It's a relatively simple platformer that will let junior players get a feel for moving characters around in 2-D environments and contending with conventional bad guys. Hints appear on the bottom screen, there are plenty of arrow signs showing the way to the end of each level, and enemies typically move slowly and in very recognizable patterns. It also introduces kids to traditional features found in more complex platformers, such as secret rooms and unlockable mini-games. Add in the local area network multiplayer features - a co-op mode lets a second player take control of Starfy's sister, Starly - and you have a surprisingly lengthy and robust kids game.
From Atlanta Video Game News Examiner:
"Halloween is past and Thanksgiving is fast approaching. That means it is time to start planning for your holiday shopping. One of the biggest problems when shopping for gamers is making sure that you buy a quality game that they will enjoy. There's nothing worse than getting a game for someone and finding out that it is buggy, has bad controls, or just isn't fun at all. So, we've come up with the best bets of recent releases for the two major hand-held platforms (Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP) for the 2009 holiday shopping season. We've broken it down not just by hand-helds but by genres as well. So click through on the links below for the hand-held and genre you'll be shopping for this year."
NL writes: "We were fortunate enough to be invited to take part in a teleconference with several developers of the upcoming DS title The Legendary Starfy today.
While there was a Q & A session, it turned out to only be yours truly and one other guy who fired one question and then disappeared. Of course that left the majority of the questions for me, so I guess I shouldn't complain much.
You can check out the names and positions of the Legendary Starfy development teams who participated in the teleconference below, as well as the full contents of the session."
It took long enough, but another of Nintendo's cute, marketable mascots has made its way to North America. The Legendary Starfy is not the most innovative platformer around - in fact, it combines its originality with elements from other Nintendo franchises - but the end result of its mixing and matching is a quality marine platformer that will have you coming back for more.
