Point Blank [DS]

[Mr Ono]

Got thiis yesterday. Big lover of the Point Blank series on PS1/2 and could see how this would work on DS with the stylus - although could never really hope to replicate the fun of holding a gun.

It basically is Point Blank. I think some of the games have been slightly modified for the DS but they are essentially games taken from both original games.

Modes are:

Arcade (4 levels)
Free Play
Multiplayer (with single cart - not tried yet but got a second DS today )
Brain Massage - effective the same games but with some "brain stats" tagged on.
Games Museum - which seem to be just single games from Namco's shooting collection.

Any good? Not bad - but I am finding it a bit too easy with the stylus. Not as much fun as the originals.

[toy_brain]

Bought this yesterday.
Initial impressions? well its allright - some of the levels are actually quite a challenge even with the stylius as they rely more on observation than pinpoint accuracy.
However, it feels a bit limited. I think 40 stages just might not be enough - not in these post-Wario Ware days.

Good for killing the odd 5-10 minutes, but I have a feeling I'll be trading it in in a few weeks.

[Kaladron]

I really like it and am finding the harder difficulty levels quite challenging. The targets are often much smaller and move very quickly. It's not as easy as I thought it would be.

Brain Massage is rubbish though, it's exactly the same games with meaningless stats at the end. Namco really tried to cash in on the Brain Age craze with that one.

[Skull Commander]

Excuse the pun, but I find this game rather pointless on the d.s. I have all three on the ps1 and was a massive fan of the arcade version, but all skill is removed on the ds one. A curiosity, but certainly not worth any more than ?10.

[merf]

can be got pretty cheaply on ebay.

as has been said already, I agree this is mildly diverting but kind of pointless.

[Widegoat]

I want this - but it just occured to me - is there a multiplayer mode like in the originals (over wireless, of course)? Does anyone who has played it know, and if so is it any good?

[merf]

I paid ?21.25 including p&p, game was about ?15 of that.

i regard ?20 as a throwaway price for games and it just about scrapes in for me as diverting enough to be worth that.

not a long term classic by any means, the novelty of using the touch pen still hasn't worn off though for me so just about worth it for that !

[Widegoat]

I paid ?21.25 including p&p, game was about ?15 of that.

i regard ?20 as a throwaway price for games and it just about scrapes in for me as diverting enough to be worth that.

not a long term classic by any means, the novelty of using the touch pen still hasn't worn off though for me so just about worth it for that !

Great! Where from?

Also: does it have a wireless multiplayer mode?

[Montario]

i ordered the jap one from lik sang a while back, 19 quid, not bad i thought. until it came through with 9 quid bastarding customs fee! and it took 3 weeks too.. Ebay next time.. The game is nice i thought tho, but yeah, all too short. The difficult stages just end up pissing me off rather than present me with a challenge. i LOVE the whack-a-croc game though!

[Bassman]

Mine came thorugh from Movietyme yesterday. Must admit to stuggling on the Advanced option (only tried Freeplay at the moment). Definitely a game for quick reflexes.

[Widegoat]

Mine arrived yesterday too, I've found it a bit weird with the stylus. It affects the gameplay inconsistently. Some games are made much easier, others much harder (particularly games where there is large distance spanned between simultaneous targets). As a result, it can be (at least until I get better, or find a strategy) random as to whether it's possible to go through the arcade mode in one credit (advanced and insane). Going to try multiplayer a bit later on, which is what I'm really holding out for.

[SuperDanX]

How does this game work? Do you 'fire' at the targets by tapping them with the stylus? Or is the stylus used to drag around a crosshair?

[Widegoat]

How does this game work? Do you 'fire' at the targets by tapping them with the stylus? Or is the stylus used to drag around a crosshair?

The former. You literally tap the screen on the targets you want to shoot. It works better than you'd think - of course if you are a fan of the series (as I am) you are all to aware that it isn't perfect. The games haven't been changed at all in their implementation to reflect the fact that you have to use a stylus. Namco, have been selective about which games to include thankfully, so overall it works well. For the money Point Blank "on the go" is well worth it as far as I'm concerned.

[hexxed]

Have to say im loving this, gets absolutely nails on the harder difficulties (to get S rankings anyway), I thought I was pretty good at my old Sega Park (dominated the scoreboards). I need to get in shape at this!

[Ratso]

I love the Point Blank series with a passion - I used to have the PSone versions and recently got the GunVari pack for the PS2 - but one thing's always bothered me; no version to my knowledge has stored individual high scores for each mini-game. This would have been such a massive boost to the competitiveness and longevity of the game.

I don't suppose that the DS version has added this feature...