Clubhouse Games

"Good for beginners to learn a variety of games, but not much else."

Clubhouse Games is a great idea. Take the classic board and card games we know and love and add a few parlor games and cram them into one DS cartridge with plenty of touch screen features. The idea is sound, but the execution was far from it. It's sad, as the game could've been so much more.

Clubhouse Games has a pretty cheerful atmosphere to it. The music is vibrant, and different games have different music. The music even changes during the game with different events. For example, putting your opponent in Check in Chess causes the music to become a bit more frantic. You can pick an icon to display next to your username. They range from food, to animals, to faces. All of it is quite happy and pleasant.

Sadly, the game itself falls a bit short. Clubhouse is a giant compilation of games. The variety is very impressive. They have simple games like Pig or Old Maid, more complex ones like Chess and Bridge, and ones that take advantage of the touch screen like Bowling or Darts. There are 42 games included, and even if you don't know how to play one don't worry, there's a rule book you can read before you play each game with helpful pictures. While the variety is the game's biggest selling point, it is also the game's biggest downfall.

The large quantity of the games made the quality drop a bit below what it could've been. You'll notice there are a few rule errors in some of the games. While a person new to the game won't care about these errors or even notice them, if you purchased the game hoping for serious competition then these errors are rather problematic. The touch screen is so small that on a game like Billiards if you are up against a wall it is pretty much impossible to hit the ball accurately since you have so little room to move your stylus. The stylus causes errors in other games as well. When playing online in Connect Five around a quarter of my games played ended because my opponent or myself placed a piece in a square that we didn't intend to. You see, Clubhouse requires you to drag each piece from where it was to where you want it. I suppose this was intended to make the experience more submersive but it caused more errors than it was worth.

The AI in Clubhouse is a mixed bag. In some games that AI is quite fine. In Darts or Bowling it will give you quite a challenge. However, in other games based more on planning and tactics the AI is subpar. This is understandable considering the number of games that they had to create an AI for, but it really is a glaring problem. Even on the hardest difficulty the computer is a pushover in Chess and bids horribly in Bridge. Some of the games are pretty much pointless to play against the AI since they are simply too easy.

Looking at the AI and other features of Clubhouse leads me to believe this game was meant for beginners and not much else. The easy AI is one thing, but all the games also have little tips to help you out. Some of these you can turn off, but others you can't which becomes rather annoying because it can detract from competitive play. For example, in Chess when someone is in Check it highlights all the pieces they can use to get out of Check. While this helps beginners, it also could alter a game by letting a player notice something they otherwise wouldn't have seen. While there's nothing bad about helping beginners, it'd be nice if the veterans could have the game be equally entertaining.

However, the game has a feature that could make the above points mean nothing: online play. Unfortunately, the online play isn't incredible either. There are two options with online play: World Match or Friend Match. World Match lets you select any game and it searches for someone else in the world interested in playing that game too. Simple, right? There are a few problems though. For one, you can't change any options in a World Match game. You are stuck playing the defaults. That means you can't use any of the Dominoes variations that the game has, you are stuck playing one. On the plus side, you can use pre-programmed messages to communicate with your opponent. They are simple things like “Good luck!” or “Good game” but they're nice to have.

The main problem with World Match is actually finding an opponent. Since so much time has passed since the release date the only games you'll actually find an opponent for are Darts, Bowling, Balance, Poker, or Chess. There are a few others you can occasionally get a match in, but those are the big five. If you are lucky and very patient you can wait around and you might find an opponent in one of the other games, but I haven't been so lucky. The game's variety is thrown out the window when you can't find an opponent in half the games.

Now Friend Match is a different story. If you and another person exchange Friend Codes you can play online with each other and it is quite enjoyable. You can have up to 8 people in a single room, and this is actually feasible since you can join a game in progress. There's an online Pictochat feature you can use if you are friends, and you can use all the game variations that you weren't given access to in World Match. If you are able to get enough Friends to be able to reliably play Friend Match, by all means get Clubhouse Games.

It's just that most people are unable to have a group of friends that is on often enough to really take advantage of the fun of Clubhouse Games. If you are playing on the go then you don't have access to Wi-Fi and you are stuck playing the fairly mediocre AI. If you are at home then you could find an opponent that better matches your skill and have more options by going to an online site with your computer. Clubhouse Games is a great way to introduce yourself to a bunch of different games, but after you become a veteran in the games it just doesn't have enough substance to keep you in the game for long. If you aren't remarkably serious or competitive about the games then Clubhouse will fit you fine. If you are looking to learn about new games then Clubhouse will work for you as well. But if you are someone that already knows how to play and is looking for new competition then you should try something else.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/30/07