TGS 2006: Yu Yu Hakusho DS Preview

September 24th, 2006, 12:19 Posted By: wraggster

Heres an excerpt

It may seem like we're being mean on good ol' 2D at IGN sometimes, especially when talking about the Nintendo DS. It seems that nine games out of ten sprite-based games covered in previews and reviews lead to some kind of mention of what the game could have or should have been like in 3D. But it's not 2D's fault. Those nine games tend to be the nine worst-looking games on the platform, games that seemed to have been designed by graphic designers with an axe to grind against pixel art; the one game of the ten not knocked for its 2D'ness is usually done with the kind of flair of design craftsmanship and technical ability to make for a great-looking game against any modern graphics techniques.

The first DS game based on Yu Yu Hakusho (the anime/manga series that most outside of the fan community would remember from a run on Adult Swim if that run had lasted longer than two sneezes) is not that one in ten. An awful-looking dungeon crawler with equally meh gameplay, this title debuted in a corner of a corner of the show floor to little enthusiasm from those who played it before us. A 2D dungeon crawler (we can't say the word "dungeon crawler" enough, especially since we remember few to no dungeons from brief glances at the show), the game is a D-Pad based quickie RPG where you can play as one of several characters from the show with a flash-swap (at least, once you've unlocked them -- the game starts off with only the main hero kid, after a series of badly-drawn manga scenes introducing the series as a whole and the story of the game, which apparently follows the story from the beginning ... all we know is that we saw Yusuke being hit by the car and dying, then some old woman's face was shown, and then we were punching snake things and dog things in a dungeon.) Battles are mostly action-RPG style button masher fests, although there are touchpoint battle moves where you can tap on manga slips to make characters do cooler moves. There are also planned a number of minigames, including a shown Roshambo minigame. Two player wireless is also planned, although there's no indication of DS Download play, so we're not interested unless somehow the gameplay gets better.

Full Article at IGN

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