Death Note Japanese DS game reviews

[Elric Von Karma]

Alright so I have been getting a lot of questions about the DS Death Note games on a lot of different forums so I am just going to do an all out review on all the forums I frequent. So just stay with I want to review the first two Death Note DS games. So here we go.
Note: Both of the games I am reviewing are in Japanese so you must import them to play them. However the Nintendo DS is not region locked so you can play them on any kind of DS.

Death Note Kira game:
Ok the Kira game is the first DN game made. A lot of people think that its a text adventure like GS or Hotel Dusk, and it is in a way. First off as I noted the game is completely in Japanese, and I know almost no Japanese and I was still able to play this game. I was not able to figure out everything in the story but If you watched the anime of Death Note or read the magna, you should be able to keep up. So anyway the story remains almost exactly the same as its counter parts so you know that that's good. Now for the game play. The game play plays out like the party game "Mafia" (You can wikipedia that) and you can play as either L or Kira. Their are three phases of gameplay the first is the statement phase. The statement phase is when your character and the others either say that they trust someone or they think that they are kira. The next phase is the voting phase (voting who is kira) now if your kira your trying to find who L is and eliminate him, you can either frame him (by making him look suspicious in the statement phase) or killing him with the death note in the last phase. If your L you only have one option and that is to arrest kira by making him look suspicious (Note: Just because Light is Kira in the anime does not mean that he is Kira in the game during the round. For instance Matsuda could be kira in a round. The same goes for L.) And that is basically all their is for gameplay and to be honest it does get boring. Now for the graphics. The sprites are very well done and high quality which is very good but the backgrounds are kind of bland but they are hand drawn. Alright now for my final verdict on the game.
Story:9/10
Gameplay:6/10
Graphics:7/10
Lasting words: The game really doesn't do anything new or interesting which is a shame since I loved the anime so much. But if your a fan Death Note then I would by this online at ebay since the Kira game is only like 20 bucks. Also their is a translation guide for the game here.....
http://www.gamebrink.com/nintendo-ds/37 ... me-guide-1

Death Note L Wo Tsugu Mono (which I think means "The Successor of L"):
This is the 2nd DS game and it picks up almost exactly where the last one left off and follows the 2nd Season of the anime (the kira game followed the first) which still means that if you saw the anime or read the magna you should be able to keep up with whats going on in the story. Now for the gameplay which is different than the kira game. L Wo Tsugu Mono plays out like a board game, you can either pick to play as L or Kira once again. But you don't play as just L or Kira, for instance you have followers. Say that Light is kira, that means that you can also play as Mikami Teru from the series. So anyway you play on a board which is the city, every character can move around the city during his turn and you can perform actions. The actions you can perform vary depending on which side you are playing. If you are playing as Kira then your primary goal it to kill L and his followers. To kill someone you you use the death note but you cant just pick the person you have to kill. You have to assign a space on the board to kill them. For example say L is following you, you simple use the death note on the space you are on and then run away. L will follow you on the board but when he steps on the space with the death note he dies and you win. If you are playing as L things are a bit difficult. L's special actions are to place cameras on spaces to track kira. L can only see kira if he is either in L's field of vision or in one of the camera's L set up field of vision. And the only way to win as L is to arrest Kira and the only way to arrest him is to land on the same space as him. Kira definitely has the advantage. However L has more followers than kira so you can screw up a lot. Now for the graphics. The cut scenes are done wonderfully with vivid character animations and backgrounds, however actual game play is very bland, the board that is the city is basically just green sketches of buildings so its not like a full city, which is ok I guess. Now for the final verdict.
Story:9/10
Gameplay:8/10
Grapics:5/10
Final verdict: I definitely prefer this Death Note game over the first one. The gameplay in this one is a lot more involved and involves a lot more skill. However the graphics are a step down. Sadly I have not found a translation guide, if anyone can find one it would be greatly appreciated if you would post a link somewhere on this page. The bottom line is that this game is very original, but I can't recommend it to anyone who isn't a fan of the series since it definitely relies on that you have seen the anime.

[NoName]

Yes. I played the Japanese version but my translations were lacking and so I don't think I got half the words right...I fI could play english that would be good.
I agree with your statements about the grapics and since I had a ps3 they sucked even more!
XD