Make no mistake. This is a Nintendo DS proof-of-concept game. Every new hardware launch has them: games that show off Mode 7 or 3D graphics or colored lighting or bump mapping just for the sake of showing them off. Usually these games end up with the unfavorable label of "tech demo"... like the PS2 launch title Fantavision. Sometimes they overreach and look/perform better than a good many games that come after it (Luigi's Mansion.) And they all end up bargain binned six months later.
Feel the Magic XY/XX is one of these games. It is built to showcase the DS's unique set of features from start to finish. Luckily, the DS has plenty of features to exploit, so you do get a fairly thorough experience. A solid art design style and typically bizarre Japanese non-sequiter content help it ride above the curve. Nevertheless, it's still nothing more than a collection of mini-games and a small amount of unlockable content.
In the game, you are a nameless, faceless young male. Probably bit of a nerd, given the 8-bit goldfish t-shirt and extreme sports headgear. You spot the miniskirted girl of your dreams - similarly nameless and faceless - and the rest of the game revolves around performing silly stunts to attract her attention.
The stunts - mini-games all - are mostly inspired by the Rub Rabbits, a "super performance group" you join. Their rallying cry is "RUB IT!" which is totally destined to be one of those esoteric gaming phrases like "master of unlocking" or "shine get." The Rabbits, which I see as a kind of Christo-esque Up With People, enjoy staging grand spectacles like skydiving or unicycling. They're only too happy to sign you up, and each little event grabs the eyes of your love. Shortly thereafter, you start forging a relationship with her, and the mini-games grow out of the mishaps on your date.
The game descriptions read like the kind of crap we used to hear about games in Japan that we would never see. Like when a scorpion truck tips over and spills scorpions all over your girl's back... you then have to tap all the scorpions to get them off of her. Or when you get swallowed by a snake and have to swim up through his digestive track to escape out through the mouth. Oddball missions propel the story towards an epic finish (well, comparatively epic) with a surprise sad-and-sweet turn at the end.
Feel the Magic is entirely stylus-driven; you never need the d-pad or buttons. Menu selections and navigation, plus the mini-games themselves, are all managed by tapping the touch screen. Between that, games that play out over both screens and the odd bit of voice control (blowing out candles!), Feel the Magic is almost a complete entry-level DS experience. It's a worthy way to show off the system. The only feature missing is wireless multiplayer... which would have been a natural; imagine 4 players all competing in simultaneous mini-games to win the girl.
Graphically, you're looking at early PlayStation stuff here. Figures are in full 3D for most games, and their motions are mostly fluid and realistic. Some games resort to 2D style figures. Cutscenes alternate between fully animated (with the in-game 3D engine) or comic book style still frames. In an interesting move, all the people in the game are solid black... like they're in silhouette or full shadow. It's a case where good art design helps to mask low tech, and it works. The black characters are probably visually generic so that the player can imagine himself as the lead and therefore develop a more personal relationship with the game, but I'm not going to entertain such a deep discussion here.
So while the gimmickry is all fun and stuff, how much gameplay are you really going to get out of Feel the Magic? Well, there's about 25 mini-games in story mode, three levels of difficulty to story mode, plus the endurance replay Memories section. You can beat the game in a weekend, no question. Even with a good portion of mini-games turning downright nasty hard on you. You may not care much for the unlockables (see sidebar), but the challenge of tracing a path over floating steel girders, or shoving fat people up out of the quicksand of an antlion's den will surprise you with how hard it can get.
The real value to Feel the Magic is as a DS demo kiosk, however. If you have any gaming friends who don't have a DS, this is a cute way to talk them into early adopting. If only Nintendo could kick back a little of that $30 MSRP for every DS you personally sell after showing off Feel the Magic. Well, it won't be $30 for long, I'm sure of that.
I don't hold out much hope for an XY/XX2, but you never know. I'm sure they're going to sell a fair amount of these just due to being a launch title, where your only other options (besides necessity Mario 64DS) were Madden and a mediocre Spider-Man game. Still, the graphics, storyline and overall presentation are just weird enough that many gamers are going to avoid it in favor of more palatable franchises. Most folks just don't do Bizarre Japanese, no matter what lies under the hood. And as always, that's a shame. This is a true Quirky Launch Title that does a fine job of presenting the potential of the most unique handheld to date.
