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Giana Sisters DS is about as basic as run-and-jump platformers come. You run, you jump, you smash blocks with your head and you shoot fireballs. The remake of this Mario clone from the 80's does little to differentiate itself and falls victim of being completely unremarkable. The game is divided in to 8 worlds cut in to 80 levels. Your goal is simple: Reach to blue flag at the end of every level in order to advance to the next. The formula is consistent and easily understood. No complex objectives or additional feats required. All you have to do is reach the flag. 90% of the time, it will be a walk in the park as the game offers very little challenge overall, excluding some of the very later levels. You can also collect red diamonds to unlock extra levels. The levels are often very straight-forward and lack variety. Sure, there are grass levels, mountain levels, castle levels, snow levels, rain levels, cloud levels and even a few Hell levels. But you will soon realize that all of it is purely aesthetic. The levels offer nothing unique to them and the monotony of it is painfully obvious. Even the levels you can only reach by collecting all of the red diamonds in each world totally lack any special to them. They are completely normal levels and thus lack any reason to bother unlocking them unless you simply wants to do a 100% completion run through the game. Each level will treat you to a countless number of diamonds that you can collect to earn points and gain extra lives, though only the extra lives will matter to you. You can find one power-up that transforms Giana in to Punk Giana, revealing her wild side. This power-up allows you to break blocks with her head and shoot fireballs to defeat your enemies as well as take one extra hit before death. Obstacles and enemies are introduced throughout the game, but they are all simple and unimpressive. Most enemies are easily defeated by hopping on their heads or blasting them with a fireball. Some are indestructible and require you to avoid in order to advance. A couple of additional elements, bubblegum and soda, can be found in some levels which can be used to float around the air (gum) or remove blocks in your way (soda) so that you may progress or find red diamonds hidden throughout. There is one, count 'em, one boss in this game. A dragon, which you battle at the end of each world. Each time you face the dragon, he gets a bit faster, deadlier and tougher to defeat. His pattern is simple and predictable though, making these encounters little more than routine. To its credit, the later levels do begin to feature a number of hidden passages and maze-like dungeons, and the game's mechanics work just as they should. There's really nothing wrong with the game, but it's severely unimpressive. There are so many other, better and more intelligently designed 2D platformers out there, it's hard to say that this game is really worth picking up to anyone but a select crowd: Children and long-time fans of the original. And once the game is finished, it's finished. The levels are not fun or creative enough to want to revisit them, the unlockable levels are completely worthless and the built-in achievements list is short and easily completable in one run through the game. On a side note, despite the title of the game, Giana's sister, Maria, is not included in this remake. It's just Giana and her punk alter-ego. I don't know if this matters much to many people, though.Read full review
Awesome, challenging gameplay. Love this game. 80 levels make playing for hours. Fun for adults and kids.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This game is really fun and nice music no longer a clone from the first game.
Verified purchase: No
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