You know you're doing something right when you can distract a
Pokemon-crazed 6-year old boy from his game.
Foto Showdown is blatantly derivative, but still manages to pull everything together into a package that works. The idea of making a game exclusive to the DSi is a bit risky; we all complained about giving up our old carts during the transition from GBA to DS, but who would have thought about a DSi-only title? The camera does play a central role in
Foto Showdown, not because you import pictures, but because you take pictures to generate monsters. Old dudes like me can remember the game that really brought this into being:
Monster Rancher. It's been a while since one of these released, but the idea was that you could generate monsters by popping a CD into your console's tray.
Mixed input doesn't always create the kind of variety you'd like to see in Foto Showdown, however. The battles are fairly bland, set in a field of battle that draws inspiration from any turn-based strategy game you can remember playing. It's not exactly as simple as it looks, but it looks pretty simple. The characters don't animate, but you get to admire them both in battle, and on special monster cards you can collect and add to your deck. Aside from a few locations you'll explore outside of your "room," which is good for saving and checking your cards, Foto Showdown doesn't offer any open-world appeal. This is in contrast to something like Pokemon, where you do feel like you're on an epic journey. There's an ample supply of cute music in the game, plus plenty of cute and sassy girls.
