The Magic Roundabout (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

If you happen to be around my age you'll remember The Magic Roundabout from your childhood. It was the final children's programme before the news and more adult shows began around 6pm. The show was imported from France and dubbed by Eric Thompson who didn't allow something as trivial as not being able to speak French get in his way. Instead, he simply made the stories up driven by what the characters were doing on-screen. This made for some great entertainment but alas everything has a shelf life and the 'off the wall' adventures of The Magic Roundabout left our screens some years ago. More recently we've had a big screen outing and although I've yet to see it, rumours are it's not too good. Let down by none other than the storyline itself. All this brings us neatly to the present day and this DS outing for the gang, so what's the story behind this one?

Gameplay

You play as Dougal but there's not really a story of any description, instead you are told by Zebedee to go and talk to your friends on the outskirts of the town. This involves you seeking out the likes of Dylan and Ermintrude who will then ask you to undertake a chore for them, which translates to a mini-game. Not all of these are fun and some are just plain nonsense but the game does have some gems too. The best is probably sending out invitations challenging you to trace a variety of shapes within a time limit. You'll even have the opportunity to use the microphone in an attempt to keep a paper plane in the air. There are around a dozen of these games scattered around and once you've played them you can replay them at any time from the village square. They actually do have a point; completing games rewards you with gold stars which, in turn, open up such bonus items as screens and (incredibly short) film clips.

Controls

It's an odd one this really because, while you can use both the stylus and more traditional controls to move Dougal around, it's actually easier using the d-pad simply because you tend to get stuck behind far too many items and obstacles using the touch screen alone.    

Graphics

Both the main hub and the various surrounds are well drawn and the odd spot animation attempts to bring things to life to a certain degree. Unfortunately the main character animation is less than perfect and Dougal doesn't have nearly enough frames of animation to allow him to move smoothly. The same is true of most of the games making the whole package look more like an early shockwave collection than anything approaching a commercial DS product.

Sound

While you are treated to some pleasant soundtracks they do repeat very quickly and don't expect any voice work from the main players other than the odd grunt.

Dual screen

f you've encountered a mini-game compilation before you'll know what to expect with the usual tapping and rubbing the screen. The paper plane game is a nice addition though and it's always refreshing to see developers using the microphone in an interesting manner.  

Final comments

While The Magic Roundabout has some entertaining mini-games it does suffer from not having any real adventure elements. Almost everything is laid out before you. Clearly this is aimed at the younger gamer but you can't help feeling that even an eight year old will fly though it in no time at all. Only really consider this if you've never really encountered a mini-game compilation before and/or you love The Magic Roundabout.

Pro: Some Entertaining Mini-games, Nice Backgrounds.
Con: Doesn't Reflect the Bizarre Magic Roundabout Storylines, No Spoken Dialogue
Final score: 5.5

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