Feel the Magic: XY/XX Review

Feel the Magic XY/XX is very, interesting, to say the least. It features an all-stylus gameplay, which explains why it was known as “Project Rub�, before its release. The game starts with a silhouetted figure with orange shorts and a blue biking helmet (you, the first person), walking down the street when you see a cute girl. According to the instruction manual, she is “the most sought after girl in high school, she had the brains, body, and smile that made all the guys’ hearts melt.� And it’s true. She’s hot, I’m not gonna lie, she’s definitely the most fine silhouette I’ve ever seen.

Anyway, you join a performance group known as the “Rub Rabbits�, in which you perform spectacular stunts to impress the girl (she is known only as “the girl�), but when a fellow “Rabbit� tosses you a fishbowl, you fumble it and all the fish go down your throat. Uh oh…mini game #1. The bottom screen is your stomach, and the top is your neck and mouth. The goal is, using the stylus, push the fish out of your stomach, and up out of your mouth.

This game consists of 3 gameplay modes: Story, Memories, and Maniac. Story mode is, well, what you’d expect. It plays through the story of the game. Here’s how it works: the story is split into scenes, and each scene has 1-3 mini games, or a boss battle. When (if) you complete a mini game, your “heart meter� goes up (it’s on a scale from 1-100) if you get to 100, it moves you on to the next scene. If not, you have to go back and replay games until you get to 100.

Memories mode is simply a way to go back and play completed mini games. But now, instead of 5 levels, they have 10, and they are hard. If you do complete any, it saves one item to Maniac mode. If you beat all memories, you’d get all of the maniac items. Maniac mode is simply where you change her clothes (yes, I said change her clothes). You unlock clothing, like I said above, from beating memories. This actually provides motivation to complete the game, so you can put her in something skimpy and play it again.

The games, oh lordy the games. This is the cream of the crop in this game, the only reason to buy this game, the mini games. They are insanely, inexplicably fun. For instance, imagine having giant candles coming at you and having to blow them out. What do you do? No, you don’t tap the screen, no you don’t press B repeatedly, you blow on the touch screen. ‘Blow on the touch screen?’ you ask. The DS is equipped with a microphone right below the touch screen, so it knows when you blow.

Another great mini game is set in the park, and she is on the other side. The object is to get her attention. How? Yell. It’s not that easy. You have to yell louder than the marching band that is now between you. So I was screaming, and then I thought I won, and then it started blinking “Tell her you love her!�… Huh? I don’t get it, does it want me to yell louder? No, it actually wants you to yell “I love you!�

All in all, this game is incredible. It definitely makes most use of the DS’s touch screen and 3D rendering capabilities. It’s fun and nearly impossible to put down. If I had to name the 2 ‘must have’ titles for the DS launch, they’d be Super Mario 64 DS and Feel the Magic. Everyone has played Mario, so give this game a try. Hopefully Feel the Magic is a hint of what is still to come.