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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Puzzle Developer: Atomic Planet Entertainment Publisher: Atari |
There are certain classic board games that can easily be translated into a videogame, games like Scrabble and Monopoly. The leap
between the physical world to the virtual world was made easy for these games, but others have a little more trouble making the
transfer between the two. When a company tries to push a cheap and easy game like Jenga onto a videogame system, many people
would be very disappointed. There is a problem with the idea of the virtual version costing more than three times more than the actual
toy. What would make a game even worse would be the fact that most of the enjoyment is in trying to working within the confines of
physics and gravity, something that can’t fully be translated into a game.
“Jenga” is a concept that fails right from the beginning. The development team put a good amount of effort into putting the classic
game on the small screen, but it all boils down to the fact that it is all wasted effort, the actual toy is far more enjoyable and accessible
even with all the “virtual” additions put into the Nintendo DS game.
Though it may sound a bit corny, any cocktail party or friendly social gathering will more than likely end up having Jenga come out at
some point, and people actually have a lot of fun playing it. This simple stack of blocks gives players one basic goal, take out a single
block from the lower part of the stack and carefully place it on the top of the stack. The idea is to work balance into the structure and
make sure that the weight removed gets distributes at the top in a way that the structure remains standing. If the structure falls down,
the game is over. The game is basic, to the point, and actually fun to play and watch others play as well.
Now, when players take the original idea of Jenga and put it on the Nintendo DS, which is what Atari asked Atomic Planet Entertainment
to do on the handheld, the team did whatever they could to make the concept a reality on the portable system. The game has a 3D
engine to accurately represent the stack of blocks, a physics engine to accurately represent the balance of blocks when the weight
shifts, touch screen controls to poke, push and pull blocks out of the stack and a cocky announcer to tell players when they screw up
and make the stack crash to the floor.
Yes, the game of Jenga is accurately represented on the Nintendo DS. However, with all of the necessary bells and whistles to get the
game to work on the Nintendo DS, it is simply a failed project because it just isn’t any fun to play on the Nintendo DS. Of course players
are getting a version of the game that can be taken anywhere, but Jenga is already a fairly portable game to begin with. Although the
real game can’t be played on a bus, car or train, but since players still need a careful hand on the touch screen to poke and pull virtual
pieces out of the virtual stack, this isn’t really a valid argument. Also, when the computer opponents have no personality and behave
like a computer, which doesn’t help the game out in any way.
There are a few elements that have been added to the game that just wouldn’t be possible in the real world, these elements include the
fact that blocks randomly turn into ice to make them slip out of the stack a lot easier, or cement blocks to add a lot more friction. Then
there are outside forces that try to be an even greater nuisance, such as UFOs to zap blocks out of the stack at random intervals or
pterodactyls that try to keep players from sliding the chosen block out of the structure. Against a human opponent these elements might
be fairly tolerable, but against any computer opponent they end up being a mild irritation since the AI competition spends only a couple
of seconds poking at the stack so these added elements rarely ever affect them.
“Jenga” on the Nintendo DS fails on the conceptual level. As a full features game, as the developer tried to make this game out to be, it
simple comes down to the fact that it isn’t much fun and the actual game of Jenga is a lot more enjoyable at a third of the price with a
large group of friends to play with at a party. Many players will probably find themselves asking why they should strain their eyes on a
smaller version of the stack when they can just clear some space on a table and play the real thing. It is for this reason that many
players will probably shy away from the Nintendo DS version of the game, but it is a great idea for those who want to paly the game on
the road.
between the physical world to the virtual world was made easy for these games, but others have a little more trouble making the
transfer between the two. When a company tries to push a cheap and easy game like Jenga onto a videogame system, many people
would be very disappointed. There is a problem with the idea of the virtual version costing more than three times more than the actual
toy. What would make a game even worse would be the fact that most of the enjoyment is in trying to working within the confines of
physics and gravity, something that can’t fully be translated into a game.
“Jenga” is a concept that fails right from the beginning. The development team put a good amount of effort into putting the classic
game on the small screen, but it all boils down to the fact that it is all wasted effort, the actual toy is far more enjoyable and accessible
even with all the “virtual” additions put into the Nintendo DS game.
Though it may sound a bit corny, any cocktail party or friendly social gathering will more than likely end up having Jenga come out at
some point, and people actually have a lot of fun playing it. This simple stack of blocks gives players one basic goal, take out a single
block from the lower part of the stack and carefully place it on the top of the stack. The idea is to work balance into the structure and
make sure that the weight removed gets distributes at the top in a way that the structure remains standing. If the structure falls down,
the game is over. The game is basic, to the point, and actually fun to play and watch others play as well.
Now, when players take the original idea of Jenga and put it on the Nintendo DS, which is what Atari asked Atomic Planet Entertainment
to do on the handheld, the team did whatever they could to make the concept a reality on the portable system. The game has a 3D
engine to accurately represent the stack of blocks, a physics engine to accurately represent the balance of blocks when the weight
shifts, touch screen controls to poke, push and pull blocks out of the stack and a cocky announcer to tell players when they screw up
and make the stack crash to the floor.
Yes, the game of Jenga is accurately represented on the Nintendo DS. However, with all of the necessary bells and whistles to get the
game to work on the Nintendo DS, it is simply a failed project because it just isn’t any fun to play on the Nintendo DS. Of course players
are getting a version of the game that can be taken anywhere, but Jenga is already a fairly portable game to begin with. Although the
real game can’t be played on a bus, car or train, but since players still need a careful hand on the touch screen to poke and pull virtual
pieces out of the virtual stack, this isn’t really a valid argument. Also, when the computer opponents have no personality and behave
like a computer, which doesn’t help the game out in any way.
There are a few elements that have been added to the game that just wouldn’t be possible in the real world, these elements include the
fact that blocks randomly turn into ice to make them slip out of the stack a lot easier, or cement blocks to add a lot more friction. Then
there are outside forces that try to be an even greater nuisance, such as UFOs to zap blocks out of the stack at random intervals or
pterodactyls that try to keep players from sliding the chosen block out of the structure. Against a human opponent these elements might
be fairly tolerable, but against any computer opponent they end up being a mild irritation since the AI competition spends only a couple
of seconds poking at the stack so these added elements rarely ever affect them.
“Jenga” on the Nintendo DS fails on the conceptual level. As a full features game, as the developer tried to make this game out to be, it
simple comes down to the fact that it isn’t much fun and the actual game of Jenga is a lot more enjoyable at a third of the price with a
large group of friends to play with at a party. Many players will probably find themselves asking why they should strain their eyes on a
smaller version of the stack when they can just clear some space on a table and play the real thing. It is for this reason that many
players will probably shy away from the Nintendo DS version of the game, but it is a great idea for those who want to paly the game on
the road.
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