"Communication does not solve everything"

At what point does a game tread through that line between mediocrity and good? And how does a developer get that final edge for their game to push it into the “good” range. For Ping Pals, such a line is not worrisome. It falls well below the line between good and mediocrity. In fact, it is in the bottom pits in the gaming industry. This is one of those games that you wish could be erased from history. Ping Pals is a game that revolves around chatting with a few mini-games thrown in. Unfortunately for the ones who possess this software for their DS, they will find out immediately how horribly implemented the chat system is.

It's a joke right?

Honestly speaking, the release of this game is somewhat unwarranted. A chat system is a genuinely bright idea, however, when software like AIM is accessible to you for free over the internet, the making of such an inferior product is a poor business decision. Sure, you can now chat with gamers who own a DS, but when there is no wireless connection around, the one on one chat with the A.I is boring, uninspiring, and simply a waste of time. The few mini-games that are offered are nothing short of a joke. Ping Pals pretty much fails to succeed on all counts.

In Ping Pals, the communication between the sender and receiver is horribly done. The interface is poor in design and the characters in the solo part are as bland as vanilla ice cream. To make matters worst, a lot of the characters won't understand some of the most basic phrases. They certainly do not know words that have been reduced that you see in online chats. Words like what are sometimes spelled as “wat” on instant messengers like AIM or MSN, but in Ping Pals, the computer cannot make sense of such changes. This alone changes the very purpose of what Ping Pals is trying to fulfill. This is where the problem of talking to a preprogrammed character comes into play. The characters simply cannot understand all the possible ways of typing. Not to mention typos. Misspelled words can be interpreted by humans, but in Ping Pals, the characters cannot process and comprehend it. This is detrimental to the way the system should work.

The chats with the A.I not only lack depth, but the type of conversations become tedious very quickly. Take one character that I had a chat with, who asked me for directions. While I am not some jerk who would deny someone some valuable information to help them along their way, but when I am playing games, I do not want to deal with such situations. Interesting topics are void from the conversation. With generic questions that are asked, it doesn't spice things up a bit. The characters have no personality, which does not help either.

Most of the characters that you will come across will cut the conversation short also. This is due to communication problems between the sender and the receiver. The A.I simply cannot grasp some of the syntax that has been displayed by the player. And when you get angry and throw in a few profanities, the characters will simply take up and leave. The A.I offers no counter attack with its own vicious and demeaning words, but instead it opts to leave. So not only are the characters mindless and dull, but the one glimpse of hope is taken away. The developers stripped you of the right to have a nice flame war between the user and the A.I.

Even the developers couldn't have found this fun.

When you are done talking to the A.I, which would be rather quickly, you can engage yourself in some of the mini-games. The games lack any depth. It might as well have not been included. It seems the developers just tossed it in there for the sake of having a few mini-games for you to play around with. One such game is where the A.I will give you a topic and you have to list words associated with it. For example, a question could be to list things you would order from an Italian menu. Another game is to guess a number and see how close you are to that number. Have no worries, if your number doesn't deviate more than 4 you will not lose any money.

In Ping Pals, you can also purchase items from the money you collected. You can buy accessories and use it to dress up your picture so to speak. I guess by changing hair styles and adding glasses, the developers felt it was an acceptable deterrence to the horrible chat system. While the customization would have been nice if it was a feature added onto a solid game, but for Ping Pals it does nothing for the game because the accessories does not give you an incentive to try to get it. This is because playing through the game itself is such a pain.

The graphics are fairly straightforward. You will probably spend most of the time staring at the keyboard anyways. The music for the most part felt generic. Even the ones that you can purchase felt the same way too. Graphics and music are great additions to any game, but when the game play is sorely lacking, then the most beautifully orchestrated soundtrack and the most jaw dropping visuals does not do much for a game.

Avoid Communication at All Cost…

Coming up with a game that revolves around chatting can have its bright spots, but when the communication is solely dependent on a wireless connection, then it becomes problematic. So much so, that the game is practically unplayable without it. Even with it, the game is still nothing short of horrible. Imagine perfection and picture the opposite and you will have the right mindset about Ping Pals' chat system. In my many years of gaming, there aren't many games worst than this. At least Superman 64 still had what you call game play despite how horrible it was. Ping Pals has you answering what items you would order off of an Italian menu and having you guess the number as its game play. I don't know about you, but I don't find anything mildly entertaining about that. Ping Pals is bar none the worst title on the DS, which says a lot since it houses the likes of Sprung. Not only is it the worst game on the DS, but it could in fact be the worst title on any system. Avoid it like the plague.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 01/04/07