"Ping Pals = Bad"

I have no clue why I got this game, maybe cause I like the whole idea of yelling at people across the house/car/room/anything telling them to change their font cause I cant read this, or the fact that I like breaking one of my stylis because the small keyboard made me so mad. To make this short if you don't want to read my whole review. Its basically an upgraded picto chat with a really small keyboard.

Graphics - 6/10
I've seen what the DS can do, I have Super Mario DS, it has graphics better than an N64, Super Mario DS took the DS to almost its maxium. On Ping Pals they could have done way better. Now if I was judging this as a GBA game I'd give it a 9 or 10, the graphics are better than a GBA's but not as good as an N64's. They Could have spent more time on the graphics. I take it the devlopers wanted to get this game out in time for the christmas rush. The graphics are good but noas good as they could have been.

Sound - 5/10
Sound is ok. It reminds me of AIM kinda. You can customize your sounds buy buying new ones and setting them up. And also not as good as what I think the DS can do.

Game play - 3/10
The thing that really brought the game play down was the small keyboard on the lower screen its smaller than picto chat's and whenever I type I keep messing up and typing things I don't mean to, it got me so frustrated that I broke a stylis. Customization on this is amazing, its like the customization on Custom Robo and Zoids on GC, There is so much to buy and change, you can even change the background in the chat window, you can change the sounds it makes when you type. The customization is just amazing this is what made me pull it up from a 1 to a 3. But if they had added more money words or more ways to get money then I would have give in atleast a 6, there just isn't enough ways to get the money for stuff after you've used the money words and watching the credits for 50 coins each is way boring. And some of the mini games are just to random to win, but the mini games are fun if you want to pass the time.

Replay Value - 2/10
Ok pretty much everyone has given this game a bad review, all the game mags, ign.com, everyone, after reading them no one is gonna get this game. And besidesyou get the same program with no avitars *chatting pics* for free. This game wasn't worth the replay value, and If the person is near me, which they have to be I'd rather talk to them, but if I couldn't talk I'd use picto chat. And if you want to Chat with people you don't know they'd probally use picto chat instead there isn't gonna be much use with this, espically right now this close to the release of the DS, even though its more than a week after Christmas know no one with a DS, I know like one person and he isn't much of a friend. And I'm not gonna play mini games to get coins for virtual clothes.

Final Score - 4/10

Right now its 1/3/05 and I made a mistake getting this game now because no one has a DS maybe after the release date when the DS is popular I'd use it but most people will turn it down and realize hey I got almost the same thing built in for free.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/05