Nintendo DS
I am a bit late coming to the DS but I recently purchased one for my wife's birthday. After giving her the initial time period where I don't ask to borrow it, I took it for a bit of a test drive.
The system itself is very nice. I am glad the updated the design from the early E3 version. When I held the early DS in my hands, it felt like I was playing a loaf of bread. The interface is simple and has a very Nintendo feel to it. I did feel its a bit confusing though as I could never figure out how to get back to the boot screen which displays what is inserted into the game slots without rebooting.
The game I played mostly was Animal Crossing. I played the GameCube version quite a bit so I thought this would make a nice apples to apples comparison. The gameplay is exactly the same. I have not been able to test out the wifi multiplayer but I am very eager to do so. Honestly though I am not really evaluating the gameplay as much as I am the new experience the DS presents.
Dual Screens:
Dual screens sounds like a great idea. Play your game on one screen and do all your inventory on another, or maybe have a map that is always present, etc. After playing AC for a while, this idea just doesn't work for me. I cannot keep up with 2 screens at the same time. In the old AC when you equip a tool for your character and close the window, you see your little guy pull out the item. Now this happens immediately on the 2nd screen but I didn't even notice this until about the 5th time I equipped a tool. My focus just wasn't on that area.
It seems to me having 2 screens are not very advantageous. If the user can only focus on one thing at a time what’s the point? I suppose if you could have a map there instead of small map in the corner of the main screen, which might useful. But then isn't the user moving their eye much further than should have to the view the information? And if your 2nd screen map is replacing that mini-map in the corner because that tiny map isn't big enough to convey all your detailed map information will users be able to use that more detailed map anyway without stopping their current action?
Things that I thought would be useful (leaving my item window up and then moving around) I could not do because only one of the screens is touch sensitive. Maybe other games use the dual screens better but in AC it is not very useful.
Touch Screen:
Ok, the stylus is the best thing ever in AC for getting past the cumbersome issues the GameCube version had. Writing letters, which was a huge chore on my Wavebird, is a snap with the stylus. Dragging items around in the inventory to equip them is nice.
The downside is controlling your character. Movement, talking to other characters, selecting text items, picking things up, etc. is all very cumbersome. I found myself errantly tapping often not realizing I had to first position my character next to a NPC then tap the NPC. Very confusing. There was also a very unexpected downside to the stylus. Disconnect.
I felt very disconnected from my avatar. When I used the stylus my avatar felt more like a little creature I am influencing rather than I am controlling a character that is supposed to be me. This is obviously against the intention of the game. The opening intro which is a conversation from 1st person cements this.
I didn't feel this disconnect when I used the d-pad and buttons.
I am eager to play more DS games but from my small viewing the features of the DS bring little the gameplay experience and what it does bring seems to come at a sacrifice.
I have played some other games in passing (Yoshi T&G, Metroid Pinball, M&L: Partners in Time) I may comment on those at another time.
The system itself is very nice. I am glad the updated the design from the early E3 version. When I held the early DS in my hands, it felt like I was playing a loaf of bread. The interface is simple and has a very Nintendo feel to it. I did feel its a bit confusing though as I could never figure out how to get back to the boot screen which displays what is inserted into the game slots without rebooting.
The game I played mostly was Animal Crossing. I played the GameCube version quite a bit so I thought this would make a nice apples to apples comparison. The gameplay is exactly the same. I have not been able to test out the wifi multiplayer but I am very eager to do so. Honestly though I am not really evaluating the gameplay as much as I am the new experience the DS presents.
Dual Screens:
Dual screens sounds like a great idea. Play your game on one screen and do all your inventory on another, or maybe have a map that is always present, etc. After playing AC for a while, this idea just doesn't work for me. I cannot keep up with 2 screens at the same time. In the old AC when you equip a tool for your character and close the window, you see your little guy pull out the item. Now this happens immediately on the 2nd screen but I didn't even notice this until about the 5th time I equipped a tool. My focus just wasn't on that area.
It seems to me having 2 screens are not very advantageous. If the user can only focus on one thing at a time what’s the point? I suppose if you could have a map there instead of small map in the corner of the main screen, which might useful. But then isn't the user moving their eye much further than should have to the view the information? And if your 2nd screen map is replacing that mini-map in the corner because that tiny map isn't big enough to convey all your detailed map information will users be able to use that more detailed map anyway without stopping their current action?
Things that I thought would be useful (leaving my item window up and then moving around) I could not do because only one of the screens is touch sensitive. Maybe other games use the dual screens better but in AC it is not very useful.
Touch Screen:
Ok, the stylus is the best thing ever in AC for getting past the cumbersome issues the GameCube version had. Writing letters, which was a huge chore on my Wavebird, is a snap with the stylus. Dragging items around in the inventory to equip them is nice.
The downside is controlling your character. Movement, talking to other characters, selecting text items, picking things up, etc. is all very cumbersome. I found myself errantly tapping often not realizing I had to first position my character next to a NPC then tap the NPC. Very confusing. There was also a very unexpected downside to the stylus. Disconnect.
I felt very disconnected from my avatar. When I used the stylus my avatar felt more like a little creature I am influencing rather than I am controlling a character that is supposed to be me. This is obviously against the intention of the game. The opening intro which is a conversation from 1st person cements this.
I didn't feel this disconnect when I used the d-pad and buttons.
I am eager to play more DS games but from my small viewing the features of the DS bring little the gameplay experience and what it does bring seems to come at a sacrifice.
I have played some other games in passing (Yoshi T&G, Metroid Pinball, M&L: Partners in Time) I may comment on those at another time.
posted by Brad Merritt at 9:21 AM
3 comments
