We've already seen critics rave over Space Invaders Extreme, but how about Taito's other redone classic, Arkanoid DS? Well, not so much. Reviews on this game range from good, to bad, to mediocre:IGN (45/100) felt that the developers took everything that was great about Arkanoid and flushed it down the toilet: "But once you played the game it's easy to see just how bad of an 'Arkanoid' game it is. The Paddle peripheral is absolutely fantastic: the knob has great weight and interfaces with the system and game extremely well. But the gameplay is so far away from the original Arkanoid. The sound effects and power-ups may have matched the arcade game but the same action is nowhere near the original."
Gamespot (80/100) was on the other side of the spectrum, and thought the game had a lot to offer: "There's more than enough fun to be had with Arkanoid DS to justify its budget price tag, and the multiplayer content and online leaderboards that compare your performances in the single-player Clear mode ensure that there's no shortage of replay value if you're the competitive type. Arkanoid was a great game in 1986 and it's still a great game in 2008. Arkanoid DS is even better."
Nintendo Power (65/100) found the game to be fun, but not on par with Space Invaders Extreme: "Though not as glossy as Space Invaders Extreme (another Taito update from Square Enix), brick-breaker Arkanoid DS takes advantage of the DS hardware more than its classic-reborn cousin by offering a vertical playing field and a touch-control option." [July 2008, p.89]
