Since LOL is a multi-player only experience, it took a while to get my friends together to try it out. They also kept forgetting their DSs so I had to provide those for testing purposes. Now that we were able to play the game, it didn’t feel so much as a game as much as a tool.
LOL is a party title with no story line to speak of whatsoever. It takes one game card to beam the data over to other players. This process is fairly short, though my helpers seemed slightly impatient with about a minute passing before we were all presented with a new screen. When we started to check out what was going on, it wasn’t exactly clear. After a bit of tinkering and guess work, the realization hit that the game is sort of in the style Pictionary and other drawing activities. Although this was noted by the box somewhat, the interface didn’t exactly hold our hands with blatant instructions.
The way the game is setup is one person will draw or write something, set a time for other players to doodle, and let them at it. Other players will respond to whatever was put up however they choose. At first it wasn’t so funny, but as we started to get the hang of it, a few chuckles came out occasionally. Once drawings are finished, they are submitted back to the player who set the challenge. A showcase then takes place in whatever order the player wishes, whether it be the funniest or all at the same time. Afterwords everyone has 3 votes to cast on which they think "won" that round. Once a winner has been decided, the process starts all over again with the winner being the new topic creator.
Tools that players are given to draw would have been helped by colors, but the basic black and eraser got the point across in most cases. Letters and typing characters are also excluded, so everything must be hand drawn. This can occasionally lead to not quite legible text or misunderstandings of the drawings. Most of the time though this isn’t a negative since it adds to the silly atmosphere that is created when playing.
With LOL the box reads "If the game is boring, you are boring!" and I can see where they can justify saying it. Even with the shortfalls of being so basic, you and those playing with need to have some imagination otherwise it ends up being a session in head scratching. It’s only available online for $20, but I can’t honestly see putting out that type of cash when what is achieved in the game could be performed easily with other tools.
I’d have a hard time justifying the price on this when something similar can be done with a lot less hassle with pen and paper.