Ever since a young age, I've been fascinated by anything and everything to do with the medical field. Some of that may stem from having a long history of medical ailments my whole life, some of it may stem from reading medical textbooks for fun. Whatever the reason, I've owned pretty much every single video title based on a medical premise since I was about 7 years old. (If it was for a system I didn't even own, I'd get it anyway and find someone who'd let me play it at their place. Yes. I am that much of a nerd for this stuff.) In addition, I also watch pretty much all the medical-based television shows that hit the airwaves too - E.R., Scrubs, House, Doc, Private Practice, etc. Last but not least, I can't forget the one that seems to be everybody's current favorite (okay, no hatemail from the House fans now), Grey's Anatomy. I just about jumped for joy when I found out a video game was being made of it.But of all the companies out there to attempt such an undertaking..... it had to be Ubisoft. The company notorious for having fabulous game ideas, but bad execution. This, unfortunately, is no exception, I hate to say.Don't get me wrong. There's a lot of nice things I can say about this game too. For instance, the 
graphics on this game are pretty superb; not only for a DS game, but for being based on real life actors and actresses. The likenesses are absolutely dead-on it to the point where it's almost creepy. In addition, the realism during certain surgical procedures (i.e. craniotomy) have officially been the first in a video game, ever, to nearly make me literally dry heave at how realistic they looked. (I got over it, but still. I was not anticipating such a reaction from myself.) The sound effects aren't too bad, either. The music could be improved, in my opinion, but then I'm not too hot on the music from the show either, and it's pretty darn similar to that. So I guess I really don't have a leg to stand on to complain about that. The dialogue and storylines seem like they easily could have been written by the actual screenwriters from the show.
But, as with anything, there's things to nitpick too.... I
n this case, they're very big somethings. As with all Ubisoft games I have played this far, the places you touch on the screen don't exactly seem to match up with where the touchscreen picks them up. (And before you start tossing accusations that my touchscreen may be messed up, it's not. I've heard this from countless other Ubisoft players, and I tried the game on 3 different DSes. Trust me. It's not the screen.) This causes huge problems in attempting to play a game in which precision is key. But even so? That's not my main issue with this game.
My big beef with the Grey's Anatomy game is that, while sure, a lot of the television series is based on the interpersonal relationship dramas between the characters of the show.... Who wants to play that out in a game? Maybe touch on a little bit, sure, that'd be fine. But a medical drama - ESPECIALLY one transferred into a game - should be focusing on the actual medical procedures primarily; NOT who's screwing who and whatnot. There's only a very small portion of the game spent on doing surgeries. Look, if I wanted a relationship simulator, I'd of played one of the MANY myriad of games out there that focus on just that. With so much quality in other areas, how could they have possibly screwed this up so badly? I just don't know. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed. Even if you're a die-hard Grey's fan, I can't imagine you'd care for this "game" much.
For those who didn't feel like reading the whole review, my final analysis is bleak. Great in theory, terrible in execution. I give this game a 3 out of 10 clipboards...and it's only that high because of the quality of the graphics.
With the success of the Cooking Mama series (which yes, I will get around to reviewing one day), it comes as no surprise that they'd expand the franchise further into other arenas to broaden their fanbase. It did surprise me that they chose gardening of all possible avenues to choose as their next endeavor, but hey - who ever thought the cooking games would become such a hit? If anybody would know how to make gardening into an entertaining video game, Majesco would.The opening screen looks like any given one of the Cooking Mama games, style-wise. (The whole game does, naturally, which I LOVE and scores it major points with me. I'm a geek for their animation style.) The music and sound effects also follow suit with their predecessors...and with the exception of Mama's accent, I like them. That accent though, maybe it's just me, but it sounds like a horribly racist attempt at a Japanese accent. C'mon..."butterfry"? I've known MANY folks of Asian descent, and never once have I encountered one who pronounces L's like that. But I guess if nothing else, it's almost free entertainment. I just couldn't help but feel that it's pretty inevitable that I'm sure somebody's offended somewhere over it.
In this game, you grow a variety of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Of the flowers, it's a pretty fair array of the most common flower types, and then some. I was a little disappointed that there were no calla lilies, but hey, can't win em all. The fruit and vegetable varieties, I wish they'd of broadened their range. They had the absolute basics, and that's it. But the ones they did have were still fun. Better still though are the special unlockable plants ;) I won't give away the surprises here because that would defeat a lot of the point of playing the game. But trust me, they're pretty. (Also, if you get a perfect score in the special garden, you get peacock butterflies to visit your plants instead of swallowtail butterflies. As I am a stickler for perfection, I never stopped at anything shy of a 100 rating, so I have no clue what else shows up if you don't get a perfect score.)
I was also impressed with the level of detail paid to to process of growing each plant, even if some of them were more than a little unrealistic in their approach. Also, despite the game's simplistic style, there's a lot of complexity to the game. You'd be amazed how tricky it is to get a perfect score on a lot of the levels! I had some difficulty in most of the levels that involved digging, and the ones that involved drawing specific shapes - namely the watering and fertilizer levels - had tricky parts. Am I the only person who can't draw a star to save their ass? And unless you get the spiral JUST perfect in the watering level, it won't count it. They should've allowed for a little more leeway as far as perfect precision goes in drawing these shapes. Speaking of the fertilizer levels, I'm also annoyed by the ones that involve waiting for the right color to pop up...but that's just because I'm very impatient. I don't like having to catch the mice either, but...I don't particularly like mice to begin with. (Sorry to any mouse lovers out there.)
I was also very impressed by just how customizable the gardens themselves are! You can add in all sorts of decorative fixtures all over the place. I wasn't patient enough to do it with all my gardens, but it was nice just knowing I could if I wanted to. It serves no real purpose in the game other than aesthetics, but this customization does make it feel more like a real garden.
You also have the opportunity to customize Mama's appearance. I had much more fun with this than the garden customization, but then, I love almost any game that allows me to play fashionista ;) By the time I was done though, I noticed something... Mama had suddenly taken on an uncanny likeness to Sarah Palin! (I swear it was unintentional.)
Here's a nifty little trick that I discovered entirely on accident, but turned out to be pretty handy: While playing the levels where you must break up the clouds and blow them away, if you don't feel like wasting your breath, sit in front of your stereo speakers and have some loud music on. The beat of the music will literally scare those clouds away!
Overall, even if you're not a particularly outdoorsy or gardening person (which I'm not), you'll more likely than not enjoy this game. There is something inherently rewarding about watching things grow that you've cultivated, even in the virtual world. If you like simulation games, give it a try!
I'm going to go ahead and rate this title an 8 1/2 green thumbs out of 10. :)
Ever since a young age, I've been fascinated by anything and everything to do with the medical field. Some of that may stem from having a long history of medical ailments my whole life, some of it may stem from reading medical textbooks for fun. Whatever the reason, I've owned pretty much every single video title based on a medical premise since I was about 7 years old. (If it was for a system I didn't even own, I'd get it anyway and find someone who'd let me play it at their place. Yes. I am that much of a nerd for this stuff.) In addition, I also watch pretty much all the medical-based television shows that hit the airwaves too - E.R., Scrubs, House, Doc, Private Practice, etc. Last but not least, I can't forget the one that seems to be everybody's current favorite (okay, no hatemail from the House fans now), Grey's Anatomy. I just about jumped for joy when I found out a video game was being made of it.
graphics on this game are pretty superb; not only for a DS game, but for being based on real life actors and actresses. The likenesses are absolutely dead-on it to the point where it's almost creepy. In addition, the realism during certain surgical procedures (i.e. craniotomy) have officially been the first in a video game, ever, to nearly make me literally dry heave at how realistic they looked. (I got over it, but still. I was not anticipating such a reaction from myself.) The sound effects aren't too bad, either. The music could be improved, in my opinion, but then I'm not too hot on the music from the show either, and it's pretty darn similar to that. So I guess I really don't have a leg to stand on to complain about that. The dialogue and storylines seem like they easily could have been written by the actual screenwriters from the show.
n this case, they're very big somethings. As with all Ubisoft games I have played this far, the places you touch on the screen don't exactly seem to match up with where the touchscreen picks them up. (And before you start tossing accusations that my touchscreen may be messed up, it's not. I've heard this from countless other Ubisoft players, and I tried the game on 3 different DSes. Trust me. It's not the screen.) This causes huge problems in attempting to play a game in which precision is key. But even so? That's not my main issue with this game.
My big beef with the Grey's Anatomy game is that, while sure, a lot of the television series is based on the interpersonal relationship dramas between the characters of the show.... Who wants to play that out in a game? Maybe touch on a little bit, sure, that'd be fine. But a medical drama - ESPECIALLY one transferred into a game - should be focusing on the actual medical procedures primarily; NOT who's screwing who and whatnot. There's only a very small portion of the game spent on doing surgeries. Look, if I wanted a relationship simulator, I'd of played one of the MANY myriad of games out there that focus on just that. With so much quality in other areas, how could they have possibly screwed this up so badly? I just don't know. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed. Even if you're a die-hard Grey's fan, I can't imagine you'd care for this "game" much.
