My kids recently got some used Nintendo DS games to keep them busy. My daughter got an art game, which teaches drawing. The name of it escapes me. She's cranking out a few really well shaded and composed digital artwork pictures. I'm wondering how it will translate to actual paper drawing? If she's learning art fundamentals, that's money well spent.
But I was most interested in the Fossil Fighters game my son picked-out. The premise of the game is finding dinosaur fossils, cleaning them and making replica "vivasaurs" from the bones; eventually fighting these monsters against others in arena style, turn-based combat. Its an addictive game. Much like the Cooking Mama series, there is a certain manual dexterity required for cleaning the dinosaur fossils. You start with a chunk of rock and go to town with a hammer and drill, trying to keep damage to the fossilized bone at a minimum as a clock counts down. The process gets a little repetitive, but there's something about trying for the 100% un-damaged specimen that keeps me cleaning away.
Fighting the vivasaurs is basic turn-based strategy. There are different size dinosaurs and attack ranges. Stronger attacks take more power points that accumulate each round. There are different modifiers and effects like poison or confusion. Each dinosaur has an elemental base, so there are inherent strengths and weaknesses against other elements. I wish there was a way to speed the combat, but overall it's fine once you master the controls.
There's a bit of story that goes along with the game that opens new areas and abilities within the game. Apparently there is a way to fight vivasaurs and/or share fossils between to DS handhelds. I haven't tested this yet, but it is a nice added dimension to a household with two DS units in it.
The only downside is that it's a bit involved for my young son. Go figure.
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