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First US Electroplankton Review

G

GDJustin

stuck my tongue deep inside Atlus' cookies
http://ds.gamedaily.com/game/review/?gameid=4438

3.5/5

Back when I was a little kid grownups used to think I was retarded because I'd just sit on a couch and make strange noises. Flash forward to 2005, and at 27 grownups still think I'm retarded because I'm a really big kid sitting on a couch making strange noises, but that's just a part of who I am. So now that you have officially lost all respect for me I can get into why I'm quite fond of Nintendo and artist Toshio Iwai's wonderful DS title, Electroplankton. The game stars musical fish, but it goes far beyond being some touch screen tech demo. Rather, it taps into my brain and brings out my very best. In short, it allows me to be myself. This is a game that's been created for the weirdos of the world interested in a game like no other.
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There's four pages. And if anyone noticed, yes GD relaunched. Its a soft relaunch for a week as we iron out bugs, so if you see one, don't complain :)
 
Great stuff! First online review I've seen... and what is this EGM you speak of? I heard they take cash under the table! :lol don't shoot me shoe
 
Indeed, SA should add that review in the list. I imported ElectroPlankton when it came out, and it feels like a demo kiosk grade novelty. In 10 minutes, you have done everything you can do
 
No seriously people are like "Great review", but did they notice the paragraph says "In short, it allows me to be myself."

I lol'ed
 
shuri said:
Indeed, SA should add that review in the list. I imported ElectroPlankton when it came out, and it feels like a demo kiosk grade novelty. In 10 minutes, you have done everything you can do
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QFT. Electroplankton is, at best, amusing for about 10 minutes. Then you're left wondering why someone would actually pay for it.
 
shuri said:
Indeed, SA should add that review in the list. I imported ElectroPlankton when it came out, and it feels like a demo kiosk grade novelty. In 10 minutes, you have done everything you can do
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I know the guy that wrote the review (obviously), and I assure you he's put more hours into Electroplankton than, well... almost anything. Believe me, I don't get it either, but to each his own.
 
are there any significant changes to the US release?
i'd get it again if there is some new shit....

i imported on launch day, and hell, i still pop it in some nights to "play"
 
Electroplankton is cool if you like messing around doing absolutely stupid things with your time.

This guy says that. He also says it's not for people who don't like wasting their time doing said stupid things.

Personally, I had a good week with the title, and I still pop it in every now and then. I know a couple people who just have that in their DS (what else are you going to put in? ;) ) and I know some people who don't dig it at all.

To each his own. Unless they disagree with you. :D
 
The game seems like it might be cool for some people and all, but to this day I'm still baffled as to how they spent so much time on it at the E3 conference....especially in retrospect as they decided to not even give it a wide release
 
This should be downloadable on the DS, or come already on the DS like Pictochat. It's not worth that kind of money, at all. Sure, it's great. But it's more like computer software you download for a little fun.
 
PhoenixDark said:
This should be downloadable on the DS, or come already on the DS like Pictochat. It's not worth that kind of money, at all. Sure, it's great. But it's more like computer software you download for a little fun.
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There's a music mixing "game" on the PS2.
 
Oh, and for all of you who imported the Japanese version, you're not going to find any bonus species here, and it doesn't come in that spiffy packaging with those blue headphones.

That sucks.
 
sammy said:
are there any significant changes to the US release?
i'd get it again if there is some new shit....

i imported on launch day, and hell, i still pop it in some nights to "play"
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Ditto.

It's a lot of fun with friends/girls as well. I just pop it in and hand it away when I'm with people. It's a lot of fun to hear how they respond to it, and I usually end up beating them off the thing.

Also, musically inclined people have no idea what the hell I was smoking when I bought Ouendan, but they quickly get into that. But Electroplankton is still by far the most accessible.
 
Noticed the GD edit. From 4 stars to 3.5?

I read the review and didn't notice what was so offensive about it. It's a quirky game and apparently an admittedly quirky gamer reviewed it, with mention of his reservations and complaints.

Not like he embraced the game's quirkiness to such an extent as to proclaim that everyone MUST love the game, and then proceeded to give it a near-perfect score, or anything.
 
I found another bug. Those two electroplankton on the upper right of the site never meet up together in the game! Haha! Wow. Kill me.

Anyway, good review, he mentioned that he gets bored of it too, but it's cool if you dig that kind of game. I dig it... but yeah, it gets tired a bit.
 
shuri said:
Indeed, SA should add that review in the list. I imported ElectroPlankton when it came out, and it feels like a demo kiosk grade novelty. In 10 minutes, you have done everything you can do
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Yeah I know what you mean. Like the other day I picked up a guitar and I plucked all the strings and I was like "WTF that's it?" Damn music stores expecting us to swallow that shallow shit.
 
BobJustBob said:
Yeah I know what you mean. Like the other day I picked up a guitar and I plucked all the strings and I was like "WTF that's it?" Damn music stores expecting us to swallow that shallow shit.
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I'm sorry, but did you just compare Electroplankton to a musical instrument? Please tell me you didn't.
 
Zerodoppler said:
I'm sorry, but did you just compare Electroplankton to a musical instrument? Please tell me you didn't.
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You tell him. Everybody knows that real instruments require lots of skill and practice to play.
triangle.jpg

A computer game could never, every be considered a musical instrument.
 
BobJustBob said:
Yeah I know what you mean. Like the other day I picked up a guitar and I plucked all the strings and I was like "WTF that's it?" Damn music stores expecting us to swallow that shallow shit.
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I own the game. You can't save your track. The mini games are very limited. A novelty. It has no real musical value. You cant use it in a life performance since its so random.

It's a toy. A very limited one at that
 
Flynn said:
You tell him. Everybody knows that real instruments require lots of skill and practice to play.
triangle.jpg

A computer game could never, every be considered a musical instrument.
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At least with the triangle I'm in total control of what sounds come out of it.
 
shuri said:
I own the game. You can't save your track. The mini games are very limited. A novelty. It has no real musical value. You cant use it in a life performance since its so random.

It's a toy. A very limited one at that
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Well Reggie fooled you since they used ElectroPlankton in a LIVE PERFORMANCE during their Nintendo E3 2005 press conference. It was an embarrassing, terrible live performance of glorified new age art, granted, but they did do it.
 
The game is a friggen contemporary art piece. The entire thing is in museums around the world in various incarnations. I don't get why people think it's anything other than that.
 
The thought of game journalists "reviewing" this work and giving it scores makes me laugh.
 
What's the main problem with this game for those who played it? Not enough songs or something?
 
Oblivion said:
What's the main problem with this game for those who played it? Not enough songs or something?
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It doesn't really have 'songs' in that way.

It's basically just a application that produces 'sounds' depending on how you interact with the electroplankton things in its various sound modes. It's often very random, there's no way to save your 'compositions', and it's hard to reproduce previous results. It's just like a thing to fool around with and tinker with, a toy is an accurate representation. But all games are basically interactive video toys, so
 
Oh, and for all of you who imported the Japanese version, you're not going to find any bonus species here, and it doesn't come in that spiffy packaging with those blue headphones.
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Sad (?) but true:

 
Game Daily said:
— Some key instruments are missing, such as the drums and guitar
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:(

Mitleid - snapshots of the manual, stat! Is it at all hand-drawn like the Japanese original or all crudely designed with overemphatic 36 point type like normal?
 
I imported it and it's definitely for quirky gamers only. I had and still occasionally have lots of fun with it - although I also have chords to hook it into the computer, and mixing software so I can create my own musical tracks out of the game.

It's really one of those games where you get out of it what you put in.

As a piece of art it's fantastic, as a "game" it's fairly mediocre.
 
brandonnn said:
:(

Mitleid - snapshots of the manual, stat! Is it at all hand-drawn like the Japanese original or all crudely designed with overemphatic 36 point type like normal?
Click to expand...

Looks to be the same as the Japanese version. I'd post pics, but ImageShack is being assy. Later, perhaps.

But the manual smells funny...
 
shuri said:
I own the game. You can't save your track. The mini games are very limited. A novelty. It has no real musical value. You cant use it in a life performance since its so random.

It's a toy. A very limited one at that
Click to expand...

I own the game too. It's fantastic. Yes, there is an initial twinge of something approaching buyer's remorse after you've seen all 10 modes and attempted to make a few songs only to have them fade away. But then the next time you have five minutes to kill and you pick it up again and suddenly you've been playing for an hour, you realize that it's something special.

But it's not for everyone. You have to bring a certain something with you when you play it, whether you call that creativity or imagination or musical aptitude or whatever. If you don't have any of that, well, you wouldn't like it, now would you? For those people, there's always EA.
 
BobJustBob said:
You have to bring a certain something with you when you play it, whether you call that creativity or imagination or musical aptitude or whatever. If you don't have any of that, well, you wouldn't like it, now would you? For those people, there's always EA.
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Well now, yup, this is officially the dumbest thing I read at GAF.
 
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