by Ron Williamson - March 29, 2006

Paintball is a growing phenomenon that allows people to shoot each other with no repercussions! With its growing popularity it was just a matter of time before it was translated into a video game. It is the perfect sport for any first person shooter fan as it translates exactly from the real world into the digital world. And with the inclusion of the touch screen on the Nintendo DS it’s the perfect mobile platform for this type of game. I only wish the transition had been a little smoother. Are you a paintball addict who needs to play the game on the go? If yes, you may need to wait a little longer for a fix. Greg Hastings’ Tournament Paintball Max’d from Nightlight Studios and Activision just misses the target.

3…2…1…Paintball!

At this point in time everyone in America should know at least the basics of the sport Paintball. For those unlucky few who may have never heard of it, here is a basic breakdown: Two teams are placed in a field full of various obstructions and barriers. Each member of both teams is equipped with a high power air rifle that shoots small paint-filled balls. In the end, whoever doesn’t have any paint on their person is the winner. This mode of play is mimicked precisely in Greg Hasting’s Tournament Paintball Max’d for the Nintendo DS. But what kind of game comes out with just one game play option? Well, in this title there are three: the first mode as described above and two different capture-the-flag modes. In the first capture-the-flag mode both teams compete on capturing a flag placed in the center of the playing field. Once captured you then have to place the flag on the fence behind enemy lines. In the next mode you have to get the flag off the other team’s fence and bring it back to your own fence. Easy enough, except that you have to worry about the other team hunting you down. The game play dynamic is easy enough to grasp even if you’ve never played paintball before. The hard part is actually controlling the game. The main, and best, control method is strafing with the directional pad and aiming with the touch pad, as you would with a laptop mouse pad. You will fire with either shoulder button you chose. Anyone who has ever played the Metroid Prime: Hunters demo will be very familiar with this control scheme. You can even adjust the look sensitivity to fit your needs.

Once you are familiar with the controls and you begin getting in the heat of combat you will find that the control scheme isn’t going to be a thing to be worried about; it’s the environment. One crippling flaw this game has is its inability to decide where objects begin and end. This problem is strangely more noticeable when you are in the crouched position. Anyone with any sense wouldn’t run out into the open during a battle, so you have to hide behind something. Once you do though be careful; you might find that you can’t easily get around this barrier should you need to. When you do this you will find that the view begins to jump dramatically back and forth. Not only does this make it impossible for you to eliminate any of your opponents but it also makes you a very easy target. As if it weren’t bad enough that the environment hinders your movement, it also doesn’t always stop the opposite team. On numerous occasions I saw my opponents run straight through a barrier and shoot me. This is not only cheating, but also very frightening if you’re not expecting it. So game play is basically you being stuck next to a fence while the other team teleports through a tree and eliminates your entire team.

The AI is something else that is deeply troubling. Remember how I said anyone with sense wouldn’t run into the open during a battle? Well, your teammates don’t have any sense. Sometimes they will surprise you and actually shoot an opponent or two, but most of the time they just run around and get shot, or they hide and never move. Either way, they don’t contribute much to the match. Your opponents on the other hand demonstrate some very good tactical moves, and they are very good shots. Though playing against them is far, far easier than playing an actual person would be.

Once you get the hang of the controls you’ll find that you begin flying through matches and winning every time. During the first match watch your opponents’ configuration and you’ll probably see that exact same formation in the next round. Although some of the strategies they use are clever, they often only have the one strategy which they use every round. As you progress through the game somehow despite the fact that you are facing tougher teams, things seem to keep getting easier. This is of course once you learn to recognize your enemy. They have designed the game so that you can easily get shot from across almost the entire field. You can of course shoot your opponents at the same distance, if you can see them. Unless you are right on top of them the opposing team can be almost entirely invisible. This doesn’t stop them from shooting you, but it sure does make it harder to shoot them back. Also from a distance they look deceptively like the logos printed on the barrier bags on the field. Sometimes you will find yourself shooting at a vacant wall while you are getting pelted from behind. A keen eye and a little bit of practice will at least partially overcome this, but you really have to constantly strain your eyes for an adversary.

After you win your first couple of tournaments and you start playing the capture the flag modes things start to feel a little more mixed up and exciting. This is probably the climax of the game. After that you just keep playing the same three modes over and over and over again. The game just sort of plateaus before you’re even out of the rookie matches. By the time you reach "amateur" status, you being to feel a little bored. Of course the later levels are harder and require more strategy, but there is nothing new in the way of game play to keep you interested. What could possibly make this game a little more exciting and playable? You guessed it, multiplayer. Thankfully they did grace us with a multiplayer mode; unfortunately there is no download play, only Multi-cart play. Having a couple friends to play might make things a little more exciting, but I’m not sure it’s enough to save this title.

Paintball as it was Never Supposed to Look

The first thing you may notice when you fire up your DS is a neat video intro, featuring a rap song with loose references to Paintball. It’s very nice to see video on the DS and I wish there was more of it. It was after I watched the video that I lost hope of being impressed by this title again. This is perhaps the first title I’ve encountered where there is absolutely no interactivity with the touch screen in the menus. Perhaps the most key feature in the success of the DS is completely ignored in everything except game play. Strike one. Not only are the menus on the top screen, but they are very poor looking as well. Strike two. Again, I was disappointed with the drawings of the characters in the game. I don’t really think anyone really cares that much about what character you are since it doesn’t affect game play (there is a leveling up system which makes everyone identical in the end). And….you’re out!

Once you get past all of the menus and you actually start playing you may experience some confusion. After playing beautifully done 3D games such as Mario 64 DS on the DS you begin to wonder if the DS is even as powerful as the Nintendo 64. All of the geometry is blocky, the character models are ok, but unless you are close, they hardly seem humanoid, and the textures are awful. Who would of thought you’d have such a texture pop-up problem on a cartridge based video game system? Well if you didn’t think it was possible at this stage of the game then buy this title and be amazed at how textures can pop-up not only in the distance but also right in front of you! It’s inexcusable for a game this simple to have graphics like this. The game isn’t very extensive, game play modes don’t vary that much and it shouldn’t require that much processing power to render one playing field and 6 people. I could even happily deal with pop-up if the game wasn’t so choppy. When you get hit for the first time in a match you have the opportunity to try to cheat by timing a button press based on a rapidly moving marker. Hit it in the center or near the center and you can keep playing. Hit it in the middle and you’re out, and hit it on the very end then you are caught cheating and not only are you out but so is one of your team mates. Now I can handle a little chop from time to time, but how in the world are you supposed to time this action if the meter is choppy? It’s beyond me.

I think there are many points where the development team could have improved this title. In fact there are times where the graphics are almost so distracting that it almost becomes unplayable. One small thing they could have done as well is made the awful circular sprites that represent the paintballs a different color for each team. It’s very confusing trying to figure out who is shooting at who when everything is the same color.

Break-Beats and Broken Hearts

The opening video is great in its own respect, though I think the song choice could have been greatly improved. In fact that’s pretty much how I feel about every song in this game. The break-beat they have in the menus just makes me want to cry every time I hear it. If you are going to put something that sounds "Hardcore" in your game to make it seem a little edgier it shouldn’t be something so generic and it should have a little variety in its composition. Admittedly I found the music during game play distracting and preferred playing the game with the sound down. The only thing that you’d miss with the game muted is the indication that one of your teammates has been eliminated. However, if you pay attention you will notice that in the upper left hand corner of the screen anyway. I wish there was more to say about the sound of this game, but there just wasn’t enough content in the game to rate.

A Match?.... Sure Why Not?

Despite all of its short-comings the game does have its own unique feel that no other first person shooters have. For that reason it does get some bonus points. It does have some replayability but it’s not the kind of game you’re going to be playing a lot of. It seems much more like something you might throw in when you are bored of your other titles, or you need a change of pace. I do have to give it some credit for being one of the first first-person games on the DS. Being first is always hard, and people always have high expectations. Once you get the hang of the control and you get used to graphics and how everything operates with respect to everything else you will find the game has some worth. If you really haven’t any interest in paintball you probably aren’t going to be too forgiving of the title. If you really, really need a first person shooter on a portable system, then go grab it. It will at least hold you over until more games come out. If you are a paintball fanatic and you have to have everything paintball and you don’t care about anything except paintball, then this is the title for you.

Plasmaball!

I respect developers and how hard it is to create the games we play. I never take for granted that they spend all day, every day, at the computer ruining their vision and tearing out their hair trying to get a game to work and stressing the entire time because they don’t know if it will even be worth all the panic. However, I also understand self-respect and image and if a game isn’t up to par, it shouldn’t be released until it is ready. I know money is hard to come by and games are very expensive to produce, which is why I don’t think the money should be wasted on titles that aren’t going to succeed. I think most developers know that the game won’t succeed, and I think they don’t try as hard as a result. Perhaps next time just use that money to make a worthwhile title a little better.

Match Over!

Greg Hastings’ Tournament Paintball Max’d is certainly not the best game for the DS. I also don’t feel that it is the worst. Basically the game has sub-par graphics, control, and sound. These three things are probably the most important aspects of a title. Even if the story of a title is horrendous if it is fun to play and looks okay, it’ll probably end up being pretty successful. Of course no one aspect of a game will make it, but not having one of those aspects can ruin it. This game had potential, potential that just wasn’t, and probably never will be, realized. A little bit of time and attention to detail can go a very long way. If you are a hardcore gamer, then you should probably steer clear of this title. If you love paintball or you don’t sweat the details maybe give it a whirl. I hope future iterations of this title (if there ever are any) get their act together and they put in the time that is needed to make it a decent game.