I’m getting really tired of ports to the DS. Really, really, tired. Why do companies make them? It’s such a simple fact that the DS doesn’t have the technical power to give a remotely similar gaming experience to the PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii versions of the game. And unless it’s a complete remake of the game, like what we’re going to get with Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, it’s probably going to be absolutely atrocious. Take notes here EA, Activision, Ubisoft and everyone else. We just don’t want it anymore. I doubt there are enough people who buy these to actually make up the money spent. So just stop it. Is there some sort of contract Nintendo has you looped into that makes it so you are required to port your console games onto the DS? If not, then come on. Now, if you didn’t catch on with my opening rant, I don’t like this game very much. I’ve already played too many crappy racing games on the DS. I’ve already played too many crappy ports of current-gen games on the DS. And combining the two didn’t make it better.
Untamed isn’t anything more than a stock, average, bare-bones racing game on the DS that has a goofy little trick system that doesn’t add to the painfully stale gameplay. I’m being a little bit harsh…but I repeat, this game is bad and I’m resenting my DS from playing so many bad racing games, bad ports, and bad ports of racing games that I’m pulling hair out. The controls are little more than you’d expect from a racing game. The A button is go. The B button is stop. The other buttons do tricks. That’s it (and the start button is pause…or something). That’s pretty much the entirety of the game. Levels are generally uninspired. They’re simple, normal tracks centered on turning and bouncing atop (or steering around) the occasional series of hills in order to outrace the other three drivers on the track. There’s no real personality to any of the locales you race in. Really, there just isn’t much to the game. And there’s no redemption in its multiplayer. If it had, say, single cartridge multiplayer, then the game would have at least a sliver of value. But it doesn’t. It’s a bad game that you’re not going to find anybody to play with.
Graphically, the game is just plain bad. Remember Mario Kart 64? Remember how you played a long time, but didn’t notice that the actual drivers were all 2D, while all the levels were 3D? Which Nintendo brilliantly used to make the game look better than it actually was, and even better what the N64 would’ve been technically capable of otherwise? This game doesn’t have that. What it has are fairly well-rendered riders on their ATV or MX bike on probably the worst textures you’ll see in modern video games. And they don’t mix well, those brightly-colored racers on dull, brown tracks with black stripes. Topping that off, the sound effects and music are in no way noteworthy. The sound is all forty-second midis looped endlessly, which get unheard thanks to the whirring and droning of the engines.
This is a fairly short review…but it’s for a lamentably simple game that doesn’t really have much worth commenting on further. Gameplay? Painfully simple and boring. Story? None. Quality compared to console version? Bad. Graphics? Badly implemented. Sound? Nothing more than you’d expect from a low-budget DS game. Music? Nothing you’ll have to worry (or care) about. Multiplayer? Doesn’t really matter, because nobody’s buying this game. Should you buy this game? No. Should you look for your racing fix on the PS3 version of the game? Yes.