Let's take a look at some of the more interesting recent offerings on the Nintendo DS, shall we (I admit, I never do enough DS updates here at the House!):

Final Fantasy IV


Image from Metacritic.net

Here's yet another re-release, but this time the venerable SNES classic gets the full 3D treatment. I don't mind the constant updates: these earlier Final Fantasy games have as least as many fans as the newer games do, and the resume feature of the DS allows liberties that the old console games never did.

Gameshark gave it a 100, while RPG fan (a somewhat obnoxious and very JRPG eccentric site) was the dissenter here, with a 73.

Meta Score: 87

Super Dodgeball Brawlers


Image from metacritic.net

Styled to look like River City Ransom and of course the classic NES Dodgeball game, I've had my eye on this one for awhile. It's probably good fun, though the reviews are tepid.

Gameshark is once again the high score here with 83, while CheatCodeCentral gives the lowest score, a 50.

The Meta Score is 65.

Bangai-O Spirits


Image from Metacritic.net

White-knuckled shoot em' up developer Treasure is at it again! Crazy old school shooting action abounds, although Nintendo Power described this as a "puzzle" shooter, so there may be more depth here. Also interesting is its user level editor- more and more games today are featuring some sort of level editor for fan made content, taking a nod from the PC's modding community. What makes Bangai-O's user content so interesting is that it uses sound files for storage. New levels can be downloaded by playing a sound file into your Nintendo DS microphone, which, as a musician, as pretty darn cool!

Anyway, this is a well receieved game, with Eurogamer loving it and bestowing a perfect score. The lowest score was a 75, still not bad, and courtesy of Gamepro, who said this (via metacritic):

It's obviously aimed squarely at the hardcore DS gamer; and while the intense action and high difficulty will probably turn off the casual crowd, it's a solid shooter for anyone who's looking for a challenge. [Sept 2008, p.84]

The metascore is 87.

I know I don't report on the DS as much here, despite loving mine, but I'm always amazed at the gigantic and terrific library the handheld is piling up. With so much more on the way!

Games to keep an eye on:

Look for games like Moon (a first person shooter) to cause a splash. And the Madden series has been steadily improving as well.