Scotland Yard DS is kind of like a board game for Nintendo DS, in which a team of detectives is working to isolate and trap an evil villain on the run. With a cute artstyle and fun-looking premise, we really wanted to like this game. We just couldn’t figure it out even after a few times playing it.
In the game, players can choose to work as a team of detectives who are scattered around a virtual city (which somewhat resembles New York), and they must take buses, trains, taxis or helicopters from place to place in order to try and find an evil villain that’s on the run.
There are certain rules that govern how and where players can move at a time, and periodically players are shown where the villain is.
But since the game had no real tutorial, we played a few times trying to figure out exactly how and why each move worked the way it did. And even on the easiest mode, we were never able to catch the villain.
We’re sure there’s a fun game experience here in Scotland Yard DS, we just couldn’t figure it out. The game certainly looks fun to play, but it feels as if you’re just thrown into the middle of a game, without knowing exactly what the rules are. It’s possible that tweens and teens who can figure this out will love the gameplay, but we were unable to figure out exactly how to play even after numerous attempts.