Drake & Josh: Talent Showdown
Ages: Everyone

This is the second Drake and Josh I've reviewed and I am trying to figure out why the first on was more fun. There were more things to do. They sort of had a life -- sneaking around, playing the guitar, food fights and avoiding tomato missiles, security cameras and variety of enemies, hall monitors, angry boyfriends, football players, avoiding their sister.

In this game, you are trying to evade the Travis' big bullies who are constantly following you while you search for one thing or another in what feels like an endless pre-game to the guitar and magic bit. When caught, you can rub your stylus back and forth until the arrows separate and you are freed, but your health zooms down and you have to start all over again. Depending upon which character you play, your offensive weapons are flash powder, invisibility, water gun, slippery fire extinguisher goo.

It becomes more interesting in the mini-game part. Guitar playing is accomplished by pressing the correct direction on your D-pad to match the corresponding directional arrows on the guitar strings while strumming on the touch pad with the stylus. It sounds more complicated than it is – the only problem is that the music that is produced is pretty lame.

The magic part – Josh's contribution -- is performed by tracing over different shapes with the stylus. Having been a magician in my dark past – this takes all the magic out of it. They should have done something involving misdirecting, hiding, flipping – even putting items together in a strange way. Magic should be magical.

Fun Factor: I hope they are more fun on TV than they are here. The guitar bit is clever but it doesn't make the game.
Player Friendly: You can save up to three games.

Reviewed by: Editor - 08/07