Globulos Party (Nintendo DS) Review

Globulos Party starts off with a brightly-coloured title screen, filled with all sorts of GlobZ, along with a small message indicating how it is a touch-screen only game. GlobulBoss, the King of Globulos, heckles you over the peaceful music playing in the background, announcing that he has been waiting for you, and to take a closer look at the ”funny little round characters that live in gardens…” - in other words, the Globulos. GlobulBoss is old and looking for someone to inherit his throne; however, the ideal person to take his place must be one that can overcome the world's competitive inhabitants in all the games they love to play. After choosing a coloured Globulos to play as, plus a back-up colour in case you come across the same shade in the mini-games, Globulos Party asks that the tutorial stage is completed before the main action can be dived into.

The original Globulus is a Flash-based game that can be played online against anyone in the world, completely free of charge. Nearly all of the options and modes from this web-based edition can be found in the DSiWare, except now you not only have to pay 500 Nintendo Points, but also lose out on the online functionality, since clearly adding Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection capabilities would have resulted in the project being considerably more expensive and the cost being passed on to the consumer. Strangely enough, although everything is pretty much the same, two games have been replaced, with 'Save the King' and 'PacGlob' being taken out. GlobZ have instead changed them to 'Rugby' and 'Hockey'.

The basic idea is that the stylus is used to launch three GlobZ around various arenas, with the aim being to either knock an object into a designated goal or knock your opponents into oblivion. It is a really simple premise and a very well executed one, with players given a strict time limit in which to draw arrows of varying length from the centre of a Globz to the desired direction, then, once all set in the right direction, letting them fly. The length of a drawn arrow increases/decreases the speed and distance in which they move, but incoming opponent Globz can cause your best laid plans to go awry as your Globz may well be bounced around to take an alternate path, possibly straight into a hole (at which point it will stay there until your remaining Globz score a 'goal').

Although Globulos Party boast twenty mini-games, in all reality, it soon becomes apparent that GlobZ Team's game only has minor variations on the same theme. In Basketball the aim is to get the ball into a hoop by rebounding into it, in Football again it is a case of colliding with the ball to direct it towards the open net, and in Hockey, it is a puck that needs to be moved around. If the initial idea grabs your attention, then this will not be a problem, especially when playing against friends. However, for others the 'rinse and repeat' nature will make Globulos Party far too repetitive for true enjoyment value. In the credits, GlobZ Team does promise more to come from the Globulos world, so perhaps the idea will indeed be expanded upon if this becomes successful enough.