Games for Lunch: Puffins: Island Adventure
In a nutshell: OMG, Puffins are so cute! Don't you think Puffins are so cute? You're right they're sooooo CUTE!
7/9/2009 5:33 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3
Developer: Other Ocean
Publisher: Majesco
Release Date: June 1, 2009
System: Nintendo DS
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web site
0:00 Before you ask, NO, I did NOT buy this game for myself. What kind of self-respecting grown man would publically admit a love for puffins so strong that he spent good money on a DS game just to show it? Luckily, Majesco sent me a copy so I didn't have to do that.
0:01 Some quick logos and then a catchy sea shanty plays over a simple, static title screen. "Touch to Start." I do with BOUNDLESS ANTICIPATION!
0:02 On the top screen, a table showing potential grades in eight different events. On the bottom screen, a file selection. In the background, sounds of wind.
0:03 "Create Your Puffin!" With pleasure! I can choose from seven hair styles (all black), three eye colors, and eight beak colors, each more colorful than the last (if you arrange them in order of colorfulness with a sensitive-enough scale). I name my puffin Ace, as per usual.
0:05 The options screen includes "Left/Right Handed" and "View Credits." If the Story Mode is as complex as this options screen, I am SO THERE!
0:06 "Every year, in the springtime, puffins make the long journey to their hereditary nesting grounds. Here on Puffin Island, young puffins will learn the ways of their elders and become adult members of the flock." Wow! Edu-tainment! On the top screen, a grainy video flyover of a computer-generated island.
0:07 A puffin named Sage offers some text-based advice before we get started. I have to look for puffins with colored feet to unlock games/tasks/items. "Do well in games and new areas of the island open up." So it's a puffin-based RPG? "As you progress, you'll gain a home you can decorate,
ATTRACT A MATE, and start a family of your own." Incredulous emphasis mine.
0:09 So I can fly with the stylus or the d-pad, but I can't land unless there's a special landing pad underneath me. LAME!
0:10 I'm walking around a grainy 3-D glen. I talk to a puffin named Fifty. Yes that's his actual name. Maybe he idolizes 50 Cent?
0:11 "Welcome to the Puffin 500. Pick a course and get ready to fly as fast as you can." Oh I will. I WILL!
0:14 The racing is surprisingly decent, if uninspired. Hovering just above the ground gives a passable sense of speed as some colorful, grainy 3-D scenery rolls by. The course is pretty boring, but there are items to collect and walls to avoid, at least. My biggest issue is the complete standstill caused by just grazing the walls. I win by a good 10 seconds after three simple laps and earn an A+ rating.
0:16 A hut with a welcome mat and a big "$" sign on the front is the store, of course. I spend six golden fish (collected from the race) on a "curious puffin in the grass" video. It's a five-second video loop from the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve in Newfoundland. OH MY GOD HE'S SO CUTE! This would be awesome
if I had never heard of YouTube.
0:18 "Might want to practice up a bit at other events before you try the ring race course," says a puffin. Hey, who died and made you king of the Ring Race course? Just let me race!
