courtesy of ign
At last, there is a game that can explain to me where babies come from! My family never gave me "the talk", and growing up a gawky white nerdboy, I never learned much about the birds and the bees besides that there are birds, there are bees, somehow babies are related to birds and bees, and that everything in that equation starts with a "B". I'd like to think that this is the reason why this thing called "sex" that I've heard others speak of with such passion has so doggedly eluded me for much of my life.
At last, after having played this game at TGS 2005, I know that babies come from running away from sumo wrestlers and defeating crab monsters. Thanks, Sonic Team!
The intriguingly-named Where Do Babies Come From? (which is bound to get a more proper name in America) is the sequel to Japan's I Would Die For You. Better known stateside as Feel The Magic XX/XY, the series launched as an instant cult classic on the DS at launch. For the sequel, Sega is cracking the egg many different ways while still retaining the heart and soul of the original in its endearing love story.
The gameplay structure of this second Feel The Magic still retains the minigame approach of the original, with the same split-panel storytelling leading into the bizarre and yet meaningful gameplay oddities. In the first three stages of the game demoed at the show, we were introduced to the girl who stole our hearts when we passed by her on an escalator while hanging out with our Rub Rabbits friends. Her yellow bikini, tight jeans, and silhouetted body meant love at first sight for our hero, and he dashed up the escalator to try and meet her. Unfortunately, the escalator was filled with citizens and sumo wrestlers, who we had to dodge as we raced up to present her with a flower. At last, we made it up, and met up with our love on the beach. (How often it is that you take an escalator up to get to sea level, by the by, is something that we won't ask.) Unfortunately, our love was not yet to blossom, as a giant creature rose from the sea and came for us. Our boy thought quickly, and basket-tossed the girl up into a palm tree, then dashed up himself to shake the tree himself and let his buddies (who also leapt up to the treetops) fall out of the tree to stop the creature from getting the girl.
By design, the game looks and plays just like the original, and it still focuses almost entirely on touchscreen gameplay, ignoring the D-Pad and buttons for the minigames. The colorful style and mix of 2D and 3D have lost none of their charm in the sequel, and the play variety has taken some fun twists and turns. Literally. This game often has you flipping the DS to the left or right, even upside down to play from a new angle. The treetop sequence, for example, had you spin the DS 180 degrees so that the crab monster was down below you instead of wasting the touch screen when the action is happening down below. Another level had you flip the system 90 degrees so that you could see both yourself and another character -- in this instance, it was the rival girl in the middle of this love triangle (an 18-year-old friend who has had the hots for you and has finally come for you just as you've found your own love). On one screen, she was blowing kisses at you, and on the other was you, tied up and bound in the air, kicking the floating kisses away with the touchscreen control to try and avoid her love in your quest for your dream girl.
It's a little kinky, it's a little crazy, but Where Do Babies Come From? is very welcome on the DS. If you loved the first one, there's plenty to make you swoon again in the sequel. The game ships in Japan late in October, and will hopefully hit the American market before the end of the year.
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