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M&M's Break 'Em (DS) Status: Stopped playing - Something better came along I started playing this game on Sunday 20 March, 2022 // I stopped playing this game on: Friday 1 April, 2022
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.
March 27, 2022 02:35:33 PM
I've now played a "fresh" campaign - there's lots of levels and, as far as I can tell, few ways of earning lives making the game one of, essentially, attrition. I also found out that there's a GBA game of the same title, which I suspect is the precursor to this one. So, this could just be an example of outdated game design? Outdated at best, but mediocre at worst? Though, I think that this type of design was outmoded even in the days of GBA.... What I did not know was that you pick an M&M to play! And they have different stats! Power, speed, etc. This is pretty wild - and I have no idea how it all plays into the game...and I'm not too excited to find out, but still..here's a "modern" idea that seems shoehorned into the game and not really supported (it's not like you can quickly switch over and try another character - like you could swap cars in a racing game). So, you're sort of committed to the decision early in the game without knowledge. I'd almost bet money that it's a purely cosmetic choice... As you break blocks you get items - most are points but I think some are a bit better (I think I hit one that gave me an extra life)... The gameplay is actually fun, and light, and more varied than you'd expect. It's just the meta- lives/continues system that really drags the game down. I wonder if there's like a cheat code for many extra lives?
March 25, 2022 08:27:18 PM
It is often the case when I buy a used DS game that the cart has the prior owner's saved game on it. Often several, and I always wonder "who was this person? why did they stop playing"? It feels a little bit like being a voyeur - you're peering into someone's interrupted gameplay but there's a record showing a little of what they did and how they did it. Of course this varies between games - some saved games are more personalized and personal than others. Say, there's a player name - or some character that was designed specifically, or the game has some inventory, status, etc. This game has 3 save slots - and all three were used, but none showed any significant progress in the game which surprised me a little. But, what also caught my attention was the state of them - no lives and no continues left. So, whenever I loaded up a level, as soon as I lost a life, pow. Game over. Of course I can reload a saved game and start over - but it's a lot of extra steps that I wasn't too enthused. I did check the options trying to figure out how to delete/clear the saved files and there was nothing there. Sigh. Fortunately the internet came through - pressing all the face buttons and L and R did the trick when I was in the select saved game screen - which was neat. Apparently it's the "default"/generic re-start for DS carts? Interesting! The game itself? Well, I haven't played much - but it seems mostly a break-out style action/puzzler. Levels with goals (clear all cubes then bounce into an exit square). I'm interested to play it now that I can (presumably) die more than once without problems. On the other hand, the lives system seems antiquated even then - essentially locking players out of progress once they run out of lives and continues.

M&M's Break 'Em (DS)