Review: Boing! Docomodake (DS)

Puzzlers, Reviews — By Jeffrey L. Wilson on May 21, 2009 at 12:01 am

docomodake cover Review: Boing! Docomodake (DS)

Unless you’re an aging hippie or experimental college student, it’s very unlikely that mushrooms have played a major role in your life. Even in the Super Mario Bros. franchise, where mushrooms act as sidekicks or the ultimate boosters, they play second fiddle to our squat Italian plumber.

Fortunately, if you’re pro-mushroom, there’s good news: AQ Interactive and Ignition look to move the ‘shrooms from the back of the bus to the starring role with Boing! Docomodake, an excellent Nintendo DS title that blends multiple genres into a surprisingly complex and interesting mix. I just don’t know if I would deem it as fun.

As you may have ascertained from the rather quirky name, Boing! Docomodake is a decidedly Japanese title. In fact, the lead character, Papa Docomodake, is based on the mascot for Japanese cell phone company NTT DOCOMO. That little factoid may not mean much to non-Japanese gamers or crazed gaijin okatu, but it’s the equivalent of the Michellin Man starring in a videogame. It’s that heavy, dudes.

Papa Docomodake’s mission is to find the other member of his mushroom family who have gone missing in a forest during the Docomodake Festival. No cyborg-Nazi-aliens to lay waste, no crazed A.I. that has turned on humanity; the plot is a simple and endearing, which is a direct reflection of the warm atmosphere that embodies this title.

Boing! Docomodake combines elements of puzzlers and platformers into an intriguing hybrid. Gameplay consists of navigating the oddly cute (despite being a distressed mushroom) Papa Docomodake through the forest, but it isn’t your standard hop-and-bop experience – - although you may initially mistake it for one.

You frequently have to split the protagonist into several miniaturized versions of himself (accomplished by hitting the left corner button or tapping the character with the stylus) that allow you to squeeze into tight areas, attack enemies by tossing his clones at them, or stacking the mini-Papas so that they can be used as ladders to scale to new heights.

These minis are your keys to success, so you have to make sure that they aren’t killed by enemies as you may have to replay the level over, which is quite the annoyance. Certain levels may prove frustrating as there may not be obvious means to bypass obstacles, but once the idea of using your mini-Docomodakes to assist you, the gameplay begins to sensibly flow. Still, there is a strong sense of trial-and-error gameplay to see which tactic is best to naviagte a level, which should smiles on the faces of puzzle and strategy fans. Action games may be left frustrated.

Ultimately, Boing! Docomodake is a very solid title that all DS owners should sample. I’m still not sure how I feel about it; the game’s simultaneously a solid, lightweight escape and, at times, quite frustrating. The puzzler-meets-actioner gameplay may be a turn off to those that crave mindless diversions, but those that seek something a diversion from the typical videogame conventions may find much to like here.

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