Review: Photo Dojo (DSiWare)

Is fighting as yourself and your friends really as fun as it sounds on paper? In a word: kinda!

Photo Dojo (DSiWare)

Developer: Nintendo
Release date: May 10, 2010
ESRB Rating: E10+

The DSi has been out in the States for over a year now, and it still has yet to offer a compelling reason for owners of the DS Lite to upgrade. Nintendo touted how the new hardware’s cameras would be used in innovative ways to compliment upcoming software, but their promises until now have largely been forgotten. DSiWare up to this point hasn’t offered any significant content, yet it’s still the only reason I can come up with for owning the device.

But enough of the negativity – because Photo Dojo, released today, is finally a step in the right direction. Make no mistake, this is hardly the substantial DSiWare title we’ve all been waiting for. But it does finally showcase of the DSi’s unique features in an entertaining and fun way.

In case you don’t already know, Photo Dojo is an extremely simplistic fighting game with a very enjoyable gimmick. Using the cameras on the DSi, you create each and every fighter in the game by posing in different positions and recording your characters sound effects. It’s rather difficult to take pictures of yourself, since it requires setting the DSi down, setting a photo timer, and then trying to match the pose displayed on the screen while you’re 6-8 feet from the handheld. However, taking pictures of friends is also an option, and if you don’t have any of those, use an action figure like I did. The game also lets you create your own arenas by taking photos of any background you so choose.

Recording your character’s taunts and pained groans is even more fun than posing for the camera. The sound clips need to be somewhat short, but there’s plenty of time to make various noises or quip hilarious slogans.

By the end of the character creation process, you may wind up with an action figure that screams “AQUAFINA!” before launching water bottle projectiles… or you may wind up with something even funnier. (Shouldn’t be too hard, but hey, it was my first try!)

The actual fighting is extremely simplistic, and this is where the game’s flaws surface a bit more. This is by no means Street Fighter. Although you can choose between four different special moves, your characters are extremely limited in what they can do. Also, since you’re only able to record one line of dialogue for each situation, make sure it’s something you want to hear over and over and over again. Every time my character got hurt I was treated to a pathetic moan that got old quickly.

Multiplayer is severely limited as well. I can understand not implementing WiFi (there are probably some real sickos out there), but Dojo doesn’t even support local wireless. Instead to play with a friend you have to share one DSi, which brought back memories of the original WarioWare for GBA.

Photo Dojo isn’t a revolution, but it is very entertaining for what it is – a silly toy that finally takes advantage of the DSi hardware like almost nothing before it. The game is free until mid-June as well, so there’s no reason NOT to download it. Have fun.