Feel the Magic: XY/XX Preview

We got our first look at Sega's upcoming Sonic Team-developed DS game, Feel the Magic: XY/XX, in September at the Tokyo Game Show 2004, and we followed it up with some hands-on time with a demo that was shown at Nintendo's Gamer's Summit early last month. Our time with the demo, albeit short and limited, proved to be intriguing, and it left us hoping to spend some time with the proper game to see how the minigames we played become part of a cohesive whole. Fortunately, we were able to do just that, recently, when we visited Sega's offices and tried out a much more complete work-in-progress version of the game.

You'll find a few additional modes to choose from in the game's main menu, aside from the story mode that sends you off to impress your ladylove. You'll also find memories and maniac modes, as well as a standard menu and a hidden music menu. Memories lets you go back to replay any of the games you've cleared in the story mode. The oddly named maniac mode lets you go through the game to check out the unlockables you've loaded up on to date, since the game features a grip of items that open up as you play. While the options menu is pretty standard, the music menu is a pretty cool feature. By tapping on one of the speakers found on either side of the menu, you'll be taken to a little DJ station where you can play around with the game's 10 music tracks and 30 sound effects. Besides playing the sound clips, you can use a slider to speed up or slow down the music on the lower screen. The upper screen displays a small crowd of dancing people--in formation--who groove in time to the music.

Obviously, the meat of the game is its story mode. The game is broken up into four main chapters that are further broken down into individual scenes. The scenes range in content from story sequences that depict the main character swooning for his honey, which appear in the top screen, to the actual minigames that incorporate the use of both screens. The game's story is pretty thin, but it works as a serviceable excuse to tie together the totally insane collection of minigames that are thrown at you. During some of the cinematic scenes, you'll see an audience appear in the DS's lower screen, which is a goofy touch. The cinemas and the "story" they tell are pretty disjointed, but we'll sum it up for you as best we can. One day, a rather ordinary guy sees a really beautiful woman on the street. Before he can move to follow her, he finds himself holding a bag of goldfish. Apparently, the goldfish are ingested by a passerby who bumps into our ordinary guy. After helping him regurgitate the fish, the ordinary guy is recruited into a "superperformance group" called the Rub Rabbits. Their pitch to him is that the best way for him to see the woman of his dreams again is to stage an amazing performance for her. And thus begins your adventure... From then on, you head out on a progressively weird journey to both win the woman's affections and become an amazing performance artist (all while wearing a set of bunny ears) by engaging in all manner of minigames and boss fights. These sequences are tied together by cinematics that provide setups for events, in many cases. On other occasions, the game is like a Dalí painting brought to life.

While we were able to see the full complement of games in Feel the Magic, we can't talk about all of them just yet. It's interesting to note that the game has been making strides since we last saw it. While some of the minigames haven't changed much, such as goldfish and candles, others, like "bull," have. Whereas the last time we played the game, bull had us fighting off rampaging bulls that were heading for us and our lady, the minigame now features civilians you want to avoid hitting with your stylus. If that sounds a little too common, know that said civilians are on skis, which keeps the bizarre factor good and high. Although we can't share details on the breadth of all the minigames in Feel the Magic, we can talk about one new minigame that's not been seen before: yacht. In this particular game, you simply have to maneuver a sailboat to your lady, who's fallen in the water. The catch is that once you play the game a few times, it gets harder--thanks to the presence of swimming sharks. Moving the boat is handled by blowing into the DS's microphone while carefully gauging how hard you have to blow to get the boat into rescue position.

Another major addition to the game since we saw it last, is its audio, which boasts a cool music score and offers sound samples to punctuate the game's action. You'll now hear your troop of Rub Rabbits yelling "Rub it!" at the start of many minigames. Furthermore, you'll hear some voice from your lady. The quality of the audio is good, and it bodes well for what we can expect from the DS's sound hardware.

Overall, the game is a groovy-looking, little offering that is a lot of fun. We have to note that Sonic Team's recent merger with the now-defunct UGA has obviously influenced the game. The game's stylized look and feel call to mind the retro vibe pioneered in the Space Channel 5 games, which is hardly a bad thing. Sonic Team's knack for addictive gameplay, along with UGA's own experience at making games with unmistakable style, seems like a winning combination. Based on what we've played, Feel the Magic: XY/XX is unquestionably an original game that offers a solid taste of some of the DS's capabilities. You'll find a welcome amount of variety in all the minigames you'll play, and there's a fair amount of unlockable material to keep you coming back for more.