Couple Gaming

It seems to be the new theme: DS comes up with about 4 games, all based on the exact same idea. No “release one and see how it’s received”, no “testing the waters”, and evidently no consumer testing, but as a rip-off version of an actually successful game.

They’ve done this with the Imagine games (after Cooking Mama), the Petz games (after Nintendogs), and now they’ve done it with Zenses (perhaps after Popcap?).

I’ll admit intense curiosity when I saw the first Zenses games: “Games with a relaxing part to them? Awesome… 2 spare time suckers at once!” Unfortunately, I think they spent all their money on the pretty covers or game pictures, and NONE on actually creating new games.

If you are curious about Zenses, take a look at the Amazon pictures; that should sum up every game part of the game. For the most part, they are Popcap/shockwave games, redone with a beach/ocean theme, and coupled with somewhat relaxing (mostly annoyingly repetitive) music in the background. There is a matching game, a memory game, a puzzle game, and a few others so banal I can’t even remember what they were (and I just sent it back this morning). The games are buggy, repetitive, and have no real point to the overall game besides getting a High Score (that doesn’t have your name on it).

So while it may have a short novelty addiction, these games should never, ever be purchased for more than $9. You will get more enjoyment out of spending that on a coffee, a movie, or tossing it in pennies on a school playground. Hell, even shoving the money down your Significant Others pants while they game would be more fun. Hmm.. speaking of…