Review: Hannah Montana (DS)
Score: 83
Whew. Another DS title that at last seems like the developers had the funding and time to do something half-decent. Obviously styled after the USA TV series of the same name, this rich-world-teen-savvy story uses the same characters but in a 100% cartoon world.
And, for the most part Hannah Montana works well for the DS. Only the stylus is used throughout, so ten out of ten for consistency, but there are some points in the action where using a traditional D-pad for movement would have been more efficient. There's a half-hearted attempt to use both DS screens too, though the vast majority of the action is on the lower, touch-sensitive one.
Complete with rock soundtrack, the characters in Hannah Montana are well depicted and instantly recognisable if you ever watched the TV show. The story centres on Miley (the girl who's pop princess Hannah in her double-life, come on, keep up at th eback....) trying to find out who's blackmailing her with threats of exposing her pop identity.
It's not the strongest of plots, but it does give you plenty of excuse for running around school, beach, mall, etc. talking to people, trying to find clues (using collectable tools such as a magnifying glass and torch) and generally gathering information.
For a pre-teen year old girl (roughly the target audience of the TV show), the gameplay's going to be about right, although an adult gamer will quickly either grow impatient or finish the game quickly.
The developers have made sure that the aforesaid pre-teen girls stay interested by including a skateboarding mini-game and a fashion mode where you do the game again, while collecting cool clothes for dressing up in when back at home.
With the characters, the simple interface, the music and the image, Hannah Montana doesn't really put a foot wrong and is recommended for keeping your own daughter occupied from Christmas Day until New Year!