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Phineas and Ferb Across the 2nd Dimension (DS) Status: Stopped playing - Something better came along I started playing this game on Saturday 22 May, 2021 // I stopped playing this game on: Wednesday 26 May, 2021
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.
May 26, 2021 07:13:27 PM
I cleared the first "world" last night and the next one is "music world" but, so far, the gameplay is basically the same. So, I'm out. However, I did go back to "Egypt" world to play an extra level that unlocked - it was just a bonus "get more points to buy stuff" level. So, meh. BUT, I did run across a few interesting things: (a) The game's credits are playable! Lower screen you're Perry beating up robots and baddies (and racking up points/score) while the credits scroll on the top screen. I wasn't able to read the credits until I realized you can clear the bottom by spamming the attack button. Anyways, always a nice surprise to see a game with playable credits (I don't think it's the first, but this is old enough to be an early example for sure - of the top of my head I recall the PSP Katamari game) (b) I found an item I needed to unlock via-minigame. The prize was a code that I could input in the Wii version of this game? Wow. Ok. I'm guessing there are codes that work the other way too? That's pretty neat. (c) I did power=up Ferb's weapon, which was to be expected (as a generic feature in platforming shooting games). I picked up a few powerups but it took me a minute to realize that I had upgraded Phineas' weapon (I was disapopinted because the powerup seemed ineffective)! I mostly played Ferb unless I had to swap due to level constraints. (d) I played more mini-games! In addition to the wire-patching game there's a: (d)(i) Tap on robots but NOT on batteries as the fall from the sky towards the bottom. (d)(ii) Shoot a colored marble of the right color up a column such that it hits a robot of the same color to make it disappear. If the color is wrong, a robot of that color appears instead. The robots slowly work their way down so you need to eliminate them all before they reach the bottom. (e) As expected there's a boss fight at the end of "Egypt" - it's a robot/cyborg Perry (from another dimension?) Anyways, there is lots of variety in the game - yay! - but not enough to keep me going.
May 25, 2021 09:06:23 PM
So far it's super easy - but, I'm definitely not the target audience. As far as I can tell they got the voice actors to work on the game? That's impressive. I'm actually familiar with the show, having watched more than a few episodes when my kids were young. A few interesting things (especially considering the game's date of release - sometime in 2009): a) As you make progress in the game you unlock outfits for the characters you can then purchase with in-game currency! Cosmetics! Purchased with in-game currency earned from playing the game! In 2009! (yes, it dates earlier - but I was surprised to see this in a kids DS game) b) So far, at least in the platforming levels, you can quickly and easily switch between Perry, Phineas, and Ferb. They're represented on the touch screen by a "card" with their picture. Tap the card and they zap into the game. It's surprisingly fast and efficient. c) Each character has a different ability/weapon so you sometimes need to use that character to continue in a level. When this is the case - I think if you've taken a while to swap - the character you need to swap to starts making noises and drawing attention from its "card" on the lower screen! It's a nice subtle help-the-player mechanism! d) The levels have a bit of variety, collectables to pick up along the way, and so on. It meets all the minimum "features" of a decent platforming game - which I'm surprised by (I don't know why, really - at this point in time I guess it was pretty well established?). The levels do mix things up with (sometimes) forking routes or changes of pace - for example there's a giant robot dog you sometimes have to hop into who then wrecks enemies and is all-around really powerful. To activate it you need to play a mini-game. So far I've seen only two - failed at the first and then never saw it again! (so, the mini-game you get is determined randomly?). The one I did not fail at required me touching a broken wire to "fix it" while a spark of current travels along it, you do this a few times (different screens - more wires, more sparks) with increasing difficulty and you're good to do. e) The first "world" is Egyptian-themed - the kids are stuck travelling across different dimensions while pursued by an alternate universe Doofenshmirtz - and I'll probably play until I see the next world, but beyond that I'm not that interested....we'll see what happens.

Phineas and Ferb Across the 2nd Dimension (DS)