Pads & Panels

Title: Boing! Docomodake DS

Platform: DS

ESRB Rating: E

Publisher: Ignition

Developer: AQ Interactive

Rating:

Review by: Joe Anderson

As many are well aware, mushrooms are domestic creatures. Their love for stability is seconded only by their love for the family unit. Fix all eyes upon the box art. This is a mushroom on a quest to reunite his precious loved ones. Notice the stoic gaze of the noble mushroom. This gaze is evidence that his determination, unlike so much else in our crazy chaotic world, is unwavering.

To answer the burning question – Yes, Boing! Docomodake DS is very Japanese. Whether this is charming or irksome will range from player to player, but Doco deserves some points for distinct charm.

And come on, the game is just cute. Every time one completes a world, he is treated to a brightly colored cutscene about the importance of loved ones, which always ends with the super-cheesy quotation, “After all, you are a family.” The near diabetic levels of sweetness will make gamers smile. Granted, it may be a smile for ironic “this-is-so-cute-gag-me” reasons, but let’s not kid ourselves: an ironic smile is still a smile.

Players use a combination of directional pad and stylus controls to maneuver Doco around the game’s seven worlds, each containing eight or nine stages. Players are able to split Doco into smaller mushrooms and use the stylus to perform various tasks ranging from making ladders of the smaller selves to attacking enemies.

Doco is limited in the amount of mushrooms he can split. Although the game isn’t particularly difficult, this limitation makes for some puzzles, especially later in the game, that will cause players to stop and think.

At its core, Doco is a simple platformer that has interesting puzzle elements oddly reminiscent of Donkey Kong for the original Game Boy. Every stage is just a matter of getting to the end while picking up coins and treasure boxes along the way. Treasure is completely optional, although it does influence the player’s rating at the end of each stage and can be used to unlock game features. The rating system allows for some replay value, but probably not enough for non-platform/puzzle fans to warrant multiple playthroughs.

Docomodake isn’t reinventing the wheel, but what it does it does well. Although by no means a very deep game, Doco’s only discernable flaw is that touch screen controls can be a bit finicky when trying to manage a bunch of mini ‘shrooms in a confined area.