Games I'm playing

My new job has some extended idle times, so I picked up a couple of DS games to keep me from getting too bored.

Trace Memory is a fun little adventure game I picked up used for about $10. Unfortunately, that's about all I think it's worth, since I completed the storyline in four and a half hours...waaay too short for any game that isn't really replayable. The puzzles were pretty much spot on for difficulty for me. Not brain-dead easy while also not being too difficult, although I did get stuck on a couple. The game seems to be designed as a "how many ways can we use the DS" kinda thing, which works well sometimes and not so well on other occasion. As an example, one puzzle involved blowing the dust off an old painting, using the DS's microphone. While it worked, it required a lot more effort than really should have been required, and on a DS Lite I had a hard time seeing the bottom screen to notice what progress I was making. On the other hand, closing the DS to apply a stamp on the bottom screen was rather novel, along with using the top screen to reflect onto the bottom screen. All in all, it's a rather simple game, designed more to explore ways to use the DS than to be entertaining in its own right.

Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja is what I'm currently working on. Unfortunately, I have the feeling this is going to be short as well. The storyline is entertaining, which is to be expected with a title like "Unemployed Ninja". The game follows the Mystery Dungeon formula: you start in town, stock up on supplies, and proceed to a randomly generated dungeon. Once in the dungeon, you must either make it to the bottom floor, use a special scroll, or lose to leave. Losing means you leave all your equipment and money behind, but keep your levels and experience gained. The game is rather unforgiving on this point, since you can't even store anything until after you complete the first dungeon and are very limited in what supplies you can purchase for a long time. I'm up to level 13 or so, having "died" in 3 different dungeons too many times to count. Given the storyline of appeasing 6 gods, I'm expecting only 7 dungeons, which will make this game very light on content. It's an amusing diversion, though, and I am enjoying the character interacion, so we'll see how long it keeps me occupied.