Feel The Magic: XY/XX Hands-On

SEATTLE--Feel the Magic is the US moniker for Sega's Sonic Team-developed DS game that goes by the equally eccentric title of Kimi no Tame Nara Shineru, or, I Would Die for You (when translated into English). The unique game plops you into the role of an average joe eager to gain the favor of what is likely to be an unattainable hottie. While we got a hint of the wackiness that was to come last month at the Tokyo Game Show, where Sega had a provocative looping video of the game, at today's Nintendo Gamer's Summit we got our hands on a demo version of the game. The demo only offered a handful of the minigame-style scenarios from the game, and was devoid of the bulk of the story that will tie the disparate bits of insanity together. But it still gave a decidedly memorable impression.

The few story bits that were in the demo offered some insight into the odd story courtesy of stylish in-game cinematics that played out with the iPod-style characters interacting in a brightly lit world. The gist of the game is simple: One day you're walking down the street and see a gorgeous beauty who you apparently decide is worth your devotion. To make that pipe dream a reality, you join the Rub Rabbits, a troupe of performers who go around in bunny ears.

This in turn causes you to go through a series of the aforementioned scenarios that find you doing all manner of craziness that will somehow impress your oblivious sweetie. The demo we played let us try six of the scenarios that did a fine job of showing off the DS' touch screen functionality as well as Sonic Team's loopiness. The first scenario revolved around coaxing goldfish to swim up a man's esophagus and jump out of his mouth. Such a task proves surprisingly easy to do, as you simply have to rub in an upward direction on a silhouette of the man's stomach until said fish scurry up his esophagus and escape. Once you complete the goldfish scenario, the demo lets you pick your next task.

We opted for the simply titled "candle" scenario, which requires you to blow out a descending candle in one of two ways. As the candle descends from the top screen to the bottom of the touch screen, you'll see a group of fellows looking up at it. You can cause them to blow puffs of air at it to extinguish its flame by literally blowing into the DS' microphone or using the stylus and rubbing in an upward motion over each of them individually to cause them to blow air at it. Doing this too quickly will cause the gang to get dizzy and be unable to move for several precious seconds, which will result in the candle getting to the bottom of the screen and burning everyone. Nice.

Seeker was the next game we tried, and requires you to rub the touch screen, which is made to look like a sandy beach, in search of whatever appears in your lady love's thought bubble. There are two significant catches to the whole shebang: the segment is timed, which requires some fast rubbing on your part, and some items look merely similar to your honey's desires, and may cause her irritation when you offer them to her.

The next episode, wash her, found us trying to keep our sweet girl clean by rubbing a variety of grime off of her. No further comment.

After that, an episode called bull proved to be a fast paced affair that sends you up against a horde of rampaging bulls that threaten to squash your sweetie who's apparently tripped and fallen in Pamplona, Spain during the running of the bulls. You'll have to tap each of the incoming bulls with your stylus to ward them off. After you've warded off enough of the four-legged terrors, you'll have to deal with el mero jefe, a massive bull with 100 hit points that you'll whittle away by tapping like a madman on it as it advances on you.

The last demo we tried was similar in spirit to wash her, only rather than sweep off dirt, you're responsible for knocking off hordes of scorpions that have found their way onto your lady. As we all know, this is a real drag when it happens.

The graphics in the game are stylish collection of flat color imagery that animates smoothly and features some artistic touches. It's difficult to assess what, if any, taxation Feel the Magic is causing the DS hardware as the game is hardly graphics intensive and the stylish look is simple. However, such concerns don't really matter as the game's style goes a long way towards establishing its own unique reality. The action is fast and the visuals are inventive, which helps make the game a true original.

The audio in the game is an equally unusual collection of tunes and soundbytes that frame the action well. We'll admit to hoping for an even more-over-the top approach in the voice and music, but what's on hand gets the job done.

Based on what we played, Feel the Magic is best described as "crazy". However, we'd like to stress that this is the good, "must sweep scorpions off woman of my dreams who probably doesn't even know I exist," kind of crazy that recalls some of Sega's eccentric gems such as Space Channel 5 and Samba de Amigo. Needless to say we were left wanting more, and are especially curious to see how the final story will tie scorpions, bulls, goldfish, beach trawling, and candle blowing into one cohesive package.

At any rate, Feel the Magic is looking like a slick launch title for the DS that does exactly what Nintendo has said it hopes games for the system will do: push the envelope and offer a new experience that is unlike anything seen before, by taking advantage of the hardware's unique functionality.

For more updates on the Nintendo DS and other impressions and media, check out GameSpot's coverage of Nintendo's Gamer's Summit.