feelin’ the magic

[just a quick mention of e3 which nintendo completely rocked. really psyched for the 3DS now, and so psyched to see kid icarus back, FINALLY. this is going to be a pretty great next 12 months. now back to your previously scheduled program …]

apparently i was in a somewhat mindless mood because i picked up a game i’ve had lying around, feel the magic XY & XX by sonic team for DS. the game draws immediate comparisons with warioware: touched! which i reviewed at the beginning of this year, and in fact both games were launch games and released the same day as the DS in japan (although in north america feel the magic was released three months earlier than touched, although it doesn’t seem that it ended up stealing much of the latter’s thunder). both feature mini-games and show off the DS’s capabilities in similar ways, but both have suffered a bit, more than five years and many DS games later. now that the novelty has worn off the games have lost their element of surprise, but despite this and a setup almost too similar to the warioware games feel the magic stands as an enjoyable game in its own right.

it’s helped in no small part by the stylish and distinctive presentation by sonic team, and although it does feel based on the warioware concept it features its own brand of quirkiness. in many ways feel the magic feels like a sequel the warioware crew should have evolved ages ago, but while that series has stagnated this game offers a fresh spin on a now too familiar type of gameplay. although on metacritic touched averages an 81 to magic‘s 75, i’m going to have to side with the latter. it has more interesting games overall and a higher level of difficulty, and some surprisingly touching moments, like the mini-game where you have to try to hold your female love interest’s hand. although i enjoyed the game overall i can’t say i feel the need to rush out to play the sequel, but i certainly liked it enough to pick it up sometime in the future.

feelin’ some magical links:
– entry at wikipedia
– FAQ at gamefaqs
– entry at metacritic

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