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Reviews For masochists only, September 29, 2008 Rating: 8.0/10 By cward20 from Austin, TX Let me start off by saying this game is actually five popular cell phone games by Gameloft, with minor additions. Sounds awesome right (sarcasm)… still, it’s an actual game not just some shovel-ware, with that alone it has half of the games on the DS beaten already. The games on this crap-tastic cart include: pool, bowling, Platinum solitaire, Texas hold ‘em, and Block Breaker Deluxe (Breakout). What makes this game so crap-tastic you may ask, the answer is of course the gameplay.
Gameplay: 5/10
Terrible A.I. and awkward control are the main problems with the gameplay. Excluding the two card games, the controls are awful. For example: on bowling you use the stylus not only to control the direction of the ball, but also the speed, and put spin on the ball, the way it works is you once the ball is rolling you slide the stylus left or right to add spin. The other problem is the speed, it is easy to bowl “too slow” if you take the stylus off the touch-screen before you reach the line. In “Midnight pool” it’s nearly impossible to hit the cue ball with a lot of power, which makes breaking a pain, it’s also nearly impossible to put any type of english on the ball. The funny thing here is, that this game is clearly a knock-off of the pool mini-game from the Monkey Ball series, the only thing they didn’t steal was the power meter which would have made the game better. On the two card games the A.I. is childishly simple and will have most players completely bored after 15 minutes. Even the best game Block Breaker Deluxe has its issues, if you use the control pad to play the game the movement of the paddle is delayed about half a second.
It isn’t all bad though, each game has a decent number of unlockables, and Block Breaker will hold your interest for over 15 minutes, unlike the other games. Moreover, Block Breaker is a fun little game, it has some nice additions to the tired old classic: power-ups; like the yo-yo ball, items to collect, a store to by items and power-ups, the ability to upgrade power-ups, and a “challenge” for each level to earn bonus money.
Graphics: 9/10
This is the best aspect of the game, it’s clear the developers spent more time on graphics than any other aspect of the game. Aside from Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword these are the best graphics I’ve seen on the DS. This game looks as good as anything on the N64 (even better than some games), there is a lot of detail, color, and nice smooth character animations, being only minimally polygonal.
Audio: 7.5/10
The sound quality is perfect (by DS standards), the music and sound effects on the other hand are not so perfect. The sound effects while not too obnoxious, are fairly stock, and if you’ve played free internet games you’ll recognized them right away. The music is worse, completely generic and boring with either 1970’s sounding funk and disco, or bad “Drum and Bass” Techno, which often is not appropriate for the game. When I first played Block Breaker I half expected the girl in the corner of the screen to start stripping between levels, because the music sounded like it was made for a 1970’s “adult film” and is completely out of place for a Breakout game.
Challenge: 4/10
The games are way too easy, even with the bad control you will still beat the computer most of the time due to the poor A.I. Even the Breakout game is too easy, due to excessive power-ups. The only real challenge here is to have fun with these games after the first five minutes.
Replay Value: 3/10
If you can stand to beat any of these games then there is no point in going back and unlocking everything, and even if you did have the patience to unlock everything you probably wouldn’t want to torture your self again. Unless you’re a sadomasochist this game has no replay value whatsoever, I only gave it a three because of the sheer number of unlockables.
Overall Conclusion: 6/10
This game may be a great value, as you save about $10 buying this rather than downloading the games to your phone, the value is the only thing great about it. Honestly, I can’t recommend buying this at all, and I can only recommend renting it if you really like these games, the five dollars it costs to rent could be better spent on downloading Block Breaker Deluxe (the only decent game on there) to your phone. If you enjoy mini-games like those on Midnight Play Pack, buy Super Monkey Ball I or II, or if you want a handheld version get Monkey Ball Junior, whatever you do don’t buy Midnight Play Pack. If you’re still curious (and I petty you if you are), just remember: you’ve been warned!
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