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!

0:19 A puffin named Aurora tells me her sob story. "I just lost the four best stones out of my rock collection and I just can't get on with my day until I get them back." Man, I think we all know how THAT feels.

0:20 Yes, I am a grown man controlling a virtual puffin searching a virtual island for the lost bits of another virtual puffin's rock collection. WHAT OF IT?!?!

0:21 It took me roughly 60 seconds to find all the rocks. They were just sitting out in the open. I don't know why Aurora couldn't just find them herself. Lazy puffin ... A pre-recorded cheer goes up and she moves out of the way so I can get to a new part of the island. Uh, couldn't I just fly over her or something? I'm a PUFFIN!

0:25 Following the big yellow marker on the map screen leads to puffins that unlock new courses in Puffin 500 and Puffin Plummet. I'm not sure how just talking to these puffins unlocks the tracks ... the game doesn't even attempt to explain it. Oh well, let's try this new icy race track.

0:26 After a bad start where I crash into an iceberg, I swear the opposing puffins literally come to a full stop and wait for me to catch up. Damn puffins! I don't need your pity! Well, maybe I do, but I still don't appreciate it!

0:29 This course is a bit more interesting, with some narrow iceberg crevasses and barriers I need to hop over. I also found a new weapon, a tornado attack. I only win by four seconds this time, but still enough for an A+. I'm not giving up Mario Kart, mind you, but it's decently diverting. Also, that sea shanty is positively infectious.

0:31 Following the big yellow marker finds me a puffin that can unlock Puffin Plummet. All right, mini-game No. 2, show me whatcha got.

0:35 The game's divided into two parts. In Part 1, I drag the stylus to hit targets and items that scroll up as I fall down. In the second part, I make random stylus motions to make a hand-drawn puffin do loops and tricks and such. I hit every target easily on both of my jumps and earn a 9.4 average from the puffin judges. A+! I like the pixilated puffin graphics more than I expected.

0:38 Puffin Plummet Course 2 introduces moving targets. I'm also just now finding out that if I don't hit the targets dead center, I don't get as much credit. Whoops. My favorite mid-air trick so far: My puffin lies back in mid-air and pretends to sleep. Bad-ass! I wish I knew what I did to pull it off.

0:40 An 8.9 on Dive 1, a 9.1 on Dive 2 ... still enough for an A+. WHEW! "Congratulations, you've gained a burrow! A good home is the first step to establishing yourself on the island." Inside my burrow is ... a barrel! I can't open it. What's in the mystery barrel! I'm HOOKED!

0:42 I use my golden fish on some more videos: Puffin Fight and Puffin Meal. Neither is as exciting as it sounds.

0:43 I'm looking for five pieces of driftwood so I can get a bridge get down to the beach. The excitement never stops here on Puffin Island!

0:45 Down on the beach, now. I like how I can take to the sky to get back up to the plateau, cutting out the corner. I appreciate that. The game seems to realize that walking around on the island is not the highlight of the game.

0:48 Tide-pool fishing is mini-game No. 3. Basically this boils down to circling fish and not circling predators. Circling a few at once gets more points and more time bonuses. It gets easier once I realize you can circle just a small part of the fish (instead of the entire fish). New catchy music for this game, which I appreciate. I only circled 56 fish, which earns me an A. Not an A+? NOOOOOO!

0:53 Ring Race is actually kind of tough, at least if you're trying to hit every speed and time-enhancing ring laid out on the course. Of course it's all relative ... it's tough for THIS game. After messing up in first lap I hit each ring easily in the second and third laps and earn an A+.

0:58 Went back to Puffin Plummet, since I decided it was the most fun. Daylight Dive has a LOT of moving targets, including some that go up and down, now. I keep just missing the center of the targets, just grazing them instead. My scores of 8.6 and 8.1 average out to a plain old A. D'oh!

Would I play this game for more than an hour? No.


Why? The games are mildly diverting, but not enough to really draw me in. Plus, I am not a puffin-obsessed five-year-old.

This column is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.



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