Joystiq hands-on: Zenses: Ocean (DS)

The Game Factory showed off its upcoming DS puzzler, Zenses: Ocean, and the Nintendo Media Summit. This publisher has made a business out of licensed titles -- Bratz, Garfield, Build-A-Bear Workshop -- but is trying to break into original games with Zenses.

Pitched as a relaxing, almost trance-inducing ride -- some bundles of the game will include earphones to play back its mellow soundtrack -- I found few of its six game modes that didn't feel repetitive. Especially at a $30 price, I hope that the game gets tweaked or the price drops before its October, 2008 release.
My favorite game type lined up a series of shapes on a grid, and I matched two, adjacent like-blocks to remove them both. After they disappeared, the pieces advanced in the same way type flows across the page, including jumps to the next row after a return. I had to carefully plan my attack so I didn't get stuck with unmatchable blocks at the end. It's a good concept, but it's been done in other games.

A connect-the-dots game seemed more unique, and I have high hopes for its concept. I had to create triangles by connecting three pearls among a jumble of them on-screen. But rules prevent a line through another pearl, and all three points have to share the same color. If I captured other pearls inside the triangle, I earned more turns. If not, I slowly ran out of moves until I lost. I liked the idea but had a hard time telling similar pearl colors -- like gray and white -- apart. Hopefully the game will be updated to allow more distinct colors.

A Lights-Out-style game stood above the remaining, bland titles I sampled, but it's another concept that's been done enough. Otherwise, players get a memory game and a couple shape-matching challenges that weren't too fun.

Hopefully Zenses: Ocean will get a few tweaks before its release, especially to the triangle-drawing game. (A different version, Zenses: Rainforest will ship with its own games at the same time.) I saw glimmers of potential in the version I played, but as a puzzle fan, I think it missed both quality and quantity.

Tags: nintendo-media-summit-08, the-game-factory, zenses, zenses-ocean, zenses-rainforest

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Joystiq Features





Featured Galleries

Dragon Age: Origins

Dragon Age: Origins "Return to Ostagar" DLC

Blood Bowl (360, PSP, PC)

Blood Bowl (360, PSP, PC)

Arkedo Series 003: Pixel!

Arkedo Series 003: Pixel!

Quake Live (Christmas 2009)

Quake Live (Christmas 2009)

Final Fantasy XIV (12.24.09)

Final Fantasy XIV (12.24.09)

Stop Stress: A Day of Fury (WiiWare)

Stop Stress: A Day of Fury (WiiWare)

A Christmas Santa (iPhone)

A Christmas Santa (iPhone)

Xbox Live Music Games stores

Xbox Live Music Games stores

Trauma Team (12/22)

Trauma Team (12/22)

 


Team Joystiq

 
Chris Grant
Editor-in-Chief, Email
James Ransom-Wiley
Managing Editor, Email
Ludwig Kietzmann
Senior Editor, Email
Andrew Yoon
East Coast Editor, Email
Randy Nelson
West Coast Editor, Email
Justin McElroy
Reviews Editor, Email
Justin Glow
Developer, Email

Joystiq Podcast

New episodes every Friday! Now playing: Joystiq Podcast 121, for Friday, Dec., 18.



Archive | RSS | iTunes

Autoblog

Urlesque

Download Squad

Engadget

Massively

Asylum

WoW

Engadget HD

Big Download