Gamertell Review: Ener-G Gym Rockets for DS

Title: Ener-G Gym Rockets
Price: $29.99
System(s): DS
Release Date: October 21, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Ubisoft (1st Playable Productions)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone”
Pros: It’s very easy to pull off new tricks, you can upgrade your character’s stats by performing, there are quite a few mini-games, it’s pretty easy to play and there are quite a few customization options.
Cons: Very difficult to build up energy for moves, the character graphics aren’t that good, the game doesn’t tell you what the venue’s exact goals and challenges are and the shop items are pricey.
Overall Score: Two thumbs sideways, 70/100, C-, * * out of 5

While shopping at a Goodwill store near my house, I came across Ener-G Gym Rockets and Ener-G Dance Squad. Both games were brand new, still in the plastic wrapping, and priced at $3. While I normally don’t partake in games that appear to pander to children, I decided that $3 was a fair price for these kinds of games. I’d purchase both, and see what Ubisoft’s Ener-G games for girls were like.

Unfortunately, Ener-G Gym Rockets was pretty much everything I thought it would be. If I were younger, perhaps I wouldn’t mind its ambiguity, character models and graphics and occasionally demanding controls. But I’m not, and after playing for an hour I have a sneaking suspicion that 1st Playable Productions and Ubisoft could have done better.

New in town? Then the best way to make friends is to become a gymnast.

The game begins with the main character, you, moving in to a new town. A neighbor girl (who I honestly thought was an adult when she first showed up) named Beverly comes by to say hello. Unfortunately, your little brother almost knocks her down when he suddenly appears. Lucky for Beverly, she is a gymnast and does a handstand to get out of his way. (Couldn’t she have just stepped aside? Show off.)

You of course are stunned by this extraordinary move, and Beverly convinces you to take gymnastics lessons with her former-Olympics-competitor coach, Coach Tammy. You then go through all kinds of training at different locations. Certain events will inspire (force) you to join Coach Tammy’s gymnastic team and perform in competitions. Everyone’s now counting on your newly discovered gymnastics skills.

Here’s how you perform one move. Now go out there and string together epic routines!

The problem with Ener-G Gym Rockets is that you’re practically thrown into the game. You get a brief tutorial that just teaches you the basics of doing floor, uneven bars, vault, balance beam and freestyle exercises. This tutorial basically teaches you how to get started and do one move. After that, you’re thrown into the various events with little to no guidance. While older players will instinctively begin to realize the proper timing to perform routines and that you’re able to do more than just the one move you learned in the tutorial, younger players will likely keep doing the move that requires them to drag the stylus up over and over, unless someone else steps in and enlightens them.

There’s also a slight control issue. The touch screen controls work very well, and since they involve dragging the stylus in straight lines across the screen, it allows for a wide margin of error so younger players can still succeed. The problem is the energy building. In order to perform routines, you have to have energy in the energy bar. This is built up in different ways for each routine. The vault requires you to rub the screen back and forth. The floor exercises requires you to tap three flowers that appear briefly on screen. The uneven bars requires you to spin circles around the character. While it’s easy to build up energy for the vault, freestyle and even balance beam, it’s quite difficult for the floor and uneven bars. This means no epic performances in those events.

Then, there are the event goals. At each location three events can be performed. Each event has three categories under it, Event Goals, Venue Goals and Progress Goals. Each has stars underneath it. For example, the National Towers Floor event has five Event Goals stars, 15 Venue Goals stars and 6 Progress Goal stars. Beneath all that, it tells you how many moves for that specific activity have been learned. The problem is, the game gives no further information other than that. You don’t know what you need to do to achieve five Event Goals stars at the National Towers. It’s quite frustrating.

B for effort, D for execution.

Ener-G Gym Rockets does get some points for trying. The control scheme is interesting and allows for a lot of freedom. Complicated moves and routines can be pulled off quite easily, provided you’ve built up enough energy and discovered the proper timing to do it. However, a little more hand-holding and structure wouldn’t be a bad idea, especially since this game is designed for children. If Ubisoft and 1st Playable Productions had spent maybe one or two more months developing Ener-G Gym Rockets, I get the feeling that the less satisfactory portions of the game could have been corrected.

And, just in case you’re curious and can’t wait for tomorrow’s review, Ener-G Dance Squad was more fun than Ener-G Gym Rockets. Ener-G Gym Rockets isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I doubt I’ll be keeping it. If I were in the target audience (between ages 6-12), I’d probably feel differently.

Site [Ener-G Gym Rockets]