And oh man does GUILT freak me out too.

It seems like a lot of games just tack on the touch pad so that they can say, “AND LOOK YOU CAN USE THE TOUCHPAD!” and it’s like, come on, we’ve all played the oldschool gameboys. You don’t NEED the touchpad if you can’t come up with a solid use for it.

And seriously…the one TV chapter where you’re in the doctor conference and the guy infected with guilt comes in and starts bleeding everywhere and infecting people…I was like “HOLY *@$@()*($ I CAN’T PLAY THIS GAME ANYMORE”

It really comes down to the game, a game like Elite Beat Agents is perfect for the DS yet in Zelda it might (I haven’t played it yet) grow tiresome.

That surgery game seems totally nuts. O_O

I never play it in front of my parents anymore, though. Because I was playing against Triti (mosaic-like GUILT), and it kept going ‘Vitals Dropping’. And the second to last time it said it, I just shouted “I KNOW, DAMNIT.” At the top of my lungs.

I agree though, that some games simply include touchscreen because they can, and it really annoys me. Games like Cooking Mama, Star Fox Command and TC:UTF (I hope New Blood gets a DS version.), it’s integral. PW:AA and Hotel Dusk have it as an extra that just adds a little something extra, but it’s not painfully obvious that it was just added in. Some games just really get on my nerves because they added it simply because they can, and it does nothing for the game itself.

You can set it so that the items are only active when you are holding a shoulder button. Way easier.

Unless the game uses the touch screen exclusively, there’s a good chance you’ll have to switch between touch screen and buttons throughout the game. But, from a controller design perspective, you shouldn’t have to move around much on the controller. Look at all the modern console controllers, how they’re made so that you have access to all the buttons you need all the time. The start/select buttons are out of reach, but those are almost never used as a part of regular gameplay anyway.

The absolute worse case of this manifests itself in the atrocity of a game that is Splinter Cell on DS. Let me lay the scene for those of you who were wise enough to avoid this title: D-Pad moves. The four main buttons perform various functions that you need on a regular basis. Touch screen looks around. One of the shoulder buttons works your gun.

It’s a nightmare to control. I found it almost easier to stick the stylus in my mouth, since I don’t have three hands.

Granted, there are games that implement everything really well (Like Phantom Hourglass, which is one of my favorites despite its obscene shortness), but at the end of the day those titles are few and far between, and in the meantime we’re given gimmicky crap that doesn’t give any thought to the way a game should be played.

“It’s a direct sequel to Windwaker, which means the graphics are hideous. You play as bobblehead Link and sail a lot. That’s pretty much the whole game. I kid, I kid. There’s sort of a plot too.”