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The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventures
Meteos: Disney Magic for DS
If you like The Little Mermaid there are two games for the DS that have Ariel in it. The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventures and Meteos: Disney Magic for DS. Summer is here and nautical themes are a refreshing change of pace.
The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventures
The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventures is a cute game that takes place underwater. It is the type of game that was designed for little kids. Ariel carries out simple tasks like helping trapped fish get out from under rocks. She sings to coal to change it’s color. That’s a good way to start a basic singing lesson where you have to reproduce the note correctly into the mic on the DS. “La, La, La!” Ariel gathers her “treasures” which are shiny human things that have fallen into the sea. She keeps these items in her grotto. The treasure chests are enticing rewards.
The Little Mermaid is controlled with the D-Pad. Each little ‘mission’ is varied and different abilities are used each time that you go around the circle interface. The graphics are wonderful. The water effects aren’t something that you would expect to see on the DS. The game is short, most likely as a result of filling up the games card with the graphics.
The game is very easy and the theme would be a great time waster for the backseat of the car on the way to the beach. When your daughter is done playing with it, you just might enjoy it more than doing that crossword puzzle or crunching numbers in infernal Sudoku. If you are a mermaid fanatic or a fan of the Little Mermaid movies then you will certainly have fun with this game.
Meteos: Disney Magic for DS
What a surprise it was to play this new version of Meteos and find how amazing it is. Yes there is all the unlockable Disney art including our friendly chanteuse, but the game-play is actually good too. Where the first Meteos was a bit weak on the art and theme, adding the Disney material didn’t detract from the game, it might even have improved it.
Game-play is addictive as ever. It is very similar to the original Meteos. You turn the DS sideways like a book and blocks come falling from the top of the screen. The you have to match them by color using the stylus to empty the blocks off the screen. It sounds easy doesn’t it? It’s not. This version is actually harder and requires more strategy. Each Disney character has it’s own set of rules and different design on blocks. There is an Easy mode a few special powers like slow mode, nitro boost, and horizontal block movement.
Disney themes from Toy Story, The Lion King, Winnie the Pooh, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Lilo & Stitch are represented with backgrounds and more unlockable games. The levels are loosely explained by Jiminy Cricket’s saying that the Disney stories have gone awry and your help is needed. Artwork is colorful, but ignorable since all the action takes place on one screen while the unanimated Disney characters look on from the side. The Little Mermaid artwork is good but the blocks aren’t very pretty. Her level is fairly difficult.
Up to four people can play a multiplayer game, and the download play option allows you to share the game with only one cartridge. You can even choose which player you want to play against or the game will automatically target someone.
This is a solid puzzle game that has it all right. It is hard, and it can be played endlessly. There are little rewards along the way. The best part is just playing it and even when you loose it drives you to keep trying. That is the essence of an addictive puzzle game. They got it right - maybe by accident since technically it is a ‘movie to game’ game.
Conclusion
Whether you are a kid or just a kid at heart these two games will help you to relax and unwind with mindless fun. Unexpectedly the unlikely marriage of Disney and gaming on the DS turned out fine with these two titles. Dive in the water is warm!
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