Clubhouse Games

"Pick-up-and-play or a 24-hour marathon: there's never a bad time to play this game."

Clubhouse Games, or 42 All-Time Classics in the UK, is a collection of 42 generally well-known games ported to the DS; mainly card games and board games (though not exclusively). Each comes with functional graphics and controls, and a good selection of options so that you can tweak the game to fit your needs. Plus, it's online (though I haven't personally used that side of it yet, so this review is restricted to offline play).

Graphics: 7: Card games. Boards games. The odd bout of bowling or darts. These graphics are nothing fancy, but they do everything they're asked too, and manage to look modern and well-presented too (e.g. using a slightly 'textured' green instead of just a uniform one for the background in card games). You won't come away impressed, but you will be able to read all your cards, and you won't hurt your eyes by looking at it. I've given it a 7 because, while they're nothing special, I really don't see how they could get much better without giving the DS more pixels (and no, I wouldn't appreciate 3D flybys of the snooker table or dancing girls when I make a bulls-eye in darts).

Game selection: 9: There's a great selection of games here; almost none are new, and in fact most are well-known, but there will most likely be at least a few you haven't seen before - Hasami Shogi, for example, was new to me but I've found it incredibly addictive. There are also a wide selection of old favourites, like Chess, Draughts/Checkers, Boxes, Othello, Ludo, Rummy, Sevens, and Hearts. Then are the 'novelty additions' like Soda Shake, which has 1-4 players shaking a bottle of lemonade until the cap blasts off. There is, in fact, only one problem with the game lineup: a lack of licensed products. Where are Risk and Monopoly? Well, they're 20th century concoctions, and Nintendo aren't paying for the copyright. For (I assume) the same reason, some of the games have unusual names.

It's also worth noting that, as I said before, there are a wealth of options available for most of the 42 games.

Control: 7: Well. Depending on who you are, these controls are 'near-perfect' or just 'fine'. Personally, I'd just go for 'fine'. For example, in card games you drag-and-drop the cards using the stylus; when there's only one thing you can do with the card (like in Hearts or Sevens), I'd rather just tap it and have it fly off to it's destination. Some people might prefer it this way 'round - to which I say, "why isn't there an option?". Ok, I'm nit-picking, but it's one of the few things wrong with the game.

Another category is dice games. Here, you simply tap the die and they'll roll it for you and I, being the contrary man that I am, would rather be able to hurl the die myself and watch it bounce around the screen. I guess you can't please everyone.

For most other games, I've no quibble with the controls. I'm sure you noticed that even those small complaints I made didn't stop the controls from doing their jobs. The exceptions are the action games: Bowling here is nothing like bowling in real life. I'm not saying I could have done better, but it's worth pointing out... it's easy enough to learn, but I doubt you'll really enjoy the bowling mini-game.

I'm rating this section a 7, because (i) the controls really do their jobs well (with only a couple of exceptions), but (ii) there's nothing really that amazing about them.

Gameplay: 10: Seriously, this is as good as it gets. Some of the games - chess springs to mind - could keep a grandmaster occupied for a lifetime. On the other hand, almost all of them can be used for pick up and play, 5-minute bursts (though I for one have trouble stopping after just the 5), especially as in many games the options will let you pick the number of sets. The AI is decent, with multiple difficulty settings, and if you don't like it you can play online - where you can even, reportedly, talk trash with your opponents; they've built in Picto-chat.

Final score: 9

Personally, this is my favourite game on the DS, and that's including the likes of Mario and Advance Wars. However, the controls could have been improved on, it's missing a couple of licensed games, and at the end of the day it's not everyone's cup of tea. But at the end of the day, it's budget-priced (£20 in the UK - that's less that 50p a game). A well-earned 9.

If you've got any desire to play the old favourites on trips without lugging around a huge heap of stuff, buy this game. On the other hand, if you always found these kinds of games boring, this collection won't change your mind.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/16/06