"Feel the Magic is all style, no substance"

Recently, the DS has exploded. Games like Castlevania, Nintendogs, Canvas Curve and Advance Wars have been getting rave reviews, but there is still a gap for some DS owners, and that is cheap games. There aren't many games out there that cost less than $20, and when there are, it is likely games like Retro Atari Classics or (god forbid) Ping Pals. Even a port like Super Mario 64 DS, which, as hard as it may be to believe, has been out for almost a year is selling for $30 used. So what do the DS bargain hunters get? Very few games is pretty much right. So we are always open to getting a new one at a low cost. Low and behold, Feel the Magic XY/XX, Sega's incredibly odd DS launch title, is now at $20 at EB. With only three other DS titles to my name, it was too tempting to pass up, especially considering that, during the original slump, Feel the Magic was recognized as the second best DS game on the market. I automatically knew that I probably wouldn't regret buying this just as space filler, but is it up to par with the other titles?

It should be mentioned right off the bat that if you looking for deep gameplay, look elsewhere. Feel the Magic is not an adventure game or even a game that tries to have a storyline. It's a series of minigames strung together loosely by a story that must have been thrown together in the span of twenty minutes. The basic storyline is that you are a guy who wears a helmet who becomes extremely infatuated with a girl who passes him on the street. In an attempt to woo her into his arms, he joins a group called the Rub Rabbits, which are a bunch of guys who wear fake bunny ears and perform such stunts as blowing out candles, to impress her. She also draws the attention of a much bigger, meaner man with a Mohawk who kidnaps her on multiple occasions.

As anyone who has previously played this game can testify, I did not make a single word of that paragraph up. This may be the most incredibly dumb plot in any video game, movie, television show or children's novel in the past twenty years. For starters, the word ‘stalker' pops up many times in your mind while playing this game. Also, any man dumb enough to think that removing goldfish from a man's stomach is impressive might to rethink his strategy. Finally, a group called the Rub Rabbits is confusing enough without saying any more.

The zaniness of the plot carries over to the minigames it contains. The key difference there is that this is where that level of insanity is much more appreciated. These minigames will see you slingshotting pedestrians into a truck, crawling from a snake's belly, clearing rubble from the path of oncoming shopping carts, bowling through traffic and fending off a stampede of bulls. It keeps the minigames fresh, so rarely will you ever feel as if you are doing the same thing over and over during the game.

The game itself is divided into scenes, each of which holds up to three minigames. For each scene, you must get the girl's heart meter up to 100%. Scenes with multiple minigames will have one worth 30%, another worth 40, etc. You will also lose percentage points if you fail at a minigame. Boss scenes, of course, do not use the percentage system. It is a decent way of progressing, but it can make harder difficulties much more annoying, since it doesn't save your points and one mistake on those levels can set the counter back to zero.

The biggest problem with Feel the Magic is that there are only a little more than 25 minigames, which doesn't add up when you consider that Super Mario 64 DS had 32 that were separate from the main game. Blazing through them all is no problem whatsoever, especially since you may end up not playing every one of them due to scenes. If you actually try, you can probably beat the normal mode for this game in one evening or a couple hours.

The game does try to maximize the DS's capabilities, an automatic plus for minigames. The touch screen is obviously used for almost everything, as there is not a single moment where you will use the D-pad or buttons. The microphone is also occasionally used, but it will always give the option of using the touch screen in its place. Playing in anywhere noisy can be a problem, as while you can use an alternate method for playing the game, there is no way to turn off the microphone. It is only seldom used, so this is no major problem.

A Memories mode is also available for added replay. It basically shows all of the minigames you've beaten in story mode and allows you to play through longer versions of them. Well, you'd think that they are longer, but in reality, the developers simply added the stages from Hard mode to the end of Normal mode. Since you can level select in Story mode, there is no real reason to this option.

At least Memories ties into the game on some level. The Maniac mode in the front menu is probably the most pointless addition to the game. The point of this is to unlock different costumes in Story and Memories, and then dress the girl up in Maniac. The clothes you dress her in will appear in the Story mode. Not even those familiar with Barbies from their youth will really be overly interested, as it works on a three block system. In other words, you can change only the head, torso and shoes separately. This is neither a needed nor a wanted mode in this game.

If this game does have anything that is anywhere near interesting, it's style, also reflecting the story and minigames. All characters are solid black silhouettes, which unfortunately takes away any emotion but adds a great deal of mystery. Backgrounds are a perfect contrast of bright oranges, yellows and reds. The few moving scenes we get in the game are entertaining solely for this reason.

These sequences are few in numbers, unfortunately. Before minigames, instead of cinema scenes, we are shown four pictures describing the set up and occasionally giving hints. They still maintain that style, so they are not a lost cause, and also make sure that the setups are never overly long. While some more motion in the scenes might have been appreciated, this way works just fine as well.

As for the actual graphics in the minigames, there is definitely a range. Some, such as the goldfish level, look pretty sharp on the DS. Others, like the driving level, are extremely bland in presentation. Most backgrounds are also fairly common-looking, though some, such as the Nightmare levels late in the game, look extraordinary. Due to the black silhouette approach, detail in the characters is unnecessary, but your character sometimes appears blocky when he is small. From a technical standpoint, most of the minigames are rather dull, but there is a good style to many of them to counteract this.

Sound is one the strong points of this game, perfectly reflecting the always insane nature of the game. Every stage starts with a cheer of “Rub it”, which while hilarious at first, eventually becomes an excellent pump-up before a stage. The sound effects are all pretty cartoony and humorous, such as in the stampede level where the sound of judo kicks can be heard as you knock out bulls. All of this sets a mood that keeps your mind right in the action.

The music is pretty nice as well. All of it is best described as Japanese techno-pop, which is normally abhorred but works well for this game. It is impossible not to bob your head occasionally to the opening theme or the menu screen, and the unlockable sound test area proves to be more enjoyable than expected. Much like the sound effects, the music is a perfect mood setter.

For a game that is all about minigames, there is surprisingly little replay value. There are select minigames (such as Bull or Snake) that are fun to play over and over, but most end up being filler that really are only necessary to play once. Once the game is done, it is pretty much done for good. Hard mode is no big deal as it was previously accessible through Memories mode, and it isn't worth the trouble to unlock the costumes for Maniac.

While Feel the Magic certainly does have its charms, this is a game that really cannot be recommended unless you are extremely desperate for a low-budget DS game. The minigames are lots of fun the first time through, but they don't last long. If a friend already has this, try to borrow it and take advantage of what good there is in Feel the Magic. Just don't waste the money on a game that will be tossed aside after two days.

Overall Rating – 51%

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/06