Hands-on Zenses Ocean
April 9, 2008 - Causal games have found a perfect home on DS, and while we've seen a seemingly never-ending slew of them, only certain titles out there go from being meaningless shovelware to actually gaining any sort of recognition from the more hardcore DS fan base as well. Anyone can make a virtual pet game (that may or may not end in the letter "Z") and sell approximately one billion copies worldwide, but it takes a stronger design to make something that actually appeals to everyone out there, and is really worth your cash.
Game Factory is out to give the casual world of gaming a shot on DS, but rather than going with the younger skewed titles the company is known for – Build-A-Bear and Code Lyoko instantly ring a bell – DS owners are getting a pair of titles aimed more specifically at female non-gamers, but intended really for anyone interested in a more casual approach to games like Brain Age or Big Brain Academy. Zenses is an entirely touch-based franchise hitting DS exclusively, and the two games – Zenses Ocean, and Zenses Rainforest – each offer a different set of six touch-only puzzles inspired by their environment. Each of the games are about as far down the casual spectrum as you can go (so far, in fact, that Nintendo is showing them at their Media Summit this week along with Wii Fit, and the "bridge" title Mario Kart), and focus as much on passive, relaxing play as other games do on high scores and competition.
We had a chance to go hands-on with Zenses Ocean exclusively, and thus far it's pretty much what we imagined when we caught wind of the game originally. Players boot up Ocean, and instantly have access to each of the six puzzles. From there, it's a "go at your own pace" kind of experience.
Ocean's soundtrack aims to deliver a very tranquil experience, and Shin'en (developer/music production team) delivers with some very basic, soothing audio tracks. The games are of course the focus of the package though, and Zenses offers six total, including Ztones, Pearl Diver, Turtle Turn, Hot Spot, Shell Twirl, and Wave Breaker. Each of the games are entirely touch-controlled, and while a few are new, we've also seem similar games as far back as the original handheld "Merlin" LCD game. Still, there's enough interesting gameplay here to last casual spurts of play, which is exactly what Zenses is out to deliver.
Ztones is a very basic matching game, having players tap like stones on the ocean floor in an attempt to make the cascading set of pieces fall perfectly into place. Every time you remove a set of two, the remaining stones shuffle down the line, so rather than going for speed, players will need to plot out each move and not back themselves into a wall. In Pearl Diver, floating beads hover on the bottom screen, and players have a set amount of turns to eliminate them all by either tapping a single piece, or connecting up to three of the same color at the same time. If you can manage to create a triangle of three pieces around other beads, those pearls will also disappear, causing a combo and adding more turns to the game.
Turtle Turn is a classic flipping game, with the top screen showing a goal pattern, and touch control flipping shells from black to white. All neighboring shells flip as well though, so it'll take strategic spatial thinking to solve the puzzles in as few of turns as possible. Hot Spot is a timed animated puzzle with a very Electroplankton-inspired feel, and using the stylus players will need to rotate and slide pieces of creatures into place, duplicating an organism moving around on the top screen. Then there's a simplistic shape-matching game called Shell Twirl with a simple slide mechanic, as well as a memory game called Wave Breaker, where crashing waves cover shells, and it's up to the player to recall the position of specific objects on the playfield.
Thus far we've gotten into Pearl Diver and Wave Breaker specifically, as the two games are paced well, have potential for high scoring, but are also relaxing enough to be as much of a mind bending puzzle as anything else. A few of the other experiences are missing the charm of those specific games, as Ztones is a very basic puzzler, we've seen games like Turtle Turn time and time again on nearly every platform, and Hot Spot – while having the most style of the six games – can be pretty finicky when it comes to actually attaching the right piece onto the creature. Still, if a few of the weaker games get some necessary polish to them, Zenses could be a solid puzzler for casual gamers. We'd also suggest the game be priced at $19.99 instead of the current $30 tag, as we haven't even seen the second title yet, and the higher price would discourage players from picking up both games.
We'll have more on Zenses Ocean is an interesting casual-minded puzzler for DS, but we'll need to put more time into the product to see just how deep the experience is. Look for more on Ocean (and Rainforest) as we near the games' October release. Also, be sure to check out more screens of Ocean in our media gallery below.
source: http://ds.ign.com/articles/865/865523p1.html
Game Factory is out to give the casual world of gaming a shot on DS, but rather than going with the younger skewed titles the company is known for – Build-A-Bear and Code Lyoko instantly ring a bell – DS owners are getting a pair of titles aimed more specifically at female non-gamers, but intended really for anyone interested in a more casual approach to games like Brain Age or Big Brain Academy. Zenses is an entirely touch-based franchise hitting DS exclusively, and the two games – Zenses Ocean, and Zenses Rainforest – each offer a different set of six touch-only puzzles inspired by their environment. Each of the games are about as far down the casual spectrum as you can go (so far, in fact, that Nintendo is showing them at their Media Summit this week along with Wii Fit, and the "bridge" title Mario Kart), and focus as much on passive, relaxing play as other games do on high scores and competition.
 Shell Twirl mixes speed with shape recognition. |  Turtle Turn can screw with your mind. |
We had a chance to go hands-on with Zenses Ocean exclusively, and thus far it's pretty much what we imagined when we caught wind of the game originally. Players boot up Ocean, and instantly have access to each of the six puzzles. From there, it's a "go at your own pace" kind of experience.
Ocean's soundtrack aims to deliver a very tranquil experience, and Shin'en (developer/music production team) delivers with some very basic, soothing audio tracks. The games are of course the focus of the package though, and Zenses offers six total, including Ztones, Pearl Diver, Turtle Turn, Hot Spot, Shell Twirl, and Wave Breaker. Each of the games are entirely touch-controlled, and while a few are new, we've also seem similar games as far back as the original handheld "Merlin" LCD game. Still, there's enough interesting gameplay here to last casual spurts of play, which is exactly what Zenses is out to deliver.
Ztones is a very basic matching game, having players tap like stones on the ocean floor in an attempt to make the cascading set of pieces fall perfectly into place. Every time you remove a set of two, the remaining stones shuffle down the line, so rather than going for speed, players will need to plot out each move and not back themselves into a wall. In Pearl Diver, floating beads hover on the bottom screen, and players have a set amount of turns to eliminate them all by either tapping a single piece, or connecting up to three of the same color at the same time. If you can manage to create a triangle of three pieces around other beads, those pearls will also disappear, causing a combo and adding more turns to the game.
Turtle Turn is a classic flipping game, with the top screen showing a goal pattern, and touch control flipping shells from black to white. All neighboring shells flip as well though, so it'll take strategic spatial thinking to solve the puzzles in as few of turns as possible. Hot Spot is a timed animated puzzle with a very Electroplankton-inspired feel, and using the stylus players will need to rotate and slide pieces of creatures into place, duplicating an organism moving around on the top screen. Then there's a simplistic shape-matching game called Shell Twirl with a simple slide mechanic, as well as a memory game called Wave Breaker, where crashing waves cover shells, and it's up to the player to recall the position of specific objects on the playfield.
Thus far we've gotten into Pearl Diver and Wave Breaker specifically, as the two games are paced well, have potential for high scoring, but are also relaxing enough to be as much of a mind bending puzzle as anything else. A few of the other experiences are missing the charm of those specific games, as Ztones is a very basic puzzler, we've seen games like Turtle Turn time and time again on nearly every platform, and Hot Spot – while having the most style of the six games – can be pretty finicky when it comes to actually attaching the right piece onto the creature. Still, if a few of the weaker games get some necessary polish to them, Zenses could be a solid puzzler for casual gamers. We'd also suggest the game be priced at $19.99 instead of the current $30 tag, as we haven't even seen the second title yet, and the higher price would discourage players from picking up both games.
We'll have more on Zenses Ocean is an interesting casual-minded puzzler for DS, but we'll need to put more time into the product to see just how deep the experience is. Look for more on Ocean (and Rainforest) as we near the games' October release. Also, be sure to check out more screens of Ocean in our media gallery below.
source: http://ds.ign.com/articles/865/865523p1.html
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