Under excitement, it draws a blank
Back when I was a youthful, yet still miserable little sod, I didn’t have enough time for the funfair when it dropped by every weekend, mainly because my Saturday nights in the early 90’s consisted of several simple things. Gladiators, Sonic and anxiously waiting to see if my dad had got his act together and picked lottery numbers corresponding to those on the TV so that I could finally buy the Ectomobile from Ghostbusters (A dream that still lives on to this day). Besides, if I ever missed the bright lights, dazzling sounds and constant sugar endorsed snacking of the fair, I could simply put a light gun in one hand, Pick ‘n’ Mix in the other and shove Point Blank in my Playstation to save money on coconut shys and shooting galleries.
Point Blank started out life in arcades and soon became a hidden gem nestled in the corners of piers, conveniently close to the toilets. Whilst it’s more adult themed older brother Time Crisis stole the lightgun limelight with the inclusion of a peddle, Point Blank drew in an audience of young and old with its bizarre challenges ranging from killing hyper-active skeletons to rescuing civilians from cardboard cut-out gangsters. It was certainly enough to give shooting galleries a run for their money, yet after the original and sequels ported to the Playstation, things went quiet on the wacky pistol popping front.
The years of silence have finally-and unexpectedly-been broken with Point Blank DS, a nostalgic look back on the colourful days of old. 40 games from the series’ past make an appearance on this tiny little cartridge, all showing off wacky retro flair. But underneath the silly fun lies little substance.
Despite the fact Point Blank DS brags five different game modes, only two draw much attention. ‘Arcade’ consists of 4 difficulties and pits you through a set number of challenges in order to gain huge high scores. Although it does provide a few minutes of fun, it can hardly be declared challenging due to it’s weird concept of difficulty. Despite failing almost all of the challenges on the hardest mode, I found myself with an A Grade by the end of it all. Either the developers are incredibly generous or A stands for ‘Abysmal’.
Being called an ‘Extreme Snowball-Fighter’ after doing well in a Marksmanship test wasn’t funny
Although this may seem strange, it’s not quite as bizarre as the ‘Brain Massage’ mode. This again, pits you against a number of challenges�but this time to assess your shooting capabilities in a very Big Brain Academy fashion. After the rounds are over, a small chart is filled concerning several different factors. Although this does sound like a fairly interesting idea at first, you’re then given a title to honour yourself by if it really means that much to you. All of these, however, seem to revolve around a very forced sense of humour, injected exclusively into this title. Being called an ‘Extreme Snowball-Fighter’ after doing well in a Marksmanship test wasn’t funny, just pointlessly vague. What the hell I was meant to make out of being called a ‘Wrestling Beautician’ after I’d been shooting coloured targets for five minutes was also completely beyond me.
And this is where Point Blank DS begins to slip on the practicalities front. As soon as you start up your DS, everything is handed to you on a brightly coloured platter. There’s nothing to unlock apart from these cringingly unfunny ‘titles’, leaving the player with little rewards to reap and it comes across that the game is just resting on the credit of previous titles. I remember past ports of Point Blank on home consoles came with adventure modes which would try and break up an endless stream of mini-games and gave the main-game much more substance and replay value, whereas with this, it just feels like you’ve been given an anorexic version of a forgotten classic.
In all fairness, Point Blank DS does tick several positive boxes. The soundtrack consists of many original and remixed tracks from the original games, and the wacky cartoon graphical style stays true to the series’ roots. It’s just that the slim replay value and poor execution of the main feature leaves the game to fall flat on its face. The idea also doesn’t work brilliantly well on the DS. Replacing a novelty gun with a novelty lottery pen turns what should be trigger happy, bullet spraying fun into a brutal tapping workout.
It’s a shame that the revival of a classic, if slightly forgotten franchise had to turn out like this, but Point Blank DS doesn’t come as great value for money. Forty mini-games does sound fairly extensive, but all last a maximum of twenty seconds and none pack a hugely entertaining punch. If fans of the series find this with a big price cut, they should probably consider a purchase for this mediocre addition. However, it may be best to leave it on the shelves, for old times’ sake.
The Bad: Lacks charm, Stupidly random sense of humour lacks any hilarity and just leaves players confused, Runs out of steam quickly
