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Hands on with New International Track & Field on DS

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Hands on with New International Track & Field on DS

Just in time for the Summer Games in Beijing comes a reinterpretation of a Konami arcade classic in New International Track & Field. A game in which the only hurdle preventing you from joining in the sporting fun is buying a Nintendo DS, as it hits the handheld exclusively in June. We fielded a hands-on play with the title's touch-enabled athleticism during Konami Gamers' Night last week in San Francisco.

Two dozen events pulled from track and field are making their way into the game, playable across a slew of single- and multiplayer modes.

On the single-player side of things you get access to three individual modes: Career, Challenge, and Single Event. Naturally, the latter enables you to choose one to play from a list of currently unlocked events. Opening up these events for play in the first place though is done via the Career option, which is where the bulk of the game resides. New events, characters, and other bonuses all come as a result of investing time in your athletic evolution.

Split into a series of event groups, the structure of Career mode has you competing in slates of challenges organised like miniature tournaments. The first group, for example, includes 100m dash, long jump, javelin, and 110m hurdles. Three computer-controlled players provide a little competition, so you definitely have to keep on your toes to clear the group.

More accurately, you'll need to keep a tight grip on your stylus if you hope to win. Racing in the 100m dash means sliding the stylus horizontally across the touchscreen to propel forward. Timing is critical when starting the race, as a false start can result in a disqualification.

A similar set-up is used for the 110m hurdles, with running instigated via horizontal slides of the stylus. Hurdles, however, mean you need to jump if you plan on not stumbling on the track. Jumping can be done by either flicking the stylus up at the right moment or pressing up on the D-pad (the much easier, preferred way).

Moving from the track to the field, the javelin and long jump employ the stylus in a different way. Both require a good preparatory run to gather momentum, which is handled in the same way as the track events – horizontal slides of the stylus.

When it becomes time to jump or throw, you tap up on the D-pad or hit the A button to bring up the angle meter. Once the desired angle is set, releasing the D-pad or button finishes the jump or throw sequence. Despite sounding a bit tricky, it actually works rather well and is fairly intuitive when you've got the game in front of you.

As you complete events in Career and finish groups, you unlock new events for play in all modes. Additionally, stars earned for stellar athletic performances can be used to purchase costumes and accessories for any of the eight standard characters. At the start of the game, you have access to a slate of basic characters with which to play but ten additional special contestants pulled from prominent Konami games can also be unlocked through the course of play. Gaining Pyramid Head from the Silent Hill series, vampire hunter Simon Belmont from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night or even Frogger himself sounds like reason enough to train up for competition.

Even better, six of these special characters come tied to fantasy events set in their gameworld via the single-player Challenge mode. Something tells us that Pyramid Head won't be getting a 100m slash-'em-up-with-a-big-knife challenge, though.

Accompanying the single-player modes is a full suite of multiplayer options. Local wireless play using a single cartridge will be available for up to four players with every event playable. Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is also supported, and real-time multiplayer is included – all 24 events can be played by up to four players. In addition, leaderboards will be on display for every event and a news ticker will feature notable scores from the main multiplayer menu.

Not only that, online-only tournaments have you posting your best scores for a series of events to a designated tournament leaderboard in the hopes of claiming the top spot. Events selected for tournaments will change periodically.

Though initially apprehensive, we were delighted to find the mini-game format New International Track & Field uses works wonderfully on handheld, and we therefore have high hopes for this June release. The generous amount of content waiting to be unlocked – two dozen events, a slate of special characters, loads of customisable accessories – and a robust set of well-thought multiplayer features should ensure this has got the potential to be a genuine companion to the Games, rather than a gimmicky distraction.

We look forward to finding out on which step of the podium New International Track & Field will stand come review time.

Tracy Erickson
Tracy Erickson
Manning our editorial outpost in America, Tracy comes with years of expertise at mashing a keyboard. When he's not out painting the town red, he jets across the home of the brave, covering press events under the Pocket Gamer banner.