Solid, addictive fun.
User Rating: 8 | Zoo Keeper DS
Zoo Keeper is the brand new game from ignition, and it is the first game that the company has made for the DS. Zoo Keeper is, respectibly, bejeweled with zoo animals instead of jewels. But the game most definitely isn't just a crappy remake of bejeweled, it just takes bejeweled's addictive yet simple formula and makes a retail priced game out of it. But for some, it's not worth the high price tag. The game is just like, once again, bejeweled. You have to get 3 animals in a row to "capture" them on a 8x8 grid. This game is simple, and requires little strategy to level up. But that's why Ignition made a "Quest" mode, which requires lots of strategy, and every move counts. For example, you have to capture 15 more pandas than giraffes, or capture 20 links. A link in Zoo Keeper is when a row of animals is captured, and then when 3 more animals come down to take their place, another row of animals is automatically captured. Things like this add extra challenge to the bejeweled formula. I, and probobaly you would've expected it to be easy since it may be targeted to a younger audience. But that's not true. This is a game that everyone can probobaly get hooked on after a 5-minute play. The only thing standing between you and purchasing the game is it's dissapointingly high price tag. The graphics in the game are blocky, but are clearly meant to be blocky to add a nice charm to the game. They are colourful and delightful, even if the game lacks animation. But graphics don't really matter in a game like this. The only technical problem is the sound. The game has some good, upbeat music to it, but it lacks variety in the music. There is only around 3 different songs in the whole game. There's the quest mode song, the song that's in every other mode, and the main menu song. These 3 songs are eerily catchy and after aroun 20 minutes, they get on your nerves. You will soon enough want to just turn the music off in the options menu, but the dissapointing thing is that there's no music to compliment the upbeat nature. If only they could have just made a few more tracks. Overall, a game like this is very easy to recommend to anyone because of it's solid, highly addictive fun. But the dissapointment is the unreasonably high price tag, going at $39.99 (american). This will turn some people off, but if you are starved for a new DS game, you should immediately consider purchasing this.
