"Deeper than initial impressions would have me believe"

I've been going through DS games quickly recently. Tony Hawk, Mario: Partners In Time and others have been sold off for various reasons. Tony Hawk is too unrealistic and shallow, Mario RPG was easy and the humour was lost on me.....even the new Ages Of Empires is a let down so far. Electroplankton has managed to grow on me, surprising me with its possibilities while I grow tired of other DS titles.

When I first played the game, I found it slightly interesting but wasn't very excited about the whole concept. It seemed like it'd boil down to a very limited audio composer with nifty graphics and stylus support. Might as well jusy play the DJ mini-game on gameboy camera I'm thinking. However, after spending a little more time with it, I felt I was getting deeper and learning more about what all you could in fact create.

I began using an MP3 player to record things I'd create so I could go back and listen to them. I'd pick out loops from the songs I liked and developed them further, layering them, altering them and experimenting with new sounds and so on. I was having loads of fun and beginning to get hooked on the game. Instead of forcing myself to play a little longer, I'd end up being surprised how long I had been playing.

The Plankton seem rather simple at first look, but spending time with them lets you get a feel for them, almost like learning a musical instrument. The process is far less complex of course, but it's still rewarding. Eventually you'll be memorizing certain patterns to draw on Tracy, remembering loops for Luminaria and creating soothing melodies in Hanenbow when you wish to relax.

When you give this game a chance, you will see it has incredible potential. You could spend a whole evening with one Plankton just experimenting and refining tunes until you come up with a song you like. It's here that the game really delivers in open-ended satisfaction. The lack of a recording option hurts though, and means you'll either need to develop a good memory or have another means of recording at hand. It'd be much more convenient to record creations to the cart and upload them to a PC through a USB adapter.

The audio and visuals on this game aren't hardware pushers, but remain artistic in presentation. The sound samples come through clearly and sound wonderful for the most part. Bass is low due to the poor-quality DS speakers and getting a clean recording through the mic can prove difficult sometimes. Overall these are minor problems and both have their work-arounds. The graphics are pleasing to look at...bright, round creatures featuring fluid movement on top of ambient waterscapes. They aren't the focus of the game but they add to the ambient nature.

The Plankton are nicely varied in their input methods and possibilities. Some plankton you will draw lines at varying speeds, other you will place dots on the screen that beep at intervals or you can record multiple tracks with other Plankton through the mic. All the concepts sound simple and appear so on first look like I mentioned, but toy with them for a while and you'll find much to do in each of them.

Overall this is a quality package delivering excellent gameplay for a niche market. This isn't for everyone...a lot of the game is sitting around doing nothing but listening to the sounds. If you need non-stop action or a linear path in a videogame, steer away from Plankton. If you're tired of games holding your hand and would like to see the results of creativity as opposed to button-mashing, then this game will delight you. Strong variety, replay and artistic merit are defining traits of this unique experience. This is the breath of fresh air I needed in my DS library.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/24/06