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Touchmaster Review
Written by Robert Falcon on Monday, July 2, 2007
Online connectivity to leaderboards; a pretty good amount of mini-games to play
$10 overpriced; most of the games end too quickly; can be found in any bar machine for 25 cents a pop.
So Midway wants to make us all Touchmasters. Er, wait, that sounds almost disturbing. Do I really want to go out in public and describe myself as a "touch master"? And wait, what if someone wants prove that I've got the magic touch? What if it's a girl and it turns out to be a trap and I get maced and I can never get my eyesight back? Nah, maybe I worry too much. After all, this game is really based upon Midway's arcade Touchmaster machines, usually made for sports establishments, bars and other places where people can sit on their duffs and play games for twenty-five cents a pop.
Touchmaster bundles together twenty three games in all, separated through four different categories. Players can try their luck with games of skill, word, puzzle and cards, each with various rules and multiplayer opportunities. Yes, one or more players can alternate by passing around the DS, just like they would move out of each other's way playing the game on a touch-screen set-up at a different location. The touch-screen interface works the same way here, with most of the games requiring certain taps to complete. For instance, Hot Hoops has players pressing the backs of five pre-set basketball players to sink balls in the basket.
Most of these games are a lot of fun to play, but the sessions usually end in a matter of a couple of minutes or so -- just like the actual bar games. You would think that Midway would adapt or lengthen these games to give them a little longevity, but that simply isn't the case here. The game ends quick, the player puts in their initials, and then they show it off to anyone and everyone before moving on to the next one or yearning for a trip to the bar.
The game doesn't look bad. In fact, it doesn't even play that bad either. Like I said, most of the games are fun, and the option to connect to a worldwide, daily-updated leaderboard through Midway is very cool. Players can keep track of their scores in each of the twenty-plus individual games, seeing who's a master of what and what challenges lie ahead. This gives Touchmaster a lot of replayability, even without the direct multiplayer component. No one ever frowns upon fresh competition. If they did, we wouldn't have beer pong leagues, right?
Still, the package is a bit overpriced. $30? Someone can go and stack up some quarters next to a machine and get as much worth out of it for a mere $10-$20. Midway probably should've considered more of a budget route here, especially considering the production values. The games haven't even been modified to take advantage of the DS' processors -- they look just like their bar counterparts, but without the dingy smell of the old guy telling stories about his haunted vacuum cleaner or whatever the hell he's mumbling. They don't look horrible, but they sure don't look advanced either.
In the end, Touchmaster should happily suit those who can't play the games at a tavern or seek out something a little derivative on the old attention-span. There's good variety here and the online connectivity really takes the game places as far as competing players are concerned. But a better price, a few more games and a little more work in the production would've given this game the magic Touch.
