Disney Planes (Nintendo DS) Review

Join Dusty Hopper and friends in a whole host of scenarios based around events that take place after the happenings of the original Disney Pixar movie of the same name, Planes. What the development team has done this time round is make a tie-in that offers more than just bland gameplay with poor presentation, but a big, shiny logo to entice parents to part with cold, hard cash for something that is not really deserving of their children's time. This is a good quality product that will keep youngsters glued to their Nintendo DS systems for quite some time.

In this Nintendo DS version, players are given the chance to jump straight into a Story mode, working through various missions, such as painting dirty barns, rescuing tractors in a storm, breaking down unwanted billboards, and various other objectives that revolve around a similar theme. They are all based around the premise of Dusty being a renowned racer, yet still keeping his feet (wheels?) on the ground, maintaining plenty of humility and helping those in need out whenever necessary. There are chapters where other popular characters from the film can be played as, also.

As well as flying around various 3D locations taking on missions, there are Challenge, Race, and Balloon modes to pass the time - all of which must be unlocked by progressing through Story - and those that like going back to improve their scores can do, with the incentive of fulfilling all the criteria in the Achievements section being served up. Boosting, slowing when necessary, flipping around, loop-the-looping - what is expected from flying about is all present and correct. Voice actors from the movie are included as well, with constant voice work during the story mode sections and in-game action - highly surprising, and whilst the quality is very rough, it adds to the experience considerably. Technically, the developer has managed to bring a nicely polished effort to the humble DS hardware, whilst bringing a range of gameplay aspects that will definitely please children (and big kids!).