Tom and Jerry Tales (Nintendo DS)

Recently I have been watching many cartoons and the biggest favourite of mine has always been Tom and Jerry.

I saw a game for the Nintendo DS which looked appealing and fun so I went and made the purchase. This game involves as you might expect you playing as Jerry running away Tom the cat. This game tries to follow how you see the cartoon portrayed on screen.

The game begins with a very important yet easy to understand tutorial of all the basic controls you need to play the game. Simple instructions such as how to jump and avoid random objects and you even get to practice these moves as well.

Then it comes to the game play and you are inside the little mouse hole which is the home of Jerry and you have to try and use various ideas to get away from Tom. You have a wall map which lets you pick a particular room and once you click accept you begin a level.

On each level you have to try and use your skill to avoid objects on the floor such as spillages or broken items which cause your character to slip over and help Tom catch up with you.

When this happens the graphics do show comedy in how they make the character slip over so it adds more humour to game just like you see on the television.

You have ways to avoid being captured as the game tutorial tells you and you have to try and collect gifts and plenty of the cheese which is around the various rooms you visit.

Cheese is hidden in locations around the various levels and you have to sometimes use plenty of skill and knowledge which you gain as you continue through the game to catch them all.

One of the best parts to the game is the fact you use the stylus for some moves and the keypad for moving the character overall. An example is that you are using your keypad to help your character collect some cheese and the stylus to aim for Tom so you have to ways of using the game.

This appeals to me because with the stylus you have more accuracy I find and with the control pad you are able to have more free movement over the character and it enables you to have a better role play.

There are many levels and you get to update the room you are in with the cheese you collect and the general theme of the game is excellent and it is fun to play.

When you see the show on television you always see Tom destroying the home and at the end of each episode you sometimes see the old lady owner legs appear and she goes mad at Tom and this happens in the game as well.

Just that moment of seeing the old lady legs is amazing because it makes you notice how much attention to detail the designers of the game spent to add that part in.

Unfortunately for Tom the character he is constantly suffering at the hands of Jerry which makes the game more enjoyable as you're not quite sure what sort of stunt might be pulled next. To be fair that is one of the biggest highlights of the game is the anticipation of the next problem Tom will suffer.

The game has sound which I have to admit can really get annoying it is a repetitive tune which just get so boring that you want to turn it off. It can be useful at the start because the game is extremely fast paced so the music can help you settle into a rhythm.

The game play is superb on this game, all characters are quick and movements between various encounters and items you pick up are very quick and well executed. I have to admit I would have expected to see slower game play but in all honesty it was quick and was pretty decent.

Graphics are also very good. You can work out what you hitting on the screen, all items look as they should and the main characters look excellent in terms of the detail on their faces and the places you visit. There is no blurred images of characters like there are in some DS games.

If I had one problem it was the game ends too quickly and that you tend to be inside all the time rather than exploring outside and new ventures which might have helped as well. In terms of the quality of the game overall for the £8.99 I paid for it I am really chuffed.

The game is quick so unless you're used to those sort of games this might not suit you but overall it is a game aimed at all age groups.

You use all controls on the Nintendo DS console so that means you're going to have be alert and if you lose the three lives you have on each level you begin again but sometimes that is good because you see more chaos and mayhem you stir up between the characters.

My overall rating is 9 out of 10 for this game and one I would recommend.

Also posted on Dooyoo and updated on Ciao