 Review By: Andrew Joy |
Developer: | Nintendo |
| Publisher: | Nintendo | |
| Genre: | Music | |
| ESRB: | Everyone | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Microphone | |
| Buy Now: |   |
For the benefit of those of you who don't know, let me just tell you that I love the Nintendo DS. In fact, I love it so much that I actually intend to marry one...that is, once I have enough money for the ring and a proper wedding. In the meantime, I am content to simply spend "quality time" with it. Games like Electroplankton make that very difficult.
If you haven't any idea what Electroplankton is about, the best I can describe it is as a drunken tryst between sea monkeys and a synthesizer. This means that anyone who didn't have an electronic keyboard the size of a compact car back in the 80's will only get about 30 minutes of honest playtime out of Electroplankton, if they're lucky. After that, it's anybody's guess how long it will take before this title gets shelved, sold or drawn and quartered. I say this because, apart from not really being a game and actually being a sort of music synthesizer, Electroplankton is very limited.
There are two modes in Electroplankton: Performance and Audience. The only difference between the two is that Audience mode will play by itself so you can listen to it without actually interacting if you don't want to. However, if you do want to jump on in, you are free to do so and to do almost anything except for changing the mode and deciding the plankton, since it randomly picks up during a set track. As it is, though, I thought Audience Mode was a great start towards some sort of multiplayer mode, which the game does not have. Then there is Performance mode, which is the real meat of the game, if there really is any meat to be had. I mean, there is no story in Electroplankton, no goals of any sort and the only thing to do at all is to make music by interacting with the 10 variety of plankton. That's right, only 10, and you can only interact with each type one at a time. For now, I think it would be best to look at each kind of plankton, however limited, so you have an idea of what to expect.
Tracy will follow and chime along to lines that you draw. The only real challenge in the game comes from Hanenbow as they bounce off leaves you have adjusted to create different sounds and, eventually, bloom a flower. By changing the direction of onscreen arrows, Luminaria will create a variety of different tunes. Sun-Animalcule are by far my favorite type, with nearly limitless possibilities as you arrange the plankton (with two varieties: sun-shaped diurnal and moon-shaped nocturnal) and watch them grow. You can record sounds to each Rec-Rec and play it back at different speeds and with different background music. Nanocarp will interact with you when you make noise and send ripples in the water their way. Another of my favorites, Lumiloop harmonize as you spin them. Marine-Snow are tuned to a few different instruments and they dance around as you play them. Without giving too much away, let me just say that I think the Beatnes will be a real treat for legacy Nintendo fans. And last but not least, Volvoice is one of the more fun plankton, letting you record and alter almost anything. Go; your bodily functions are waiting to be rediscovered.
Now, as you might be able to tell from the descriptions above, Electroplankton makes use of almost all of the unique features the Nintendo DS has to offer. However, when it comes to a matter of how well each one was used, it's a sad story of missed opportunities. The DS touch screen gets a real workout in Electroplankton, being necessary to fully interact with almost every type of plankton in the game. For some of them, like Tracy and Lumiloop, it is the only way to interact with the plankton at all. Also, I am happy to say that the built-in microphone gets some much needed playtime; I think that particular piece of the DS hardware is greatly underrated and underused. The more standard controls see a variety of rather mundane functions throughout Electroplankton, the D-pad to be used a majority of the time. The Start button pauses the game (though to the added touch of being called an "Intermission"), Select changes the modes some of the plankton have or clears your current settings and the Left and Right shoulder buttons are a completely missed opportunity, not ever serving a single function throughout the entire game, even though there were plenty of times to usefully implement them. The A and B buttons accept and decline, respectively, and X and Y have the lame task of zooming in and out of the action on the top screen, again, respectively. And, since we're on the topic, the top screen is put to such lame use that, frankly, I would be happier if it were just blank. Just - POOF! - nothing there...in fact, if I ever pick-up Electroplankton again, I may just slap a piece of duct tape over the top screen (unless of course my beloved DS isn't into the whole bondage thing, in which case we'll just work something else out). Anyways, like I mentioned, the top screen shows you a close-up of the action...sometimes. Other times, the screen will lock onto something completely pointless or some random plankton and stay there. About as useful as the top screen gets is showing you a brief description of the plankton when you are in the menu.
There are a lot of things about this game that just seem like they could have been done better. A big for instance in this case would be, say, some sort of goal. I also wouldn't have minded the ability to have more than one type of plankton onscreen at a time, you know, to pick and choose from the different breeds to create some really amazing sounds. And, of course, to go with that, it really would have been nice to have a save feature, so you could play back some of those great tunes later and maybe even share them with friends, though that would require some sort of multiplayer with an established connection, not just a bunch of disconnected DS units and Electroplankton games sitting in the same room as the manual suggests. While we're at it, it might not be such a bad idea to have a game that is more interesting than the game manual, perhaps by having more than just ten varieties of plankton even.
When I first turned Electroplankton on, I must admit that I was quite wowed. I thought that one day, somebody might actually score a movie with this game. And then, as I continued to play and eventually quit playing all within the same hour, I thought that perhaps they might actually score a REAL game with it. Like so many DS games, "unique" has translated into "terribly bleeping short," though I see the very faint start of something good. Assuming Nintendo implements of few of the changes mentioned above, I could gladly see myself paying money for a Revolution version of Electroplankton.
Electroplankton has a unique look about it. The graphics, to be honest, are far from stunning and are, in fact, very simple. All you really ever see is whatever plankton you are playing with at the time, the very basic of backgrounds (usually consisting of just a single color: blue) and bubbles...lots and lots of bubbles. However, there is something likable about almost every single creature in it. It is a strange thing to explain, I know, but you'll understand once you see their smiling faces, like little, mutant cherubs. Actually, this is starting to get creepy, so I'll just move on...Besides, in a game like this, we all know the graphics are the least of your worries, especially since your hand will be in front of them most of the time anyways (I suppose that is where the top screen could come in handy, but for what?). So, to put it simply, this game sounds great. Now, to put it less simply, let me say that there are so many facets to the music this game can create, that it would be difficult to list them all. It's hard to make a bad sound in Electroplankton, unless of course you start stabbing at your DS like it just stole your wallet, insulted your mother and slept with your significant other. Otherwise, the game so effortlessly makes you a grand maestro of the undersea world that you will be reluctant to let anyone else play the game, lest they reveal your magic fingers to be far less magical. There is something for everyone in this game, whether you are looking for upbeat tunes, creepy ambience, a techno theme or music so damned heavenly that angels might come down and personally kick your ass if you don't shed a tear. So, that said, it's sure to please anyone who demands so little from his or her Nintendo DS game library.
Bottom Line:
For me, Electroplankton has been a lot of give and take. When I first heard about the game's concept, I gave Nintendo my best crazy/WTF look. However, within weeks of its release, importers were touting this game as the Second Coming, so I assumed there must be more to the title and I took back the look. When Nintendo announced it would bring Electroplankton to the U.S., I gave them credit for daring to bring such a "unique" title out of Japan...many of the good ones, on any system, usually stay there. However, when I found it would only be available online, again, I took it back. And now, after Nintendo has taken $40 dollars for a game that takes fewer minutes than that to get tired of…I hope they give it back.
In the end, all you really need to know is that Nintendo wants to take you on a journey into far-off, magical waters where music is the heart and soul of everything, small creatures smile up at you lovingly and you sink...hard earned money into a crap game. Apart from real music freaks or anyone who has a family of DS owners, I would suggest spending your money on a more valuable gaming experience or, at the very least, one that lasts longer than it takes to boil water.
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3.5 |
Posted: 2006-02-03 19:16:09PST