"A Launch Title for DS, Strage Bizarre... Good? RUB IT!"

We're looking at a game that explores an original genre. Lots of Minigames being thrown at us. This type of thing has only really been done before in games like "Mario Party" and "Wario Ware: Minigame Mania/Mega Microgame$" by Nintendo.

So when "Feel the Magic XY/XX" is released on the DS, and people look at the misleading box cover, is it any good?

Graphics
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When we see the DS Launch title like "Mario 64 DS", then we know just what the DS is capable of, solid looking fresh 3D graphics, so when Feel the Magic is released, it looks like a half-hearted attempt. Sure, we have our 3D characters, but they look bland and have next to no detail put into them, same with the backgrounds. Of course, it depends at what sort of mingame we are playing on it. Sometimes, for example, in the game where we rub a goldfish up out of a guys throat, (weird, I know... But this is Feel The Magic we're talking about here.) the graphics are easily manageable by the Game Boy Advance, but in one of the Boss Stages which involves a car chase, we have extremely detailed roads and backgrounds. On average, the graphics are good, but are not pushing Nintendo's DS to it's limits.

Gameplay
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Feel the Magic contains levels with several Minigames, and we get to choose which one we play from a small list. For each Minigame we complete, we are awarded Love Points, and with enough of these, we can move on to another "Level". The games are played using the touchscreen, and work quite well. The occasional cutscene is thrown in in-between the games, and there are some Boss Levels which last longer than the ordinary Minigames. A lot of the Minigames feel unfair, and when you lose, you sometimes just want to shout "Oh, come on!" to yourself. This happens often, and some of the Minigames are just too damn hard. And let's face it, this is the most important area that's judged about games. So the final verdict for this area is: Some Minigames are fun, others are very irritating and unfair.

Story
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You are a guy who falls in love with a girl, and you join a performing circus in order to impress her. Very vague and bizarre. I mean, who the hell does that to impress a girl? Never mind. It's a miss for the storyline.

Sound
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Here we have repetitive, irritating tunes, and at the beginning of each Mingame, the command "RUB IT!" in the most annoying possible voice. Enough said, this is annoying.

Replay Value
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Each Minigame you play and complete is added to your "Memories" section, where harder versions are thrown at you. Sometimes if you complete each difficulty, costumes for the girl are unlocked. This does nothing but change her appearance. By the way, if you insert a Sega Game into your GBA slot, you are awarded new costumes for her depending on what GBA game it is. This is actually a really nice feature.

Overall
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If you're a fan of WarioWare and need some more Minigame action, or a second alternative, consider this. However, WarioWare, it ain't.

If you DON'T have WarioWare: Touched, buy that instead. It's great.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/08/05