What happens when you have a Science Fair with the Son of the Grim Reaper as one of the participants? You get Death Jr and the Science Fair of Doom. In the game, Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom, we visit the life of Death Jr. and his friends at a school science fair where there are many different projects being shown off. One experiment is a rabbit with a demon tail attachment with an eyeball and an experiment of a Hamster that was feed chilidogs. Death Jr’s science experiment is his Father’s Scythe that Death Jr. always uses as his science fair experiment. Therefore, what is the big deal about the game and what happens to put you into the game? Well the Rabbit with the demon attachment should never be around a nuclear reactor that one of the characters just happens to have. This reactor turned the school into a glowing palace where many of the school children at the science fair were scattered all around the school and you must rescue them.

There are several objectives the main one is rescuing the other children in the game but there are two other objectives that must be accomplished one being to find the body of Pandora. Pandora, many of which say is, the girlfriend of Death Jr. has just died in the accident of the nuclear reaction with much screaming about “I am dead, NOOOO, I am dead.” She becomes your spiritual sidekick in the game helping in areas Death Jr. cannot reach. The other secondary objective is to find the scythe of Death Jr’s Father that has disappeared or Death Jr. is in trouble. The game shows off a picture of Death Jr’s Uncle, which is one of the bosses.

I am going to be honest, I have not played through the totality of the game, but I find that I have a good idea of how the game plays out. We are going to break down the game in to several categories that most game sites and magazines do but we will try to be a lot more honest in the findings than that of those other sites and those magazines. We may also be much nicer than those other sites and magazines towards games. In addition, with our reviews, we try not to spoil any of the game by telling you everything about it. We allow you the gamer to explore the game if you feel the game is worth a purchase, which I think this game is. Each of the four following categories has a maximum of five points that will be totaled out of a maximum of twenty points.

Graphics: 3
The game visuals are a mixed bag really. The slide show story telling (press A) looks absolutely stunning, though, a bit annoying for those of us that are used to voices or scrolling text. When you are plopped into the game for the pre-game training, the graphics look well at first and when you learning to fight against the mutated demon rabbit, the graphics drop considerably with backgrounds and the floor being pixelated. Other than the occasional pixelation, the game is actually, what you would expect from a middle range DS title.

Sound and Music: 5
The game shines in the audio department. I think the credit is more for the music. You have the normal sound effects for the game and sounds pretty much what they should sound like for pistols, shotguns, or of the swooping of a scythe. The music is very good sometimes; keyword sometimes, is better than on an actual console game in my opinion.

Gameplay: 4
In the game, Death Jr. has many tools including his own scythe, pistols, shotgun, and Pandora. The game has several special moves that can be learned throughout the game as well as learning on your own. In the game, you can use either the stylus or the buttons to control the main action with the plus pad being the main movement method. I found myself using the buttons more than the stylus for most of the game functions. There are certain parts of the game where you have to use the stylus and even the microphone on the DS to get things done or find missing children. You find missing children by blowing into the mic that will shake the object that one of the children is in.

The game has a spiritual mode that you control with Pandora and in this mode there are objects called spirit orbs that you can collect and to use in your adventure. You use these orbs to replenish your life and confidence levels and to hit certain targets in the game that opens doors or other paths in the game. If your confidence is low, Death Jr. has less power to defeat enemies.Pretty much throughout the game, you are attacking enemies, jumping around in 2D platforming, or looking at a top-down view. The jumping is a bit difficult at times due to timing issues but once you get past that point and actually figure out the timing the game is a bit more enjoyable.

The scythe and the guns allow you to do many things. Specifically the scythe allows you to do the most. With the scythe, you attack enemies, hang off cliffs, or used to get to higher locations. Other uses of the scythe allow you to hover when jumping to float to a safer destination. The scythe also allows you to use hooks that are in many levels that you can swing from one to another very much similar to other games but more specifically a game that comes to mind - Earthworm Jim. The pistols and the shotgun are used to open areas or to inflict damage on your enemies but I find the scythe works better on enemies. There is another unlockable item that I have not reached but will allow you to do progress further into the game.

Replay ability: 2
As for replay ability, I see the game as okay. I do not think this game is one that someone will play ten times or more probably around maybe two times. I can see how this game can bore some people because really it is the same movements and repetitive motions done repeatedly. Also one thing I find highly annoying is the enemies regenerate after a second or two and you find yourself attacking repeatedly reducing your health and confidence that is if you cannot jump over them.

Opinion:
It is now time for an opinion on the game. Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom is a fun little game at least for a while. If you can get over the issues with jumping and maybe pixelization, if you are a graphics whore, it is a good game though nothing overly spectacular.

Now it is time for a point total of the game. 14 of 20 a 70% - C rated game.

Here are a couple of pictures of the game box and the items we recieved with the game.

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