DS #4331: Where The Wild Things Are (Europe)

[B-Blue]

^^ndsrelease-5555^^

 

[MegaAce™]

Wasn't this some child book? The boxart looks like it.

 

[granville]

It was a book and now a movie. And the DS game might actually hold some promise. I'll try it later. Here are a couple of screens-

 

[Hadrian]

Aha this game is worth trying because WayForward developed it.

Very good games they've done:
Shantae GBC
Sabrina the Animated Series: Zapped! GBC (seriously it was a very good platformer)
Wendy: Every Witch Way GBC
A Boy and His Blob Wii
Contra 4 DS

Decent games:
Justice League Heroes: The Flash GBA
LIT WiiWare
SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab GBA

Also Mighty Flip Champs DSiWare got some great reviews. They also had a Aliens game that looks very good but I dunno if Sega will ever release it.

Of course they have also made Ping Pals DS which was awful and some other games that were pretty much just made so the company can get money for better games but still its worth trying their games out.

 

[GeekyGuy]

The odd thing is, Griptonite did the Wii version. They usually seem to do handheld versions of these types of licensed games. This version, though, looks like a very different experience than the console games.

 

[Vague Rant]

I've been waiting for this, surprised to see that the European version got dumped first.

 

[Rayder]

I've been waiting for this, surprised to see that the European version got dumped first.

It seems there really isn't too many USA release groups for DS anymore, just independent's (which means regular people like you and me) that use the various group's names to release their dumps. USA dumps have become very inconsistent. I've noticed this trend since about the same time the recession got nasty. Stands to reason, I guess.
This is not to say there are no USA release groups anymore, just not as many as there used to be, nor as prolific. Maybe the groups got bored of the DS and moved on to better things, maybe they got sick of all the blatant shovelware and said screw this, or maybe they just don't have the cash to buy the games to dump thanks to the recession, who knows. All I know is USA undumped games are piling up. It seems that the USA games that do get dumped are mostly the shovelware crap or hyper-anticipated games while the more obscure ones get left undumped. (Astro Boy, for example) So we end up having to wait around for the European dumps, since they seem to actually dump games on a more consistent basis.


As for this particular game.....what's it about? What do you do in it? The screenies do nothing to tell me about the game, other than it being a platformer of some type.

 

[Burnedmagix]

the art is nice.
the screenies look naruto-ish

 

[granville]

Well, I played a little bit of it yesterday. My impression of it is quite positive. Here are some thoughts.

You play as this kid Max who apparently wears some sort of animal costume like a wolf. He likes to roar at people, and he one day sailed away from home and managed to get to a new land with some giant troll-looking creatures. Very random.

The graphics are quite pleasing to the eye, even if they don't really push the DS much. There are some really really nice multiple scrolling backgrounds that are very well detailed. There are a fair amount of those old school mode7-like effects too, used to animate certain characters. The attention to detail impressed me. The levels are rather lush and give a lovely atmosphere. There are some nice fog effects too. Very nice 2D art overall, with some hint of realism mixed with fantasy.

Sound wise, the game also pleases for the most part. The tunes are pretty catchy, if not the best ever. It never gets annoying to listen to the music. I found it quite pleasing to the ear and also fitting to the atmosphere and mood. The one thing that isn't great is the sound effects. The most jarring noises being Max's sounds. His roaring and jumping effects are just horrid to my ears.

Gameplay wise, it won't win any awards for innovation, but it IS quite a capable and fun 2D platformer. I actually see some similarities between this and the US Mario 2, at least in the combat mechanics. Basically, if you have played any standard 2D platformer, you know what to expect. The level design is nice, and the environments are varied and atmospheric. Jumping on enemies doesn't work though. You have to roar at them to stun them, in which you can then pick them up and toss them away or at other enemies. This picking up and tossing mechanic reminds me of classics like Mario 2 and even the Mickey's Magical Quest series on SNES. It's quite fun, and some bosses seem to take a bit of strategy. There is one really neat little aspect of the platforming that makes nice use of the multiple scrolling backgrounds. You can actually jump in and out of the foreground and background. It has been done before, but I always liked the effect and thought it was a nice way to simulate the effect of a 3D environment without true 360 degree movement. Overall, the gameplay isn't new or anything, but it's solid. There is a piggyback mechanic with the giant troll people where you can press their icon on the touch screen in order to climb on their backs and bypass spikes and other hazards. This is the only flaw, is that you HAVE to touch their icon to use them. It's just another stupid and worthless use of the touch screen that I wish developers would shove up their ass. Could have easily used any of the unused or unnecessary buttons. It's a mechanic used sparingly so far though thankfully.

So yeah, I was caught off guard at how nice this was. I never heard of this movie or story until I saw a trailer while seeing the new Harry Potter movie in theaters. I didn't expect a game of it to be any good, but I took a look and was pleasantly surprised. Anyone looking for an attractive 2D platformer but isn't looking for innovation should give this a go, it's worth it. This is just my opinion though.

Impression wise, i've only beaten about 3 levels so far. But from my early play, here are some of my scores. All are opinions of mine only.

Graphics- 9/10 (lovely 2D, but nothing that pushes the DS)
Sound- 8/10 (great music, bad sound effects)
Control- 9/10 (one point docked for stupid touch control)
Gameplay- 8/10 (you won't find any innovation, but some damn solid old school gameplay)
Overall- 8/10

 

[GeekyGuy]

I personally wouldn't rate the game an 8/10, but it's decent. The main thing is, it doesn't seem to be rough around the edges, which is something common amongst most licensed games. The graphics are pretty cool; looks a bit like what they did with Contra 4. Hit detection is a little questionable sometimes, but the game's pretty tight otherwise. Kind of a simple action platformer but worth a look.

 

[Rayder]

Guess I'll give it a look....it's not like I don't have enough space on my 16GB microSD. I'm only using about half the total space at this point.

Still wish someone would dump Astro Boy already.

 

[BlueStar]

Surprised so few people know about the original children's book, it was pretty controversial.

Anyway, had a play and this looks like a really nicely done little platformer with some lovely pixel art - looks much better than the 2.5D stuff the DS usually gets, suppose sprites take a lot more work and artistic talent though.

 

[Hadrian]

This game is average at best, you can tell WayForward handed it to a few other people while the main staff did Boy and His Blob & Shantae DSiWare.

Expect Matt Bozon to rate this high on IGN, hes connected to the company in some way.

 

[GeekyGuy]

This game is average at best, you can tell WayForward handed it to a few other people while the main staff did Boy and His Blob & Shantae DSiWare.

Expect Matt Bozon to rate this high on IGN, hes connected to the company in some way.

You mean Mark Bozon? Nah, they likely won't let him review it. His brother is a creative head for them, and he himself used work with WayForward, so they usually don't let him review any of their games.

 

[ibis_87]

Wise of them. %)
Might have a look at the actual game, the gfx engine really reminds me of Contra 4. Since the developer is the same, maybe I`m not awfully wrong.

 

[monaug5]

Graphics are well done so I can see they put some effort into its presentation!