Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure (Nintendo 3DS)

Having bought this on the strength of the demo (see Nintendo, they do work!) I haven't been disappointed. It's a sort of Professor Layton meets Elite Beat Agents mash up. You play "Phantom R", a young art thief searching for his missing father. The action is set in Paris, which is charmingly rendered and the meat of the action is in the rhythm games which have a good variety to them. Like the best games in the genre, when it all comes together it makes you feel like you really do have some great musical talent which I can assure you I do not. The situations are amusing ("no-one can escape the police rollerskating division!"). I defy anyone not to smile at this game!

There are some puzzles too, but these are fairly simplistic, which is ok for me as I don't really want distracted too much from the core musical elements.

Downsides are few - it is fairly easy (you won't fail many games even on your first try), so the challenge will be to get 'A' ranks which makes the rather loose scoring scheme a bit of a disappointment. It also doesn't autosave which is rather a throwback in the world of video games, so an absent minding exiting could cost you quite a bit of progress! (On the plus side, it has 3 save slots).

The 3D is good, though cross-talk is an issue with the art style, and it is hard to keep from jiggling about to the music, which plays havoc with the stereoscopic effect. Arguably those are system problems (although the latest Nintendo first party offerings have made good progress in mitigating these 3D issues).

In summary, a fine and charming little game.

EDIT: I have now completed this game, and feel it only fair to update my review. I complained above it was fairly easy, but the challenge level REALLY ramps up towards the end.... Luckily you can buy "items" with in game currency to help you get through. So, if you are holding of as you are afraid it is not challenging, don't be! Read more ›

I got this game as a late birthday present and, thanks to amazon, it arrived much earlier than expected.

My summary of this game is, well nothing more than spectacular! The graphics in the gameplay are unique and creative (although some might find them too unique and a somewhat "fuzzy" style), the little animated cutscenes that come up once in a while are cute and corny and also help you understand more about the storyline itself. Finaly the plot and characters in the game are what really moulds the thing together. (eventhough its very japanese!) The story is set in the beatiful city of paris (im not being too positive)and in a small apartment ,near the town, lives you, Raphael, an eightien year old boy who's father strangely disapered 3 years ago. You seem to be a very naive boy but you have a secret, you are also the infamous thief, Phanton R. The idea is that you have to try and find your father while dancing with the rhythem to escape a bunch "cops" unitill you meet a girl named Marie who (oh yeah, you have a dog) plays the voilin...yeah. Next thing you know, your in search of HER MOTHER too and going through amazing missions(including tilting the 3ds system all over the place) playing the violin and batteling an evil dude (who I will not tell you about because you can find him out yourself!) While your doing all this, you may discover that the game is really short! Belive me! I even felt a little sad and miserable because I had copleted the game on my 2nd day of getting it! But you will still enjoy the fun adventure you will go through! The game is quite easy too, it's the first time I've completed a game without my brother helping out in nearly every level! :D Plese comment to me! Bye! Sega make a sequel!

I really enjoyed this game, the story line was good and the rhythm games were amazing, if a little fast. Once you start you do not want to stop. I enjoyed this way more then professor layton.

This is possibly one of the most difficult ds games I have ever tried to play. I had to go to a cheat web site and I still didn't get it!

Its a game and keeps the mind ticking over. Nothing exceptional or earthshaking but its OK. More words required so here they are.

Such a good rythem game great story, great mini games and amazing main charter. If you ever like space channel 9 you will love this game.

In short this is a game where you dash around Paris fighting evil and saving a young girl through the medium of tapping the screen or pressing buttons to the beat of music.

And now that you know what to expect, on to the review!

If you ignore the plot, this is a great game. Vibrant, varied characters populate Paris and there is some great dialogue. The rhythm games, the core of the game really, are lots of fun and have a very nice difficulty curve. While there are side quests to keep you occupied they tend to involve randomly poking the screen until you find whatever it is you're looking for and as I mentioned at the beginning, the plot strains the belief of even the most tolerant players. But that's actually perfectly OK.

i found this game very enjoyable it had just the right amout of difficilty and many different rythm games to enjoy