101 Reasons to Stay Away

With muddy graphics, a complete lack of depth and a set of boring and clunky controls, Atlus’ “101 in 1 Sports Mega Mix” for the Nintendo DS is a complete waste of time.

For those wondering why Atlus, the company known for its bevy of cool RPGs over the years, published a sports game, after playing this, you’ll still be wondering.

With so many games included and Atlus’ name attached, you’d expect a certain level of quality on this one. Instead, every version of every game is haphazard in one way or another, either plagued by horrific control or the kind of graphics that waved bye bye to handheld consoles years ago.

For example, in bowling, it’s hard at times to tell how many pins are on the lane, due to the lackluster sprites. The game is so thin at its core that you can’t even throw a hook if you wanted to. At the same time, you’re rewarded points for each successful pin you knock down, with no formal scoring system. Because of this, fans of the sport won’t find any reason to play this half-baked version.

The same thing goes for billiards, as the developers didn’t go to the trouble of color mapping the individual balls. As well, there’s no way to add english to your shots.

Cough. Scoff. Grumble.

The few games that don’t fall into this category are just plain lackluster. Seriously, who wants to play darts with a moving bullseye and get points for just hitting the board?

Possibly youngsters, that will like the quickplay because it’s quick and easy to pick up. Everyone else however will be at a loss for words, pondering how this game got released in the first place.

Everything from the graphics to the spotty control and even the Greek Olympus menu screens all reek of disaster, proving that even a quality company like Atlus can make a game that does everything wrong. Even at a reduced price, this is a game that belongs anywhere else but your collection.

Broken, boring and bland “101 in 1 Sports Megamix” on the Nintendo DS is easily one of the worst handheld titles this year.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14260 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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