Hasbro Family Game Night seems like the perfect interactive experience that all the family have got involved in. All you need is a Nintendo Wii, a TV and some players… or do you. The DS version might pose a few practical problems but does it make the family game night a night to remember?

There’s no need to sit at each end of the table in order to locate and destroy your opponent’s Battleships or be the first to Connect 4 as you can now do all of this right in the palm of your hands. Too bad if you don’t have a massive widescreen TV as you will now be limited to the Nintendo DS’s 3.5 by 3.8 inch screen(s). Its not the end of the world but it might be the end of peace and quite, especially if you don’t like to share. The idea of having a ”Family Game Night” has been somewhat diminished as the DS version only supports two players. Nevertheless, there is still plenty of fun to be had.

If you’re a fan of Battleships, Connect 4, Bop-It and Operation then you will definitely enjoy this game. If you’re not then don’t even consider this game as they are the only 4 boardgames you get in the package. If you don’t know these games then here’s a brief description:

• In Battleships, you have to use trial and error to try and pinpont the locations of your opponents ships and try and land hits on them. When playing Salvo mode then you get more shots if you have more ships on the water. There are a couple other features that allow Bombs to have a greater blast radius and effect more than one square. 

• Connect 4 is basically self-explanatory. The first one to get 4 of their colour in a row is the winner. However, the game adds a bit of flare to this aging tradition by using new types of chips. These can either block columns for a couple of turns or even destroy adjacent chips.  

 

• In Bop-It, you would normally follow the instructions by other pushing buttons, pulling chords or cranking nozzles. This has been considerably restricted on the DS as you simply need to tap the touch-screen and shout the odd word into the microphone which can be a bit inconsistent. Where’s the fun in that?

•  Operation retains it steady-hand based game format as you have to drag the objects through some narrow winding tunnels while trying to avoid touching the edges. You are also given the task of doing this within a time limit which ups the intensity.

If you have 2 DSs and 2 copies of the game then you will have a few more options available but the actual playability of these is rather mediocre.

The transition from board to touch screen is quite a disappointment and playing them the old traditional way is by far the best way to experience these great classics. There are other DS compilations that offer a wider range of games that have more redeeming value than Family Game Night for the Nintendo DS. 

+ Games have some amusing additions to them.

- Limited to 4 games.

- Gets boring quickly

- Only caters for 2 people per DS

4.5/10

By Ian Ratledge Posted Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 5:44 pm