A Christmas Gift for the Kids
Tuesday, 15 November 2011 13:56
Winter in Blue Mountain is based on a famous Christmas series in Norway. Ravn Studios has now taken it a step further and released a Nintendo DS from the series, and with Christmas around the corner this might just be the perfect gift for all those kids with a Nintendo DS laying around.
The story is best described in the booklet following the game: ‘’ The player will be the blue “nisse” girl Turte, who discovers that a red “nisse” girl is hiding in the Blue Mountain. The Blue Mountain rule says that “The blue “nisse” taking a red “nisse” or rural people into the Blue Mountain must leave the Blue Mountain and never come back. So all the other blue “nisses”, and especially Blue Mother and Blue Father, are horror-struck when Turte and Twin introduce the Red “Nisse” girl. To get the blue “nisses” to understand that all “nisse” hat colors are just as good, the wise and good Queen Mountain Rose asks to have a new Christmas cape made in a completely new color – a blue color with a big of red in it. They will need the Red “nisse” girls help to make it”.
See, it’s complicated, but once you boot up the game you know the kids are going to love it. First thing that may strike you is the resemblance to the classic Mario Brothers theme of gameplay. Easy controllers make this a classic for younger kids since you are basically just moving your character with and addition of jumping. Collect enough collectables and you unlock golden snowflakes which are what’s needed to proceed to the next level. There are obstacles in your way that you need to avoid such as falling icicles, spikes, winds, and also to occasional wandering Santa, which can be harmed by jumping on top of his hat and push it onto him, trapping him. Also another golden rule to remember, humans must never see the “nisses”, never.
At the end of every world you will pull out a sleigh and go downhill, this adds for a little refreshing from the usual side scrolling gameplay and it keeps things interesting without being to repetitive. The game acts and looks like a classic DS game, not the most impressive graphics available and not the most inventive gameplay ever, but the theme of the game and the meaning behind the story is such a good one even adults can help to feel it.
Winter in Blue Mountain is clearly a game for kids, adults might find it repetitive and lacking but this game is made for the younger audience. And in today’s gaming community there is too much violence and intense action so I recommend this game to anyone who wants a safe and easy DS game for their kids. With 9 main areas and 4 levels within each area there is enough entertainment for a kid to be had in here to last them past Christmas and into the New Year. Although this is a game that once you have beaten it doesn’t really give you much of a replay value, and as mentioned earlier some might find it repetitive, if I should review this game for kids it would be top score, but since I need to nitpick there is games out there that deliver more entertainment for the same amount of money, but, clearly this is for the fans of the series and the fans of the series are going to love it!
For more information about the game go check out http://www.ravnstudio.no/winter-in-blue-mountain-/
