LOL Review

Since the time of the Atari 2600, video game companies have for the most part known better than to make games that did not have a single player component to them. Rare are the exceptions to that rule. Agetec, however, has ignored that rule in their making of LOL, a game which forces multiplayer upon the gamers who play it. Is LOL a good enough game to make up for that rule shirking? Read on to find out.

Graphically, LOL is simplistic. There is just no other way to say it. What graphics there are look okay and pose no problems, but the game has a very simple look and has nothing fancy to it. At least the graphics do not distract from the course of the game. The sound in this game, likewise, is not anything overly complex or pervasive, but there is nothing bad to it either. Overall, then, the major complaint I have about the aesthetics in this game is that there really much to them.

On the gameplay front, there is not really much to LOL either. LOL can really be whatever the players want it to be. The game works like this. The host of the game, the person who has the LOL game card in his or her DS, will pick someone to throw out a challenge. At that point, the person chosen will be able to draw, write, or whatever he or she wishes. At the challenger’s disposal are a black pencil with which can be freely drawn or written on the blank white area that will take up most of the bottom screen, an eraser for erasing errant strokes, or a button that can clear the entire screen allowing the person to start over. Once the challenger has finished posting his or her challenge on that screen, they hit a done button in the lower-right corner of the touchscreen and choose a time limit for the players to answer in.

At that point, after a brief wait, the challenge will appear on the top screen of all of the players, a group which can range anywhere from two to four people depending on how many people are in the playing group. The giver of the challenge is allowed to participate at this point as well. All of the players then have whatever time limit was chosen by the challenge thrower to write or draw their answers on the same type of screen on which the challenger made his or her challenge. Once again, each one will hit the done button when they are finished, or they will automatically finish when the time limit is expired.

When all of the answers have been sent, the challenger will select as many of them as he or she wishes to reveal to all of the players. That being done, the ones chosen to be revealed will be revealed to everybody, and everybody will vote on which ones are their favorites. The results of the voting will be shown, and then the option will be given to the host whether to continue or to quit. If continue is chosen, a new challenge thrower will be chosen by the host and the cycle will continue. This can be done as long as the players wish for it to. If quit is chosen, the grand total votes for every player will be shown and a final winner will be announced.

Given the free nature of the challenges and answers, anything is possible in this game depending on how the players think to throw challenges and respond to the ones given. That being said, then, this obviously is never going to be the same game twice. The replay value is potentially endless, and is made better by the fact that the game has DS download play for up to four players with only one game card. However, there is no single player mode, so if you do not have anybody to play with, the game is useless. The game also lacks Wi-Fi capability, which would have been a nice addition even though this game would obviously be more fun played with friends in close proximity.

What we are left with then is a game that probably took very little time to program but which has the potential for near endless replay value depending on the players. This is a take it or leave it game. It is not for everybody, but for some it could be an excellent addition to their collection. So, if you are interested in having a copy of this game, go to the Agetec website and order it, since it is not available in stores. Fans of party games in particular will be glad they did.