Boing Docomodake DS which is a fun little platform / puzzle game which will be bracing your Nintendo handheld soon. Every year the Docomodake Village holds a festival, the Docomodake family members have all left the village to get ready for the festival but have not returned. Papa Docomodake ventures out of the village to find his missing family members and get them home in time.

During gameplay the bottom screen is what you will use most, you move your little mushroom dad around the platforms and ladders using the d-pad, nice and easy. The skill of this game is controlling your mini’s. Papa D has the ability to use minis, touch Papa D on screen and then drag away from him and this will produce a mini, then you can place them on switches, stack them to make ladders or even double tap them and get Pap to pick them up and throw them at some of the enemies. You start with only a few minis to use but as you progress you will find treasure chests with more of them hidden away, allowing you to create huge ladders to get through later levels.

There are 6 worlds to play through; each one has 8 stages to complete before you get to the missing family member. Each level has a theme like plains, caves or woods, but in reality there is really little difference between each one.

Whilst I have enjoyed the simple controls and quite addictive playability the difficulty is rather poor, you can play through the first 5 worlds without any trouble at all, only the last 8 stages of world 6 offer any real challenge which is a shame. I feel they have also missed a trick with the replay-ability options of this game, once played through there is very little for you to go back to.

This is a fun game for use on the daily commute as the levels are quick and save after each one but you may be put off by the over the top sweetness of the game. In the end I have to say this is aimed at the younger gamers.