Clubhouse Games (DS)

Clubhouse Games is a collection of 42 card, board, and variety games, including Old Maid, Solitaire, Backgammon, Darts, Bowling, Chess, and Texas Hold 'Em, to name only a few. Nintendo has a real hit with this one.

 

Simply put, the gameplay is incredible. The game is 100% stylus controlled, as most games require it. To play Soda Shake, for example, you move the stylus over the bottle and "shake" it to get the cork to pop. There are two single-player modes, Stamp and Mission. Stamp has you moving from game to game, playing computer-controlled players. If you win, you get stamps that let you advance onto the next game. You unlock a few games this way. The other mode, Mission, lays out some challenges for you to complete, in order to unlock personal icons. Some challenges are easy, but some are difficult, like scoring 3 bullseye shots in a row in darts.

 

Apparently, Nintendo chose to make the graphics in Clubhouse Games easy on the eyes, because the buttons are rather large (even just an "ok" button is large) and there is usually not much going on at once on the screens. The graphics are good, but nothing spectacular.

 

Playing over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is where this game shines, as well. Thirty-five of the 42 games available are playable over the WFC, and they can get rather intense. Take it from experience, when you need to hit a 19 to win your darts game, your heart starts beating fast. Another nice feature in Wi-Fi is that when you play against someone you share Friend Codes with, the chat feature kicks in, letting you "PictoChat" (referring to the DS' built-in chat feature) with your opponent. After your Wi-Fi matches, you can check your worldwide rank in the games you played.

 

Clubhouse Games has great potential to be one of the finest games on the DS, and i'm sure countless hours will be spent on both single-player modes and Wi-Fi. This game is one that should be a requirement for all DS owners, regardless of age.

 

Score: 9/10