Treasure World – NDS – Review

Games like Pokemon and Animal
Crossing have acquired huge fan bases for many reasons, but one of the biggest
is their focus on collecting. By letting their players find and collect lots of
decorative or ornamental items, these games allow a level of customization and
personalization that’s pretty addicting. Developers Aspyr Media has taken this
idea and run with it in the new DS treasure-collecting title Treasure World.

Treasure World sees players helping
an intergalactic traveler known as the Star Sweeper. This old man’s spaceship
has run out of fuel, and he needs your help to get it up and running again. His
ship runs on stardust, and in return for collecting some for him the Star
Sweeper will trade you some of his treasures, which you can then use to
customize the game world to your liking. He’s got a robot called the Wish Finder
that will help you, but for the most part it’s up to you and your DS to find the
stardust.

Instead of searching the game world
for the stardust, however, you’ll be searching the real world, using the DS’s
Wi-Fi capabilities. Apparently, the wireless signals put out by PCs, cell
phones, and other electronic devices generate stardust and even treasure, and
you can collect these simply by bringing your DS within range. While in Search
mode your DS will register each wireless connection it detects. When you’ve
finished searching you can look at and “open” the different signals you
discovered; the game then uses technical data sent by the wireless signal to
generate either stardust or new treasures for you to use in the game.

 
Searching puts your DS on standby so you
can close it, then explore in search of Wi-Fi signals.

There are literally thousands of
different treasures to be found. Treasure could be anything from trees and
plants, decorative items like statues and pillars, items to personalize the Wish
Finder robot, like clothing, hair styles, or facial expressions, and even
seasonal gear like jack o’ lanterns, snowmen, and Christmas trees. Suffice it to
say that anyone wanting to complete the game 100% has their work cut out for
them. Once you’ve found a treasure it’s yours to do with it as you will, which
mostly means using them to decorate either the Wish Finder or the moonlit field
where the game takes place.

 
There are sets of themed treasures,
allowing you to decorate your robot
and field as you see fit. This player has
gone with a pirate theme.

The treasures you place in your
field aren’t just for decoration, though. Each treasure has a musical tone
associated with it, like “High Trumpet” or “8-Bit Tone”, and the location you
choose to place that item determines the note of the tone. Once you’ve filled
your field with the items of your choosing you can “play” the song your treasure
creates. With enough hard work and patience it would be possible to create songs
in this way, though your field is only big enough to allow for a few seconds of
music.

Treasure collectors can also access
Club Treasure World, the game’s integrated Web site. By creating an account
players can link their copy of the game to the site, which uploads an exact copy
of your customized Wish Finder and field to their site. From there you can talk
to and trade treasures with other players, map out where exactly you found
certain treasures, and share your created music.

 
Club Treasure World is a social
networking site that lets you interact with other Treasure World players
and
show off your personal treasures to the world.

If it sounds underwhelming,
that’s because it kind of is. Truth be told, there’s not much game here –
no town to explore or neighbors to befriend like in Animal Crossing, no enemies
to fight or storyline to finish. You can find new treasures, decorate your world
and your robot, and create short musical sequences, and that’s about it. And
while just finding all the different treasures would definitely take a while,
some players are bound to be turned off the game by the simple fact that there
isn’t really anything to do.

But that’s missing the point.
Since the game keeps track of which wireless signals you’ve already found, if
you want to keep finding new treasures you have to keep finding new Wi-Fi spots.
When I found myself taking a different route to the store just in hopes of
finding new treasure locations, I suddenly realized what the game was trying to
do. The “game” in Treasure World isn’t in the DS cartridge, it’s out in the real
world. By forcing you to search your home, town, or neighborhood for new
wireless signals, Treasure World is sending you out on a real-life treasure
hunt.

Assigning a score to something like
Treasure World is tough: it doesn’t really fit the established definition of a
“video-game”, but it’s fun nonetheless. It uses the DS hardware in unique and
interesting ways, and it makes the simple act of carrying a closed DS around
town fun and exciting. If you’re not a fan of collect-a-thons there’s little
chance you’ll get into this, but for anyone looking for a very different
experience, Treasure World can get quite addicting.

Gameplay: 7.0
You’re pretty limited when it comes
to interacting with the treasures you find, or with any aspect of the game, for
that matter. Most of the fun you’ll have with Treasure World comes from scouring
your neighborhood for new wireless signals. Some will find it enthralling, some
will be bored, but there’s no denying that it’s different.

Graphics: 7.4
Treasure World is a good looking
game, due more to nice artistic design than any impressive technical
achievements. Every treasure you collect is visually unique, giving you tons of
options for decorating your field. The field is only lit by the perpetually
bright moon, so every item and decoration you place has a long shadow, which
looks really great when the field is full.

Sound: 7.1
There’s very little pre-made music
in the game; rather, you can create your own music by carefully arranging the
objects you’ve found in your field. There are tons and tons of different
instruments and effects you can use, but your compositions are fairly limited in
size.

Difficulty: Easy
Playing Treasure World depends on
your ability to uncover new wireless signals. If you live in the city, this will
be easy; rural gamers will have a much harder time. Nevertheless, a simple walk
or drive to school or the store is usually enough to fill your inventory with
tons of new treasures.

Multiplayer: 8.5
If you are dedicated to the game and
utilize the Club Treasure World website, you can send messages, trade treasures,
show off your field, and play your music for other players the world over. This
social-networking aspect of the game is extensive, so players will never be at a
loss for other players to interact with.

Concept: 8.8
The game’s innovative use of the
DS’s technical abilities and Web site integration makes it one of the more
inventive titles available today. If there’s a sequel, though, here’s hoping
that they dedicate a little more energy to devising entertaining things you can
do in the game.

Overall: 7.3
While it gets points for some
serious innovation, it’s hard to say that Treasure World is a great game. It’s
hard to call it a “game” at all, really. Rather, it’s a clever and fun toy, one
that uses the DS’s technical capabilities for unique and addictive effect – fun
for those who “get it,” but utterly pointless for those who don’t.