You can't really find too much to
complain about when it comes to variety and quirky titles on the Nintendo
DS. Take for example, the oddly engaging Flipper Critters from the
developers at Ignition Entertainment and Zen studios. On the surface, this
seems like its aimed mainly at kids, thanks to its cartoonish cast of
characters and light-hearted approach. The game combines traditional
platform and exploration mechanics with a decent pinball experience where
the object is to hit as many bumpers and score as many points as possible.
It's a fairly fun and entertaining game, where players will find
themselves exploring several different worlds within its fantasy realm.
The funny-animal characters are appealing on many levels, and the game's
easy to play mechanics make for a fairly challenging experience. Despite
the humorous overlay, Flipper Critters actually delivers a surprisingly
decent pinball experience, with excellent ball physics and reactions where
the recoil and movement of the ball is close to what you'd expect from
real pinball. The pinball action itself is surprisingly decent with
realistic ball-physics and motion. While it won't appeal to all players,
Flipper Critters does a good job in brining pinball to a younger audience
in an accessible manner. There are loads of wacky and strange obstacles as
well that add to the challenge, but Flipper Critters is a fairly
fast-paced game and most players will find themselves bouncing from place
to place in no time.
Providing
some motivation is the game's story mode, which allows you to follow the
characters as they try and save one of their friends who's apparently
suffering from a cold. The object is to beat each level and progress
through the game and unlock as much as you can. Flipper Critters' gameplay
isn't the hardest thing you'll ever face, but considering its' target
audience, this is probably acceptable. The gameplay can become a bit
monotonous after a few levels, but the developers have added several
interesting mini-games along the way that help to mitigate this. You can
choose to participate in a race underwater in a submarine to find the
exit, or play against an opponent in a shooting game. These add some
variety between the main rounds, which gives you a better sense of
freedom, adding some sandbox philosophy to what you'd probably expect from
a kids' game.
From a visual standpoint, Flipper
Critters looks fairly decent, with brightly colored visuals, above-average
animation and appealing character designs. The game's soundtrack is
highlighted by some funny, cartoon-style special effects and it looks
fairly decent for a DS title. Flipper Critters uses the DS' touch pad to
allow you to interact with the levels, for example by pressing one of the
bumpers, you can launch a ball that's been trapped there. The single
player mode is fairly entertaining, but the game also allows players to
duke it out against each other in its duel mode, where you can alternate
with another player. The game also allows you to play through individual
levels again outside of the quest mode, and allows access to its
mini-games once they've been beaten and unlocked. It would be easy to
dismiss a title like Flipper Critters based on appearance alone, but those
that do are missing out on an enjoyable and entertaining title.
- Michael Palisano
Grade:
C
