Two pens are more confusing than one
At first glance, Dual Pen Sports looked like Wii sports on the 3DS. For the most part it was identical only with a more sluggish control scheme. I spent many hours trying to get the feel for the odd, two stylus controls. After two or three games of soccer I suddenly realized I was hunched over like a praying mantis.
While, in theory, two pens are better than one, the same can’t be said for this game. Carrying two pens really is a burden and places a big hit in the portability. The whole point of getting a portable game is to avoid lugging around excess appendages.
Most of the games here function like they were supposed to. Only the basketball and archery games failed to function properly. After burning hours following the instructions word for word, the games still didn’t work right. I worked for two hours just trying to shoot a target with a bow. No matter how hard I tried the game still wouldn’t work right. Basketball failed in much the same way.
I started getting addicted to the boxing game though. And the four remaining games did a great job of keeping me entertained for hours. Boxing and soccer had the least amount of redundancy of all the games, and were the ones I played the most.
Like most Nintendo made sports games, the background music and sound effects are alright at first before they eventually grind on your nerves. After ten or so minutes I turned the volume down to mute.
Playing the games in 3D was kind of interesting. Baseball and soccer were the best games for that. With the 3D on it looked as if the ball jumped out of the screen. It defiantly made the game play much more interesting.
Even with the 3D I only give Dual Pen Sports 3 GiN Gems based on the fact that it is a great game to keep you occupied during those boring moments in life. However, with lackluster audio, poor control scheme and a few dysfunctional games, it should not be bought at full price.
As a side note, should the game drop in price, I recommend picking it up as a time waster. Hope reviewer Billy White won’t mind me stealing his thunder on that one.