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Review: Boing! Docomodake DS (DS)
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Docomodake is a mushroom-like mascot for NTT Docomo, a huge cell phone company in Japan, and now he/it has his own Nintendo DS Game. And although the cell phone company and mascot are well known across Japan, American and European gamers (especially the younger ones) may have no idea of either the cell phone company or the mascot. This is one game that I wouldn’t have imagined would see a release outside of Japan, but here it is!
But after putting some time into Boing! Docomodake DS, I can tell you why I think this game was released outside of Japan and why it may see some success – because it’s a simple and fun game to enjoy.
Now that we have this whole “Japanese mushroom mascot” thing out of the way, let’s take a look at the actual game. Boing! Docomodake DS follows Papa Docomodake through his platforming adventures as he rescues his mushroom family. Each level in Boing! Docomodake DS requires you to solve puzzles to reach the end of the level, and along the way you will collect coins, open treasure chests, and avoid hazardous situations.
The core of solving these puzzles relies in Docomodake’s amazing ability to take his large mushroom frame and split into several mini mushrooms (good’ol Japanese ingenuity). You can make one mini mushroom, or several, and the more you make the smaller Papa Docomodake gets. From stacking the these mini mushrooms to form a ladder, or lining them up to create a platform, these mini mushrooms will be the tools you need to solve puzzles and complete each level.
The puzzles start off very simple, and get a bit more complicated and challenging as the levels progress. There are no time limits set to each level, but your final grade/score is based on the time it takes to complete each level as well as the coins and treasures you collect. The great thing is that none of the puzzles were overly challenging or painstakingly long, which make for a great puzzle solving game for both adults and kids that is easy to pick up at anytime.
The controls combine a mix of the d-pad, buttons, and stylus, but are all very simple and straight forward actions. You’ll quickly get the hang of splitting Papa Docomodake into mini mushrooms as well as combining them, and there is a wonderful little tutorial that gives gamers a bit of practice before setting off to find the rest of the mushroom family.
And although it may be a bit strange to see a DS game about a Japanese cell phone mascot, you can’t ignore the fact that Boing! Docomodake DS is a fun and relaxing puzzle game. The cute characters combined with the simple graphics and color give this game extra charm as well as fun box art. Boing! Docomodake was released at a retail price of $19.99, which is a nice little bargain in itself, but GameStop is offering this at a discounted price of $14.99. I think that $14.99 is well worth the amount of stress-relieving fun this Japanese mascot has to offer.
Overall Score: 9/10
[Other reviews for Boing! Docomodake: IGN.com, Joystiq.com, GamePro.com ]
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