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Rainbow
Island
has been around for a while, with its first appearance occurring in
the eighties on the NES, amongst other systems, and was seen as one
of the most addictive games of its time. Rising Star games have
been bringing back other games from the past to the NintendoDS such
as Bubble
Bobble Revolution and Space Invader Revolution, and Rainbow
Island Revolution is the latest in the series of revivals.
The
game has two modes available to play, as well as the Multi-Player;
Story Mode and Score Mode. The Story Mode is a whole new game and
unfortunately doesn’t contain that much of the essence original
game and the Score Mode is completely new. In both versions you use
the Touch Screen for everything, moving yourself, killing enemies
and colleting Fruit and other items. This new way of playing makes Rainbow
Island Revolution a whole new experience.
The
Story Mode is done fairly successfully; it’s done in world
structure with four Levels in each World. Levels are completed by
making it to the top scaling area, whilst navigating through the
blocks and enemies, and the first three Levels of each World are
quite simple. The final Level however is a bit more challenging, as
not only do you have to make it to the top of the Level, but you
also continue with the Health you have to face the Boss, which can
be challenging. The title only saves after you complete each World,
so if you want to just have a quick play, it won’t Save and you
will have to do it again; often annoying as chances are you won’t
do the whole World. As you progress to the top of each Level, you
will find getting there is the best part of the game, as its all
done on the Touch Screen which is quite rare for a Third-Party
NintendoDS game. You go through each Level by moving your character
in their bubble with the Stylus simply by dragging, and you kill
enemies and pick up Fruit with your Stylus by drawing Rainbows with
a swipe across the screen. This game style gives you full control
over your character as the Touch Screen controls are very intuitive
compared to other games out on the NintendoDS.
The
other side of the game, the Score Mode, is pleasing as well,
although there are only seven Levels in total; one for each World.
The idea of the Score Mode is that within the set time limit you
have to kill as many enemies as you can and collect what they drop
to build up a High Score. This mode seems just to be some what of a
Mini-Game, but is still enjoyable as it gives you a break from the
intense Story Mode.
The
Multi-Player is by far the biggest disappointment of the game.
It’s appalling as the only gameplay mode available where you and
your opponents have to race to the top of the scaling Level,
sending enemies to each other along the way. But it gets even
better than that - you can’t even see the other people you are
racing against. This area of the game looks as if it was rushed and
just stuck onto the Game Card without too much thought.
The
graphics in this game really aren’t anything special but they are
a major improvement on the dated original graphics from the
eighties.
They could have made the game far more aesthetically pleasing, but
the game doesn’t really need the slickest graphics, it’s not
really that sort of game, it’s more about the gameplay. The audio
is  just little tunes that have been added to the game, there are
not sound affects or any special noises during the Levels, just
different types of music.
This
new version of Rainbow Islands is going to make a good addition to a NintendoDS owner’s
collection, if only they had spent more time on the Multi-Player
and made it an actual decent aspect of the game. The Story Mode is
well made and is well worth a play whilst playing the Score Mode
isn’t so great in comparison. Rainbow Islands Revolution
may not be a title that’s going to rush off the shelves, but
it’s certain to please fans of the original release.
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