DS Review: Wedding Dash

This is another of those games that I played the PC version of first looooong before I even discovered there was a DS version of it. Unlike Diner Dash (despite being made by the exact same people and even having Flo as a secondary character), the PC and DS versions are actually quite similar.

The premise of the game is more or less the same thing as Diner Dash. Except that instead of running a diner this time, in this game, you're playing the part of a wedding planner. You must accomdate your patrons every demands; both from the way they want their wedding arranged (the type of cake, the honeymoon, the food, etc), but you have to take into account who want to sit next to who....and who they don't want to sit anywhere near as well. It's not a problem at first, but once you get into the higher levels, it becomes more and more of a challenge. Throw in other random outbursts such as catfights on the dance floor, the DJ booth getting unplugged, random swarms of bees, the cake falling over, the kitchen catching on fire, the groom's dog getting loose, Uncle Ernie getting trashed, Aunt Agnes getting weepy, and Bridezilla outbursts... It'll keep you busy in between trying to deliver each meal to each person and bringing their wedding gifts to the bride and groom's table. Also worth noting is that different types of patrons have different patience levels - some will be fine to wait a bit for their food whereas others, if you don't address them IMMEDIATELY, will throw a temper tantrum and cost you points over the ordeal.

I like very much the way in which this game plays out. It plays like both a puzzler and a simulation game at the same time, with a hint of action. Especially up in the higher levels, if you make one wrong move, you'll quite possibly throw the entire round and have to do it again...and possibly again after that. Strategy is key here.

The one thing I don't like about the game, although it's not the game itself's fault - this would probably work better on the DS XL, is that because of the size of the screen, the people on it are SO tiny and hard to move around as accurately as one would like. Same with picking up the right food trays. But it's not impossible, and not really *that* hard; it's just a minor setback. The one other thing I wish for this game is that it were longer...but perhaps this leaves the game open for a sequel? (Hint hint?)

Overall though, I liked it a lot, and I'm going to rate this one a 8 out of 10 wedding planners.