A fun little game even if it is kind of short.
Well, Mario and Donkey Kong are back to mix it up again in "Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis." Mario is now the CEO of his mini toy company and has even opened a sort of "Chuck E'Cheese" style world for people to play with his mini toys. Also this time around, we see the return of Mario's old flame from the original Donkey Kong, Pauline. Is Mario cheating on Peach? Pauline is the guest of honor for the ribbon cutting ceremony, but after picking a Mario toy over a DK toy, DK becomes enraged and grabs Pauline and takes the elevator to the roof of the building. Talk about Deja vu. So Mario sets off to save her right? NO. He's a CEO now. He has minions to do his work.
In this one, you won't be controlling Mario or for that matter hardly see him. For the most part you will be controlling mini Marios through the various levels in a Lemmings style puzzler. You use the stylus to guide the mini Marios around pitfalls. You drag the stylus across them to make them move, tap the mini to make it stop and drag it upwards to make them jump. As well as the stylus is used to activate things like lifts and platforms. It can seem a little tricky at first, but soon it will feel like second nature. Eventually you can figure out how to get the highest score by moving your minis so they don't stop and exit the stage in a perfect chain. It can be very addictive.
Only a couple minor complaints. First of all, for particularly adept players, the game will seem too short. If you're good with puzzle games then you'll breeze through this in only a few hours. There are some attempts to extend the gameplay by offering two additional boss levels you can unlock by getting enough silver and gold stars in the game as well as a create-a-level mode where you can build a level and share it with friends over the Wi-Fi connection. Another complaint is the boss battles. If you complete the nine stages in a level with all your minis in tact, you then use them in a battle against DK where you use the stylus to control a cannon and shoot them at the mad ape. The controls just don't work well here. It's too easy to oversteer and at times, this gets frustrating.
Still this is a great addition to the already solid DS library and if you're looking for a fun distraction, this might be just what you're looking for.