Jenga World Tour

Board games are constantly evolving. During the 80s and 90s, traditional roll-the-dice, pick-a-card games were superseded by more adventurous offerings. Many had an electronic element, but there were a few that sustained consumers’ interest without going high-tech.

One of the frontrunners was Jenga, a puzzle game that used nothing more than rectangular blocks. Stacked several inches high to form a skyscraper shape, Jenga challenges players to remove blocks from its core and place them on top. The winner isn’t determined by high score, but by the ability to survive. The loser, then, is the one who carelessly reaches for a piece that wasn’t willing to budge, causing the tower to fall. Sometimes by stupidity and sometimes by default, Jenga is a game with an unofficial timer. Because no matter how good of a player you are, the blocks that hold this structure will eventually run out, leaving no block to grab except those that will lead to your demise. 

Shown here: the Nintendo Wii version (which, visually, isn’t that different from the DS version). 

Sci-fi novelists and filmmakers alike assume that, in time, everything will be remade in virtual form. Chances are another millennium will pass before we’re playing holographic games with a Wookiee. But if the next iteration of game consoles and handhelds are any more interactive than the current crop, we might end up playing with pieces that aren't really there.

Jenga World Tour, a pint-sized adaptation of the Hasbro hit, is a step toward that evolution. It isn’t a mind-blowing conversion. The game stumbles more than a loose Jenga tower. But there is something to appreciate about the way it was conceived, something that shows the game could’ve worked well if certain realities hadn’t gotten in the way. In spite of its flaws, if you’re intrigued enough to learn the controls, you most definitely will be engaged enough to play through the short World Tour mode. Beyond that, however, Jenga doesn’t come off as much more than a novelty.
 

What a Drag

Jenga World Tour does the obvious and uses the Nintendo DS’ touch screen as a positioning device. The game is played sideways like Brain Age, Planet Puzzle League and other recent releases. Any of the 50+ blocks are selectable by touch. Merely tapping a block won’t do anything except bring up a red, yellow, or green highlight, which surrounds the edges of the selected block to note its difficulty. Red blocks are deemed the most difficult to remove, yellow blocks are medium, and green blocks are said to be the easiest. This isn’t an entirely accurate reading – there are many red-highlighted blocks that aren’t hard to remove at all, especially when the tower has been refreshed. You’re better off judging each block by each circumstance. If a block looks like it’s going to bring down the house, it probably will.

With a stylus in hand, newcomers will be amused by Jenga’s 3D shape and swiveling camera. Push the D-pad to rise up or down or to circle around the tower, and touch the arrow icons (on screen) to zoom or adjust the angle. For a few moments, the game seems like it’s going to be just like the physical Jenga.

Then you touch one of the blocks and, from that position, attempt to pull it out of the tower. This is done by dragging the stylus away from the tower. It sounds simple and, in a perfect world, would have been fantastic. But while the DS is capable of producing 3D graphics, its touch-screen interactions are strictly two-dimensional. You can only draw lines, circles, and other flat shapes on the screen. It is not possible to lift the stylus and pull it toward yourself, as needed to simulate the real Jenga.

This means that some blocks are too easy to remove and others are too difficult. No matter how challenging, one common theme prevails: to move a block, you must first adjust the camera to correspond with the angle of the touch-and-drag pattern that’s necessary to remove the block. It gets easier with time, but there won’t be any challenge left by the time you get the hang of it. Once that happens, there’s a simple way to defeat your AI opponents almost every time: start by picking pieces from the bottom, and then choose pieces from the top. Your opponent won’t have anywhere to go except the middle, which has been compromised thanks to your starting moves.

Once a block has been removed, it automatically floats to the top of the screen. Red, yellow and green highlights appear again, this time on top of the tower to show where the block may be placed. Quickly tap a highlight two or three times for a safe landing.

Despite the inescapable imperfections, Jenga World Tour is a moderately interesting game. I liked how the developers used the camera to compensate for the lack of full block maneuverability. It may not have delivered the best results, but without motion controls (as present in the Wii version), there are only so many things that can be done. 

Of course, I’m reviewing this game as someone that appreciates all works of game development, not as a casual gamer, Jenga’s target market. Those players may not be as patient. Without saying a word about Jenga World Tour’s content, I handed it off to my sister, a casual gamer who loves the real Jenga. When I asked what she thought of the game, her only response was, “It’s slow.” She returned the game after 20 minutes and did not ask to play it again.

Gameplay: 6.5
Touch and drag. Touch and drag. And swivel the camera. Nothing more, nothing less.

Graphics: 5.0
Jenga World Tour’s visuals lack detail and are a bit washed out.

Sound: 5.0
Not all of the music tracks are repetitive, which is surprising considering the nature of handheld games. But the sound effects are torture.

Difficulty: Easy
See above: “Touch and drag.” If you can’t do that, you probably shouldn’t own a DS.

Concept: 6.0
Ice blocks are supposed to be slippery, vine blocks are supposed to move slower, and fire blocks are supposed to be…actually, I’m not sure what their effect is. You’ll see a lot of block types in this game, none of which successfully pull off the claimed ailment. You’ll also encounter levels where blocks are frozen or disappear as a result of some environmental hazard.

Multiplayer: 4.0
If Ultimate Mortal Kombat can pull off single-card multiplayer, Jenga World Tour has no excuse.

Overall: 6.1
An interesting novelty, Jenga World Tour isn’t the casual market-appeasing game it needs to be to succeed. While oddball gamers like myself may find temporary amusement, the rest of the world will likely stick to the real Jenga game.