Original Release: Nintendo, 2005, Nintendo DS
A package of games that ranges across cards, board games and more arcadey challenges
Clubhouse Games (DS, Nintendo, 2005)
Where to Buy: Amazon
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
Presumably meant to be the “Hoyle’s Book of Games” for the then-new DS, Clubhouse Games packs together 42 total traditional games … it’s a little hard to classify, however, as the game types are all over the map. A big chunk are card games, but there are also quite a few simple board games, and then you’ve got some simple (and not very well done) bar/action games like darts and billiards.
I think the first big problem with this game, at least coming back to it after almost 20 years, is that a lot of it was centered on online interactivity features that no longer exist. You could log into the Nintendo WFC with a name and little animated emoji face you choose, there were global leaderboards for each game, and not only was there a messaging system but you could send demos of your play to other players.
This type of package is really supposed to be focused on single players who are offline, or at least that should be an equal share of the focus, and it doesn’t quite feel like it here. The first misstep is that the “free play” mode does not include all of the available games; about five have to be unlocked by playing the “stamp” mode. That mode funnels you through a linear series of games in which you get rated on your performance at the end; usually taking 1st place shuttles you right through the challenge, but losing will require you to replay it several times to be able to move on without being the big winner. As many games have multiple extended hands or rounds, this can lead to some excruciating playtime stuck in some game you don’t care about or don’t understand.
The other big single-player mode is “challenge,” which sets a particular goal for you in a game type (ex: finish 10 hands of blackjack with at least 500 bucks in your pocket). This one is a little better as you can freely pick from all the different challenges right from the start, but some game types still have to be unlocked in “stamp” first, and some of the challenges are a little crazy.
Overall, the game has the sort of polish you’d expect from a Nintendo release (though this was done by a smaller third-party dev instead of one of their legendary in-house teams). The card games are all quite competent, if lacking in personality. The board games all have good interfaces, just some questionable and maybe overly simplistic choices in the mix. The small handful of more arcadey games are just awful, though. I guess they were meant to show off the touch screen, but they’re kept far too rudimentary (ie just doing trick shots in billiards rather than playing a full game) and the controls are dodgy AF.
The music is as “close but no cigar” as the game packages are. There’s a broad variety of songs and they threaten to be catchy at times, but end up just kind of noodling off into forgettableness or mediocrity.
I think this title was ultimately burdened with the gimmickry needed at the time to try to sell the unique features of the DS, primarily the online connectivity and touch screen. Consequently, it hasn’t held up all that well.
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