Pogo Island (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

It's clear now that the worldwide success of the DS is down to the casual gamer. You know, the type of person who doesn't really 'do' games and yet becomes completely engrossed in a simple puzzler on their PC or one of the many interactive TV games available. There are numerous websites which also pander to the needs of these five minute gamers and all offer a 'quick fix' in order for the individual to get though the day a little more contented and a little less frustrated (or more depending on how good they are at their chosen game). One such site is EA's own Pogo.com which is filled with 100s of web based mini-games so it was only a matter of time before they collected a handful of them together in order to produce a king of cross over titles for the DS which while not as comprehensive as the PC version is certainly more portable.

Gameplay

While the developers have attempted to add a 'story mode' here with the 'island adventure' it's still, at heart, a collection of five web-based mini-games, which have made it on to the DS so that's what we'll concentrate on. Word Whomp is probably the most enjoyable here, with the challenge being to make as many words as possible from the scrambled letters within the time limit. The difference here is that the computer (or the DS) has already calculated just how many combinations are available of three, four and five letter words. There are also bonus points for figuring out the word that utilises all the letters. Poppit is a simple variation on a gaming classic and here you must pop collections of balloons of the same colour whilst always thinking ahead so as not to separate single balloons and so make it impossible to complete the game. Squelchies has similarities to Poppit, it's just that here you have to collect rows of four of the same colour Squelchie, as they descend in a 'Space Invaders' fashion. Your other objectives are to reach a pre-determined score and avoid the crab at the bottom of the screen. The final two are the self-explanatory Tri-Peaks Solitaire and the 'Bust-a-Move' rip off, Phlinx.

The Adventure Island attempts to inject a more structured game into the cart but this is simply a board game, with a spin wheel, where landing on a square allows you to, you guessed it, play one of the five mini-games. You can also win credits for every game won which can then be exchanged at Pogo.com. This type of 'connection' will no doubt be used more in the future. There is also one bonus, which has to be mentioned, and the ability to beam a demo of Poppit to a friend is another extra that we would like to see introduced into all DS titles. It's just a shame it's not the best of the bunch here.

Controls

Yes, you could use a mouse (or at least the cursor acting as a mouse) but the games here are really designed to shine with the tough screen input so why not head down to that section.

Graphics

Because puzzle games on the small screen are all about clarity the visuals are probably best described as functional. In fact the visuals feel like they've been simply lifted from their different web pages and placed into DS development with little or no alteration.

Sound

While most of the audio is little more than your average web-based audio there are some highlights - the music accompanying the Squelchies game, for example, is perfectly suited to the on screen action.

Dual screen

Pogo Island is filled with the type of interaction we've come to expect from a mini-games compilation so expect to select, drag, etc. Sadly there's no use of the microphone, which would certainly have made the interactivity that much more interesting.

Final comments

While the five games presented in this package are reasonably entertaining you will tire of them quite quickly with not one strong enough to join the ranks of Tetris as a gaming classic. On the other hand the ability to link-up with Pogo.com in order to transfer you amassed tokens is a neat addition but as a games compilation Pogo Island doesn't quite make the grade.

Pro: Five Reasonably Entertaining Games.
Con: Much Better Collections Available.
Final score: 6

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