Death, Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom

"I change my mind, THIS is the worst DS game out there"

Death JR is one of my current favorite portable series. It's never been perfect but it's been a blast to play and it actually provided a challenge. Hell, it's even one of the reasons I got my PSP on release day. When I joined with my on-line rental service I quickly added this game to my Q because I knew it might not be worth my money. Going on the fact that I had heard nothing but bad things about it and that no one had reviewed it at all.

It's a student's least favorite time of the year. The science fair. DJ and friends are setting their projects up when Wesson's nuclear plant goes a bit wacky and hits Seeps mutant bunny. It sets the school off and creates a twisted version of it and brings back the big baddy from the original Death JR game. All of our favorite characters return but they feel so lifeless with no voice work and being still pictures. Yes, their personalities are intact but they lack any substance and if you've never played the original games then it all really falls flat.

This game is far from ugly but it really doesn't do much to impress the player. Character models are nicely detailed and the animations for DJ's moves are rather nice. The problem comes in when DJ falls through solid floors, some what poor enemy designs and when compared to the other DJ games the enemy variety is severely lacking.

The world design is still a bit twisted but it's lacking when compared to say DJ 2's baby doll graveyard. Everything has a school theme at first but in the second world it's kind of a plant theme. It's nice to have themes but it makes no sense here besides going with the boss. The levels also have the oddest objects blocking your path. A rock will magically grow and you'll need to trigger a log to explode and blow up the rock. It's silly stuff like that and none of it looks very impressive. At times it even looks blurry.

The sound in the game really is a step down from the other games in the series. No voice work which is a big problem when you're a sequel to two games that did offer voice work. The music is pretty good, fits the whole Death theme but the problem is that there only seemed to be one song and by the second world I was really annoyed by just hearing it any more. Sound effects are also rather weak. Your scythe makes a slicing sound, enemies grunt and that's about it. The bee enemies don't buzz; floor boards that break don't make a cracking sound. A lot is left out and it really takes you out of the game a bit.

At first I thought the control was pretty tight and then I go further in the game. You jump with either L or with the A button. B is your attack button. X and Y switch weapons once you get them. Now, DJ can perform combos. Think of it as Street Fighter Light. Up, down, attack is one and it just varies from there. Left, Right, Attack. Simple stuff like that. As you advance in the game you can hover with your scythe and you can double jump. Those really fix the jumping and hit detection but it's still really hard to grab a ledge with your scythe. You need to be under the ledge for the scythe to grab onto and while that makes sense, why can't DJ just slam it into the ground and grab anyway? The control can also be really unresponsive at times and if you're hit with a confused attack he will also move with hyper speed in the opposite direction so a tiny jump becomes a giant leap. It makes no sense at all and leads to many deaths as well.

Unlike the PSP titles this one is a mix of 2D and 3D. I have no clue why they went in this direction but whatever. For the most part it does play like a 2D action game but then a room opens up into a 3D area and while it doesn't really change the game play itself, it just seems kind of silly. I think if they focused a little more on the 2D element this would have been a much better game. I think it really started to bother me when the game would teleport me to a new angle so I could go down a path that was there but the 2d plane wasn't allowing a 3D view at that time. That cheapens the game a bit.

The game is split up into 4 levels. They each have their theme like a flower or the kitchen. Simple stuff really but the level structure is rather straight forward. About 95% of the time you just keep heading right. Sometimes you may need to climb up and every once in a while you'll reach a split in the path where one leads to a dead end while the other is the correct way. In the later levels you find yourself backtracking which becomes a pain.

The levels are filled with enemies though and they do block and attack. It's nice that they don't stand there but the combat itself is so shallow that it's almost unbearable. Either hit the attack button or tap an enemy for DJ to attack it. It's very simple. Later on you learn moves that have you rubbing left and then right or hitting left and right and then tapping or attack the enemy. The combos are useless though as a simple combo of taps will kill most enemies. Tap back twice and you'll dodge almost any attack. It's so simple that it's kind of sad.

Now the game has an interesting idea going for life in this game. There are two bars. A health bar which decreases when hit by an enemy and another bar which shows DJ's fear. Get hit or die and it goes down. Hit or kill an enemy and it goes up. Run out of this bar and you die. There are no actual lives and if that bar runs out you return the start of that room. Most rooms are pretty small and puzzles remain solved.

Speaking of puzzles this game tries an interesting approach to the puzzles. You can switch to Pandora to enter the spirit realm since she's kind of dead now with a body in the freezer. Anyway when DJ kills an enemy a jar appears. Hit the jar and switch to Pandora and she can see that enemies souls (they have two...) the souls are colored and you want to double tap them with the stylus. This will capture them and you can hold 3 at a time. If you shoot them at DJ he will gain health and fear back depending on the colors. You need these spirits to hit targets which open up the paths or makes a button appear. It's very simple and feels a bit dumbed down once you realize you need to capture them since the game doesn't really give you much information on it.

DJ gains guns as he progresses in the game but unlike the old games he only has 7 or so bullets and there isn't really any aiming involved. Mostly they are used for solving puzzles and are almost useless in battle because he can't aim them well unless you're using the stylus but that makes it a little tougher.

The game itself is kind of long. It's easy and it would be a lot shorter but deaths are common and it does get a bit tedious. Within each world are a number of students who need rescuing. You can find them by blowing into the DS's mic. It will make a box shake but really just smash all items and you'll find nothing, a student, or an enemy. Finding students allows you to open their locker. Inside the lockers are scythe redesigns (Candy Cane, Flower), new costumes and life and fear upgrades (which are useful).

I really can't recommend Death Jr and the Science Fair of Doom. It feels like a rushed product and when compared to the original PSP games it just doesn't hold up. Even on it's own it's still a rather bland experience that feels too dumbed down to be enjoyable.

Story - 7/10
Graphics - 5/10
Sound - 5/10
Control - 7/10
Game Play - 3/10
Replay value - 4/10

Final Score – 3/10

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/07