Feel the Magic XY/XX review

The DS can do a lot of peculiar things that other handheld systems can't - and it does most of them in Feel the Magic XY/XX, an exciting and unique little sampler pack of potential. As a visual treat, it’s equally stimulating, indicative of the kind of happily offbeat games the DS would one day come to be known for. But when those qualities are a game’s greatest assets, the best you can really say about it is that it’s a novelty act - an immediately entertaining curiosity that loses … well, its magic ... quicker than most games do.

The disjointed, dream-like story involves unrequited love, scorpion attacks, nightmare plant monsters and midnight raids on high-security facilities. The actual game is a collection of mostly stylus-based minigames that test your reflexes and tease your retinas in turns. The sensual, suggestive visual style is a kick - think a lavender-tinged iPod adas it would appear during acrazy dream.

The game works the stylus to the max, as you might expect from one of the first games for the first real touch screen-based console. While most of the stylus moments make sense (tapping charging bullsas if in a shooting gallery, for example), sometimes the d-pad would have been a better way to go. To drive a car, for example, you use the stylus to clumsily grab a steering wheel and rotate it to the left or right. In some minigames, the challenge is the stylus control scheme rather than the game.