Open Season (DS)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.2 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Frank Provo
• Reviewed on: 09/29/2006
• Released on: 09/19/2006
• Originally published on GameSpot: Open Season (DS) Review

Loosely based on the animated film of the same name, Open Season for the Nintendo DS is a side-scrolling adventure game where you have to switch between two different characters to get through a large forest full of puzzles and traps. The game borrows heavily from classics like Klonoa and Lost Vikings in that you have to wander into the foreground and background of the not-quite-2D, not-quite-3D environments while using one character's abilities to deal with obstacles that are standing in the other's way. People looking for an action game will probably be turned off by how the numerous puzzles constantly halt their forward movement, but fans of spatial puzzles and anyone looking for something different in a side-scroller may enjoy the unique makeup of this movie tie-in.

Like the movie, the game concerns the story of Boog, a city-dwelling grizzly bear, who wakes up deep in the woods after a night of partying with his new friend, a deer named Elliot. Since neither of them want to spend the rest of their lives foraging for food, they immediately decide to make their way back to the city. In the movie, the two friends meet a number of animals along the way, get into some wacky situations to earn those animals' trust, and end up involved in a few action-packed sequences. In the DS game, this same trip through the forest is depicted as a series of 27 levels where you have to deal with one puzzling obstacle after another.

On the surface, the game looks and sounds like a typical side-scroller. You alternate control between Boog and Elliot and maneuver the pair from one end of each level to the other. Along the way, you'll encounter angry animals and hunters, as well as a wide variety of puzzles that generally involve pushing switches or setting a heavy object down someplace. There aren't any weapons in the traditional sense, but you can pick up and toss friendly animals at unfriendly animals and hunters to stun them. By the end of the game, you'll be throwing rabbits and porcupines like they were rocks, skunks like they were stink bombs, and ducks like they were heat-seeking missiles.

That's where the similarities to the typical side-scroller end. First off, while the levels primarily involve travel from left to right, the environments allow a 2.5D range of movement, such that you can move up and down to dodge enemies. There are also many spots where you can follow paths into the foreground or background, much like in Namco's Klonoa series, which lead to segments that run parallel to the main path. Another feature distinguishing Open Season from the other Mario clones out there is the number of puzzles contained within each level. There are dozens of them per level. Most involve simple tasks, like getting past a pattern of falling trees or carrying an object from one spot to another to use it as a makeshift stair. Some are trickier, though, and involve figuring out how to deal with sequences incorporating multiple objects, enemies, and hazards. The game may be too tricky for young children, but there's nothing here that anyone over the age of 8 can't handle.

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