"Great fun with a unique approach while it lasts..."

Hey, everybody! This is my first review on GameFAQs because I decided since I got a new system, why not write reviews for the games for it? My first review for Nintendo DS is Feel the Magic: XY/XX, a unique game from the creative mind of Yuji Naka at Sonic Team and SEGA. As soon as you see the box art of this game, you'll know it is not like any you have played before (Although the North American and European box art and title screen are "edited" compared to the Japanese version).

STORY - If you haven't heard of the plot of this game yet, then here it is (Be prepared: It is very...let's say, "one of a kind"). You are an average guy just walking down the street when you pass the girl of your dreams and know the two of you must be together forever. To help you win the affection of the girl, a Super Performance Group, the Rub Rabbits, comes to the rescue. They let you join their club to perform for the girl in many different situations to gain her love. After you finally ask her out on a date, a rival appears and tries to snatch her away from you. From then on, you must compete in a series of performances and tasks to keep the girl on your side and find true love. The entire story is told, besides in the Instruction Booklet, by the use of pictures and "comic" scenes in-game, with very little text. However, this successfully conveys the emotions felt by the characters, but is sometimes confusing about what is going on. The rating for the story I will give is based on both the actual content of the story and by the way it is conveyed to the player in this particular game.

STORY - 7/10

GRAPHICS - The people in this game are entirely silhouettes. This is a very distinctive approach to the graphics, with only clothing and hair being distinguished from the rest. The rest of the visuals are colorful and, how to put this, "groovy". There is a very stylized way the game shows everything with flowing colors and quick pictures describing everything. There are some 3D models, mostly of the girl, that look good for the most part, but they could have been better. You can also unlock different hair styles and colors, clothes, and shoes for some 3D models of the girl that you can customize to your liking, and I am sure there is something you can unlock that you will find pleasurable.

GRAPHICS - 7/10

SOUND - Along with the story and graphics, the music in this game is very matchless and fits very well with the rest of the presentation of the game. There are many hums and other similar sounds in the tracks in Feel the Magic, adding to the signature style of the game. Also, the entire fashion of the music fits in perfectly with the rest of the game. Nevertheless, the music sometimes seems drowned out by the action of the gameplay, so you really have to sit down with it to truly enjoy it, and there is much to enjoy about it. Sound effects are mostly things like the wheel creaking on a monocycle or fire crackling, along with quite a few voice samples that add something to the characters' liveliness, and gives the characters, especially the girl, much more emotion than they would have without a voice.

SOUND - 8/10

GAMEPLAY - Gameplay is the heart of every game, and while the hero is trying to win the heart of the girl, the gameplay must win the heart of the player, and that it does very well. This is were the game really shines. There are absolutely no buttons used in the whole entity of the game (Unless, of course, you must pause the game: then you must press START)! The STORY mode of the game makes you go through a series of Scenes containing either one or three mini-games that you must play until you get the girl's "Heart Points" up to 100, then you advance to the next scene. In the mini-games, you use the touch screen and stylus, the microphone, or a combination of the two to control the action on the two screens. After you play through and complete a mini-game in STORY mode, then you can play it in MEMORIES mode. Also, the mini-games in MEMORIES mode can get much harder than in STORY mode. MANIAC mode is for customizing the girl's appearance with different things you have unlocked in the STORY and MEMORIES modes. Then, of course, there is OPTIONS mode, in which you can only change the language of the game from English to Japanese and Japanese to English. There is at least one more mode that can be unlocked: SOUND TEST (then you can listen to the unique music in this game!). Also, you can unlock a HARD mode to play through STORY mode in, and possibly other things. The mini-games, near and in the end of STORY mode, become very difficult, but, after trying them a few times, you can get the hang of them and complete them. The biggest problem with the gameplay is its length. I beat the game in probably much less than 10 hours (since I did not count how long I played)! Since the STORY mode is short, this also means there are only a little over 30 mini-games in the game, though they are very fun and can get very difficult. In addition, the mini-games are not like the ones in the WarioWare series, to a degree, since some are rather lengthy, even though the gameplay in this game is most closely related to that in the WarioWare seres.

GAMEPLAY - 8/10

OVERALL - The graphics and sound have a very unique style to them that adds to the entire presentation of the gameplay and story, which makes everything in this game work together in harmony. There are plenty of unlockables, with some requiring certain Sonic Team developed Game Boy Advance games to be inserted in the Game Pak slot of the Nintendo DS, which is pretty cool, and the mini-games can last a long time if you want to play through the more difficult levels of them in MEMORIES mode and if you play through STORY mode again in HARD mode. Overall, I enjoyed this game very much, and it really shows off some of the features of the DS and some innovative ways they can be used, like the touch screen, the microphone, and the dual screens. The game could have been longer, and that is definitely the strongest thing hurting this game, but, other than that, I highly recommend to everyone to buy Feel the Magic for Nintendo DS, especially since there there is lack of quality games for the DS right now.

OVERALL (not an average) - 8/10

Finally, I thank you very much for taking the time and consideration to read my review of Feel the Magic: XY/XX for Nintendo DS!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/04