A group of duck friends finds an old game cartridge and decides to take it home and play it.  But when they do, an evil spirit emerges and traps them in the room and forces them to play games to make it out alive!  This game is a take on WarioWare, where you play small mini-games in succession.  But instead of games that only take seconds to play, these are a bit more involved and may take a minute or longer to beat.  And most are imitations of arcade and console classics, from titles like Namco’s Tank Battalion or Game & Watch to Rhythm Heaven!  The game is available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

The game has several modes for single and multiplayer.  I wasn’t able to try the party modes since I don’t have as many opportunities to play games with others like I used to, but there’s a lot to offer there so that’s good.  There are modes for single players as well, like a story mode, a mode where you can play each game you’ve unlocked to earn medals to unlock goodies, and an endless mode.  The story mode is divided into chapters where you play as each duck friend.  Every duck has to play ten mini-games in succession, with a boss game at the end.  You can play with several difficulty options and you must get through all ten games without losing lives.  You get five to start, and you can choose to skip a game for a life.  And on the easy mode, you can even skip the boss game, too, if it’s too hard.

The main problem I had with this game is the pacing.  WarioWare works because the games aren’t usually that good, but you only spend three seconds or so with them so it’s not bad.  Here you have to spend a minute or more, where you can pinpoint the flaws of each game easier.  The instructions for each game aren’t written very well and the text is too small, too.  After a while, the game loses its luster and isn’t that much fun.  I’d rather just go play WarioWare instead.

Kid Factor:

D.U.C.K. Dangerous Ultimate Cartridge Kidnapper is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Blood and Violence.  Many of the games imitate arcade classics where you shoot things, and there are bug guts and such, too.  I caught a few things the ESRB didn’t, like mild language in some of the games like the bomb diffusing one, and alcohol references in the bar themed games.  Reading skill is helpful for the text, and younger gamers may find it too difficult.

Tags: Game Reviews