Princess Natasha: Student - Secret Agent - Princess (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

TV, Cartoon and Movie tie-ins are hardly unusual on the GBA and DS as anyone who's owned one for the last few years will be well aware that this type of title dominates the platform. In fact the paucity of original titles is quite startling. I can only think of a handful in the past twelve months of so. Princess Natasha isn't quite a cartoon or even a TV show but it is reasonably well known thanks to an on-line world created by AOL. Simply being well known however, is no guarantee of an entertaining game and with this being the Princess' first DS outing, we need to find out did she choose the right developer?

Gameplay

As usual in this kind of game: mankind is doomed! This time it's because a group of 'bouncing' robots are infecting humans and turning them into Zombies. It's up to you then (armed only with your well aimed kick) to clear area after area of these mechanical menaces. That, and curing the humans with your handy antidote, which to be fair isn't always as effective as it could be. You're probably expecting me to explain the sub-plot now and the various mini-games that make up a well-rounded package but, while I'd dearly like to, there aren't any. No, this is all about a single monotonous quest to clear wave after wave of robots with the only thing changing being the location. To add insult to injury there's even a password save feature, which we were sure we'd seen the back of in 2006, however given how boring the game is you're unlikely to need it.

Controls

Given that the average platform/action title relies on a tight and responsive control system it's hard to see why developers have apparently ignored this section of the game. For starters there are not nearly enough combat moves at your disposal. Your main 'kick' is aimed far too low, meaning enemies will constantly bounce on top of you. Occasionally they won't even connect at all thanks to the poor collision detection. Moving around is not nearly as graceful as you'd expect either with Natasha landing more like a Sumo Wrestler rather than a Martial Arts expert.

Graphics

If the developers have tripped up in most other areas, they do seem to have got things just right in the visuals department. Princess Natasha on a handheld console is almost identical to the on-line version. The only real criticism is that there aren't enough animation frames to make the characters move as smoothly as we've come to expect, especially from an action-based title.

Sound

It's all a little generic and while the soundtrack is pleasing enough it's not really in keeping with an action title of this nature. The sound effects are similar and don't expect any speech from the main players either.

Dual screen

Other than a life bar and the ability to change your weapon, by the magic of touch-screen there's nothing. Very disappointing!

Final comments

While Princess Natasha looks good enough it has enough problems to render it almost unplayable. The first of these is the unresponsive control system, which is unforgivable on a platform title of this type. Then there's the gameplay, which never really alters from start to finish. Simply destroying robots is also rather boring. To top it all there's little difference here from last years GBA version and with the unique DS features hardly used at all, we can only award it with a lower mark.

Pro: Faithful Representation of the On-Line Character.
Con: Terrible Control and Bland Gameplay.
Final score: 2.9

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