Author Topic: Nintendo DS DoND Quickie Review (Read 5432 times)

clemon79 · « **on:** July 23, 2007, 03:57:25 AM »

Alright, I've had some time to play with the NDS version of Deal Or No Deal, and I'm hoping maybe I can save some folks a few bucks. It's way too late to write a full-blown organized review, but I can list some bullet-points:

When you load the game, you are forced to sit through a fairly lengthy legal disclaimer that says that you won't REALLY be winning money by playing the game. You have to sit through this EVERY TIME; and there is no hitting a button to bypass it. You may thank the idiots who emailed us when I was at Atari asking where their WOF check was for that one.
There are three single-player games: standard DoND, a higher/lower minigame much like the Bingo 500 on NBN (but without an interesting scoring system; your score is simply the number of cases you opened before you flubbed), and a three-at-the-same-time guess-the-number game where you are trying to find the three cases that will open the Vault in as few tries as possible.
The graphics are 3-D polygonal. On the DS, this either looks really good (MarioKart DS) or really horrible (here). Howie's goatee looks like he smudged some chocolate on his face during the lunch break.
I'll give them credit for one thing: they managed to draw out the DS game as long as they do with the TV show. They have to cut back to Howie commenting on the last case you pulled after EVERY CASE. There are four separate interstitials for every bank offer. This is amusing once or twice, but then you will find yourself hammering buttons to bypass them. I went the distance, so I don't know whether they do the prove-out or not.
Oh, and whatever code the program has to determine whether your last pull was good or bad is completely hosed. In the game I played, I was down to $10, $750, and $400,000. I opened the $750. Cut back to Howie saying "No, no, NO! That's NOT what we wanted!!" You CAN'T tell me that that algorithm is particularly hard to write. Hell, I'll write it here: for the first three rounds, anything less than six digits is a good case. From Round Four on, a case is good if it's lower than the previous bank offer. How'd they manage to screw this up?
Some of the graphic sequences, particularly the one showing the Banker thinking about the offer he is about to make, flicker like a mofo.
There *might* be value here as a two-player game, but I wouldn't know because I couldn't play with the two modes: Head to Head, and Best Deal. (In Best Deal you appear to be able to have one player be Banker and the other be the contestant.) However, 1) there is NO hotseat mode, it has to be played over two DS's, and 2) there appears to be NO download play, so both of you have to have a copy of the game. COMPLETELY idiotic.

So, yeah, there's my nutshell review. Don't buy this. If you're STILL thinking of buying it and my comments above haven't talked you out of it, and you have questions for me, let me know and I'll answer them as best I can.

TonicBH · « **Reply #1 on:** July 23, 2007, 09:05:30 AM »

I'm not sure if anybody reviewed the other DOND games that have come out, but I assume those aren't good either?

cmjb13 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 23, 2007, 09:48:43 AM »

Saturday I was able to play the DOND arcade game

Seen here and also posted previously: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcFywRN7254

A few notes:

-There are no models from the show.
-No Howie
-You are unable to swap cases at the end
-You can play a regular valued game or a double case game for double the points. It looks like the value of the points is adjustable, as the youtube video had 200-400, where I was able to play for 100-200.

It was pretty popular with patrons and at a minimum of $2 a game, they had quite a line.

clemon79 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 23, 2007, 11:43:49 AM »

Now, see, the arcade game is actually an interesting idea to me, because it keeps the one single thing that makes DoND interesting: you're actually playing and negotiating for a tangible prize. (As tangible as redemption tickets are, anyhow, but it is at least a rudimentary form of currency, even if all it's spendable on is cheap slum.)

I'm not at all surprised that the range of prizes is operator-adjustable. They'd have to be.

How do you mean "minimum of $2?" Do they make you buy in again to play Double or Nothing?

JasonA1 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 23, 2007, 12:54:27 PM »

Where I played it, it was $1.00 for a 200 ticket top prize game and $2.00 for a 400 ticket game. That's prolly what he was referring to. I agree that it's perfectly at home in the arcade for the reason Chris gave. And there was a crowd around it where I was too.

-Jason

cmjb13 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 23, 2007, 01:22:33 PM »

Where I played it, it was $2.00 per game and you could play for double for, I think, $3.50.

I'd bet money that if they had a triple point game option, that would do very well.

clemon79 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 23, 2007, 01:46:35 PM »

Man. Maybe I'm just too old-skool, but I just can't fathom dropping $2.00 to play a single game of anything. I come from a time when it was a quarter a shot and 50 cents was a big deal for new games. I didn't even drop a buck at a time for Sega Rally...we went to the nickel arcade and played it for 40 cents per.

JasonA1 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 23, 2007, 02:13:27 PM »

We agree. The $1.00 game I played was my only expense in the arcade that day, and it was merely to fulfill my curiosity. I didn't want to just stand slack-jawed behind somebody else's game to get the experience.

When I frequented arcades as a youth, a quarter was standard, 50 cents was a big deal but still doable if the game looked fun enough, and the 75 cent pricetag on a game of "Hard Drivin'" was just insane.

-Jason

clemon79 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 23, 2007, 03:37:19 PM »

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' post=\'158276\' date=\'Jul 23 2007, 11:13 AM\']
We agree. The $1.00 game I played was my only expense in the arcade that day, and it was merely to fulfill my curiosity. I didn't want to just stand slack-jawed behind somebody else's game to get the experience.
[/quote]
Oh, yeah. I've done it before, too, but as you say, it's a one-off thing, not a "gimme another dollar, I gotta play that again" thing.

DoorNumberFour · « **Reply #9 on:** July 23, 2007, 03:55:09 PM »

The arcade game looks like the most fun I could have at an arcade since DDR.

Does anyone know if this game is common in arcades yet?

clemon79 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 23, 2007, 04:02:12 PM »

[quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'158288\' date=\'Jul 23 2007, 12:55 PM\']
Does anyone know if this game is common in arcades yet?
[/quote]
It debuted at one of the Vegas trade shows in March. I'm not sure how you want that questions answered otherwise.

DoorNumberFour · « **Reply #11 on:** July 23, 2007, 04:03:23 PM »

Exactly what I wanted.

Thank you, sir.

Jeremy Nelson · « **Reply #12 on:** July 23, 2007, 06:26:20 PM »

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' post=\'158276\' date=\'Jul 23 2007, 01:13 PM\']
When I frequented arcades as a youth, a quarter was standard, 50 cents was a big deal but still doable if the game looked fun enough, and the 75 cent pricetag on a game of "Hard Drivin'" was just insane. [/quote]\

At our local arcade/pizza parlor/hug the ugly character venue, the crowd got pretty revved up during one game where a guy had left the 1, 75, and 200 ticket cases. There was lots of yelling and cheering, something I haven't seen at an arcade in a long while.

Unfortunately, I haven't found a single non-ticket game that costs a quarter in a while. They even upped the classic Namco games to 50 cents. Shame.

tvmitch · « **Reply #13 on:** July 24, 2007, 10:46:44 AM »

This game looks fantastic. If there was one for real money readily available that didn't involve some crap to spin 3 Howies and only then could you play the bonus - that would be fantastic.

JasonA1 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 24, 2007, 02:36:17 PM »

You realize that's begging to be a money loser, right? I mean, if the buy-in on a real money DOND is something like $25 for a $500 top prize and I get offered $100, I'm bolting. Casinos around here at least have taken to doing cheap-o stage versions of the game for a lowered top value like $5,000 - that's enough.

-Jason