

Or maybe because the movie is so crappy the game is better? Who knows, shovelware is something I'm not meant to get into.

edit: in fact, I just re-read my post and realized there's no direct mention to this game being crap. Not even to the license. Read better next time, I now feel all of the above was needless to say.

Donato_Dobango · Aug 25, 2009

Just so you can gauge my input here: Gamer for almost 21 years. I've owned a NES, SNES, Genesis, Genesis 32X, Sega CD, N64, Playstation 1 & 2, Gamecube. I had the original grey gameboy, upgraded to the black one with the same puke color screen when it came out, then the GB Pocket, then the GB Color. Right now I own a 360 and a Wii and I'm on my third DS (lost the first one stupidly trying to change cases, second had to be sent back to Nintendo for a battery problem).

This isn't a case where I don't know what a good game is. Even with all the gigs of RAM on an SD Card available, I wouldn't keep crap. That's why games I specifically mentioned, like Aliens in the Attic and Night at the Museum 2 were quickly tried and deleted. They were crappy games.

Sometimes a developer is given a license and free reign to make their own kind of game with it. I feel that as seriously the case here, as the Shorts video game has precious little to do with what I saw in the commercials. There is no stupid "I want telephonekinesis" jokes here. Just a straight forward and fun 2D platforming game with a nice additional gimmick of the stylus/finger platform drawing. Believe it or not, good 2D Platforming games on the DS are still a bit of a commodity outside of first party titles. Hence why I approved. They did a style of gaming I like quite well and managed to overcome being just another licensed game. Not even X-Men Origins Wolverine could truly say that.

Vague Rant · Aug 25, 2009

I have to agree with Donato here. People refusing this game on the basis of "Spy Kids sucks"/"movie games suck" etc. are being unnecessarily prejudgmental. I don't really give a crap about those people missing out on what is a pretty decent game from what I've played, but I do give a crap that people coming into this topic might see a consensus that the game is bad, and not bother trying it. If you want to be close-minded, that's fine, but if you use your close-mindedness to discourage others from trying things, you're being a dick. Hopefully people will ignore the jerks, see the posts of the people who actually played the game and give this a shot.

Hadrian · Aug 25, 2009

Maktub said:
irpacynot said:

stuff (too long, don't wanna bother other users, not that I don't think it's worth reading)

Click to expand...

This license is taken from a movie whose director is the same director as that one from Spy Kids' movies.

He also directed Sin City, Planet Terror, The Faculty, From Dusk Til Dawn, El mariachi & Desperado. So what?

On topic: Game is ok..nothing more, nothing less. If you really need to play something new, then you could do worse than this. The developers seemed to have put some effort into this, at least in making something entertaining for the TARGET audience. While personally I feel that kids shouldn't have to play dumbed down variations of games at least its better then Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer DS.

Donato_Dobango · Aug 25, 2009

I hate movies like Planet Terror, always including lots of nudity and gore and machine gun limbs to try to pander to children

Edit: And I do agree with the "it's not bad or great, it just is" review. I'm sure the drought of crap games lately has made me like this even more, but it'll probably go unplayed as soon as dumps of Marker Man Adventures, Monster Racers, and Harvest Moon Frantic Farming hit for me.

Kreatur84 · Aug 25, 2009

the game looks terrible,a mix of super mario and prince of persia

GeekyGuy · Aug 25, 2009

Kreatur84 said:
the game looks terrible,a mix of super mario and prince of persia

Yeah, that does sound terrible.

It's a fairly competent and enjoyable platformer. My main gripe is the extraneous stuff you'll find throughout levels. For example, you might find a trigger button or some other obstacle right before the door it's meant to open. There's not a lot of that in the game, and there are many more interesting platforming elements than poor ones, but it definitely has an air of not being fully inspected before release. Also the collision detection is a little suspect when jumping on those squishy, slime things, and a jerky camera doesn't help. Again, though, a game worth checking out for folks (me) in need of another platformer on DS.

DS #4115: Shorts (USA)

:o

:o

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

That guy!!

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

That guy!!

Legend

Professional loafer

Well-Known Member

Professional loafer

You have sustained a lethal injury.

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Deceptively cute

Literally as TIGHT as a gnats chuff.

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Professional loafer

Similar threads

Popular threads in this forum