The Death Jr. series' first foray onto the DS looks like a solid title. The developers at Backbone Entertainment tried a lot of things that have been successful on the DS, and even added a few new ideas into the mix. However, most hit titles have focused on one thing, and the effort put into each facet of the game makes all of it seem thin and unwieldy.

The plot of this game doesn't stray far from the others in the series - that is to say - quite bizarre. As Death Jr. (or "DJ," as his friends call him), players attack colorful monsters in a school after a weird dimensional accident makes it creepy and supernatural. The game constantly switches between 2-D and 3-D gameplay, but both feel the same, as every enemy just needs to get hit with DJ's scythe a few times.

Progressing through the game unlocks more moves, but the first one works fine enough in any situation, so it feels superfluous. It looks cool, though, and that seems to be Backbone's only real focus. The characters look great, but they control clumsily. The enemies are varied and colorful, but there's little difference when fighting them. The levels are well designed, but moving through them is just painful. This is made worse by the lack of numerous checkpoints, as control issues send DJ back to the beginning of each level more than a few times.

The last few levels seem to be the best, which is unusual. Once DJ can use his gun, the gameplay becomes smoother, if simpler. Sadly, players have to trudge through most of the game to get there, and puzzles that frustrate but don't entertain make the journey a rough one. Also, there are a few multiplayer modes, but there is no download play support, and finding three other people with this game just isn't likely.

Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom is pretty but painful. Backbone took to the DS like a kid to candy, but forgot to put enough time in to make it fun. While the title's good ideas keep it from being the most horrible game on the market, poor execution makes the game itself an experiment gone wrong. The series could recover with some tweaking, but for now, it's best to leave Death Jr. alone.

Jul 13, 2007 | 5 comments
Graham Russell