EA Playground (Nintendo DS) - Review by Chris

Introduction

Mini-game collections are an all too common occurrence on consoles these days, none more so than on Nintendo's own two currently available platforms. While it appears to have less when you look on the surface, the DS has a hefty library of these games to call its own, ranging from the fantastic to the downright unnecessary. Trying to find a niche within the genre then can prove to be a very difficult task but EA seem up to the challenge. EA Playground is the first major mini-game compendium designed by EA Canada aimed specifically at the younger demographic and brings with it 9 games of various types for your enjoyment. Can this one carve out its own niche in an already crowded genre?

Gameplay

EA Playground is, as the name suggests, a game primarily aimed at younger gamers. It brings together 9 different mini-games for players to indulge in, most of which are sports based although there are a few non-sporting based mini-games included in the package. As with almost all mini-game collections, the primary idea is that these games should be played in a multiplayer fashion and this sentiment remains the same here. However, the developers have made an effort to put together a decent enough single player option for those who wish to either get some practise in on their own or just to help pass the time.

The single player option sees you as the new kid in a playground filled with other kids who've found their place playing different sports or activities, each ranked in a hierarchical order. As the new kid, you won't be able to join in playing with those kids who are deemed the experts in their own sports or activities and as such, you'll have to work your way up from the bottom, winning stickers and marbles, against the lowest rungs of each of the activities. The stickers and marbles are the incentive for doing this, as the higher up kids will only recognise you as a worthy character to play with if you have enough stickers in their respective activity. As such, you'll have to work your way through the playground's 3 areas finding the right characters to take on, all of which are easy to find as they have a star floating above their heads. A help character, known as the Sticker Kid, will let you use your marbles, which you either win from your opponents or find, to purchase new sticker power-ups to improve your skills in each of the 9 available games.

As already mentioned, there are 9 different games to take part in, from sports such as dodgeball and football to non-sports such as racing RC cars and spitballing. These start off simple but as you progress within the single player, you'll undertake harder opponents and harder variations of each of these games, although the difficulty never becomes an issue. Even with the repeated play of these 9 events, which does seem a little on the shallow side for a mini-game collection, they still manage to provide a sense of entertainment due to how fun they are to actually play. One slight issue that some might find is that the game only auto saves your high scores for the games you've competed in, requiring you to manually save from the pause menu before you switch off. It's a rather strange design choice for the game, and no doubt it is something that many younger gamers will miss completely as it isn't explained at all during the game. Systematic completion of the mini-games, and their variations, in the single player unlocks them for use in the Free Play mode and the Multiplayer mode, which allows up to 4 players to play against one another over local wireless. It's just a shame that the game only supports multi-card play, requiring everyone to have a copy of the game.

Controls

Controls come in the form of a mixture of touch screen and button based options, with the game frequently mixing the two together. You're free to move your character around with either the d-pad or stylus in the single player's locations but strangely, while certain elements have button alternatives to using the stylus, talking to the characters to initiate the mini-games requires you to touch the screen with no button press available. It's not a huge spanner in the works for the game, seeing as the game's primary gameplay provides a mixture of mini-games that use on control setup or the other, but it's a rather strange control choice. Other than that, the controls function well within most aspects of the game, bar a few issues with the stylus based mini-games.

Graphics

The game carries a cartoon-like visual style that will instantly appeal to the younger gamer. The visuals are colourful and vibrant, and look good in both the mini-games and the areas contained within the single player exploration mode. It's nothing technically impressive but its pleasant enough to not be an eye sore, an issue that certain other games in the genre suffer from, and it clearly shows that the developers have taken the time to cater a visual style to the demographic they are aiming at. One downside, however, is the character models used throughout the game. They've been designed in such a way so as to keep them looking like their bigger counterparts in the Wii version but downsizing them and giving them a slight colour palette change makes them standout more than you want them to, at time looking a little on the ugly side. It is forgivable, however, once you get into the swing of the mini-games as you're attention will be elsewhere.

Sound

Music in the game follows a similar style to the visuals on display; that's to say that they've gone for a child friendly sound that will appeal squarely to that age group. You get some chirpy melodies which compliment the visuals and the mini-games but don't expect anything spectacular. They're here to facilitate a school ground-like atmosphere, nothing more and they do this perfectly well.

Dual screen

Touch screen use if primarily done in the mini-games, where basic utilisation of the screen is used to complete the tasks. It's simple but effective in here, although in many cases there are button alternatives that work slightly better, such as walking around the locations. Where it is imperative to use the touch screen controls, there are slight detection issues in one of two of the mini-games but due to the nature of the overall game, it's never too much of an issue to overcome.

Final comments

EA Playground provides a decent mini-game experience on the DS that will no doubt appeal to many younger gamers. The games on offer are enjoyable, providing just enough variety to keep you entertained, but only just. 9 games, no matter what rules are applied to them in the course of either the single or multiplayer, does fall short of many of the games on store shelves within the same genre, and many of the mini-games have already been included in other, better compilations. It therefore begs the question of why anyone should purchase this game. However, the effort EA has put into creating an entertaining experience, with the pleasant presentation and enjoyable mini-games, does put it up there as one of the best designed budget mini-game collections available on the handheld.

Pro: Game is presented well, controls well enough, mini-games continue to be enjoyable through extended play
Con: Touch screen controls are ever so slightly off, only 9 games does bring it short of many other games
Final score: 6.1

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