Pokémon Dash (Nintendo DS)

When the Pokemon craze took much of the world by storm, I was still in primary school, and like most of the other children I knew, it devoured me in an instant.

That was over 10 years ago, and though the craze has died out, the Pokemon franchise still exist and is still going strong today, releasing games every year or so - mostly on the DS platform - and also, I think, still releasing episodes of the TV show along with the odd movie.
...The premise of Pokemon Dash is simple: you must control the fan-favourite Pikachu (the yellow rat-like thing on the case, for anyone unaware) and race him against other Pokemon through checkpoints and win races.

And ... that's the entire game.

== History ==

Most people already know of Pokemon and the gist of it from when it first took the world by storm, but for those that don't, here's a brief explanation: ... more

When the Pokemon craze took much of the world by storm, I was still in primary school, and like most of the other children I knew, it devoured me in an instant.

That was over 10 years ago, and though the craze has died out, the Pokemon franchise still exist and is still going strong today, releasing games every year or so - mostly on the DS platform - and also, I think, still releasing episodes of the TV show along with the odd movie.

The Premise

The premise of Pokemon Dash is simple: you must control the fan-favourite Pikachu (the yellow rat-like thing on the case, for anyone unaware) and race him against other Pokemon through checkpoints and win races.

And ... that's the entire game.

History

Most people already know of Pokemon and the gist of it from when it first took the world by storm, but for those that don't, here's a brief explanation: Pokemon are animals that inhabit this universe, and may be captured and then used to battle each other. There are hundreds of them now - over 400, as of the most recently released games, Diamond and Pearl.

Gameplay

The premise is a simple one, and obviously, there's nothing wrong with racing games. They're fun, and I've got several games on the Xbox and Xbox 360 which I play from time to time.

The problem is, Pokemon Dash is played very different to typical racing games.

That can be expected with the DS and its touch screen, I suppose: if you're developing a game for a handheld console that uses touch screen technology, it's begging you to use it to its fullest potential.

This is the first failing of Pokemon Dash. Yes, the touch screen is there to be used. The fact is, the game is very heavy on the touch screen. In order to get Pikachu to run, you must slide the stylus in the direction you want to go. Each slide will give a burst of roughly a half-second of run time.

Understandly, long tracks quickly tire the arm out. And there's no alternative either: it's touch screen or bust.

The game is played from a top-down perspective (despite the opening 3d 'cinematic' which suggests a very bright and quite interesting looking game world). Because the track does not change direction with you, that means you have to change direction by sliding the stylus in a different direction.

That's failing number two. Because, turnings aren't all gentle; they can be very sudden, and your hand can easily get in the way of the screen, blocking off where you need to go, losing precious seconds your Pokemon will be ahead in the race.

Obviously, a game where you simply race around a plain track can get boring very quickly, so the makers of Pokemon Dash have spiced it up a bit; you may compete in different cups, unlocking new ones as you go that become more difficult. There's also different types of terrain that affect your speed in various ways, and power-ups in the form of pads you step on to negate the negative effects of poor terrain.

The concept is interesting, but unfortunately it doesn't really make for a much improved experience. Each race is very similar and the action of having to slide the stylus all the time for the entirety of each and every race quickly gets boring.

But wait! You can ride in a balloon to get to little islands on some levels.

Except ... that's not very interesting either. After the first time, it's just another annoying method of transportation.

Music

Anyone particularly familiar with the Pokemon games will recognise the music; in most games it's quite the same. Always cheerful and fairly fast-paced tunes. But these, like the gameplay, quickly get repetitive.

Sound

There aren't a great deal of sounds in the game. The majority of them can be summed up simply by the word "Pika!", the squeaky and highly annoying cry of the star Pikachu, which it feels the compulsion to utter every few seconds.

Combined with the music, it's enough to quickly make you turn the sound off completely.

Graphics

As I said above, the game opens with what could be seen as quite a sleek 3d cinematic.

Then, when you get to play the actual game, it's all cartoon graphics. And from that constant top-down perspective, it doesn't get very interesting either. The terrain is limited, making little point in 'smelling the roses' during the game - which, I suppose, is a positive when it's meant to be fast-paced (but even then it feels slow and stunted).

General Thoughts

Clearly, the game is designed for children. It's a simple, cartoony, cutesy game for any avid fan of Pokemon. Perhaps obviously, from my descriptions above, the game is meant for the avid Pokemon fanatic somewhere below the age of 10.

Unfortunately, the game itself is annoying, repetitive, slow, boring, graphically unpleasing, far too simple for anyone whose age is in the double figures (though, in hindsight, it's not really meant for anyone that fits that criteria) and it sounds too bouncy and squeaky that it'll make you want to turn your speakers off in an instant.

As it's a child's game, parents will probably be buying this for their children. And why not? - the box art is bright and colourful, with creatures on that some may find cute.

But unless your child has muscles of steel in their dominant arm, they'll quickly ache after playing just a few tracks of this sorry excuse for a game - though it looks to me, after playing it, to be more of a cash-in on the Pokemon franchise.

If you really do want to get the game, however, you can pick it up for the extortionate price of £24.99 new on Amazon - or £8.00 at the time of writing from marketplace sellers.

However, I must advise, if you're going to get your child a Pokemon game for DS, get Pokemon Diamond or Pearl: either of these games will last them eons, as they're massively expansive, with much more to do: these are more classic Pokemon games, about catching them and training them to battle. You don't have to slide your hand over and over to simply move in it, either, which is always a plus.

And even better: you won't ever have to listen to that annoying, high-pitched "Pika!" 

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