Project Rub (Nintendo DS) Review

There is actually a point behind all the weirdness of Project Rub and that is 'get the girl'. A shy boy spots a beautiful lady on the street and falls head over heels for her, however, she is the most sought after girl in high school, with a smile that melts guys' hearts. Rather than remaining as a boy-hood crush, though, a strange man with bunny ears turns up and changes everything. This man, the leader of the Super Performance Group known as Rub Rabbits, gives the boy a shot at getting the girl in what turns out to be the most unusual love story you have yet to witness...

There is definitely a charm about Project Rub, just like WarioWare has. However, the two games are completely different in appearance, drawing barely any parallels. As the game focuses on the on-going love story, the main stars are the boy, girl and crazy bad guy, all of which are formed in very pleasing 3D models, albeit not very colourful ones. That is definitely Rub's trademark

There have been complaints since the Nintendo DS arrived on the scene, with a sector of the gaming community questioning just how revolutionary it really is. The reason for this is that developers have been rushing to get their games out in time for the launch window and this has ended up leaving some titles as nothing more than GBA games with a little touch- or dual-screen effect tacked on as an after-thought. Thankfully this does not seem to be the case with Feel the...sorry, Project Rub (ahem), with Sega's Sonic Team clearly understanding Nintendo's vision for aiming at a new area of gaming that will keep fans around the world from growing tired of the videogames Industry.

Project Rub contains various different techniques and minigames that simply could not be reproduced on any other system. There are games that test your reflexes to their limits, those that utilise both screens for real purpose, others where accuracy is of the utmost importance and some that just require you to carry out the craziest tasks you will have probably ever come across in the gaming world. Those who were worried about Sonic Team's diversionary game need not have worried too much, as this is amazing fun, yet a huge challenge.

From the start you are faced with 'Story', 'Memories', 'Option' and 'Maniac'. The options mode simply gives you the chance to change the in-game language when you start the game, with Memories being where you can access any minigame that you have completed in the main story section in order to hone your skills to perfection. Then there is Maniac, where players can modify the appearance of the young lady you are playing to obtain the affection of, but most of the options here only become available upon playing through the main game, again.

Looking at the Story mode, you are faced with seventeen storyboard scenes, each containing a variety of weird, wacky and wonderful games and scenarios to play out so that you can proceed. For instance, the introductory game has players rubbing a stomach in an upward motion to make a man vomit goldfish. Other tasks include tapping on a hundred bulls as they charge at you, whilst avoiding on-coming skiers; deftly manoeuvring a unicycle across narrow, winding paths as giant sharks jump out of the water at you; having to rub the girl clean, hold her hand whilst swatting bees, undressing her by a fire and dancing with her; as well as other boss battles such as trying to burn a large plant that is attacking you with its vines. There is such variety and a wealth of madness/enjoyment to be had here, making Project Rub one of those must-tries...

The problem levelled with this game, and one that I certainly have to agree with, is that it is all over far quicker than you would imagine. Whereas Nintendo's offering had vast amounts of mini-games to play through, as well as multi-player opportunities and secrets to uncover, Project Rub is far briefer, with no room for extra players to join in and the only real extras being the various outfits that can be collected throughout (with a few more being gained by putting various Sonic GBA titles in the DS system at the same time). The saving grace is that a few of the later games are very tricky to complete in just a couple of attempts, and perhaps this will add to the longevity for many gamers. The same is true for the section where you can replay any mini-game you have accessed over and over again to hone your skills. Maybe Sega will work on a future sequel that will vastly expand on this. But for the moment it lacks the length it should have.