While it may not have come out in a timely manner (a Napoleon Dynamite game now? really?) and it may not escape the trappings of the typical licensed game, Napoleon Dynamite for the DS succeeds at capturing the same awkward quirkiness that helped launch the film into cult stardom. But is capturing the quirkiness of the licensee enough to make this game stand out, or will it take more to make this DS cart succeed?

First we should take a look at where this quirkiness doesn't succeed -- in it's story which attempts to continue the story of the film and sadly just falls flat. Told in cut scenes between mini-games, the story is disjointed and serves as little more than an excuse to move the game along. Had it been done well it would have been a fine addition to the game, but as it stands it comes across as just obnoxious. The game has a fantastic art style -- probably best summed up as paper dolls and pencil scratches on high school notebooks and construction paper, but that isn't doing it justice. Visually the game nails the ND style dead on, and in the minigames it's a perfect fit. But when mixed in with the story elements, the visuals serve to reinforce the cardboard storytelling and aid in creating something of a popsicle-stick puppet theater by two bored kids with no imagination.

Luckily the quirkiness succeeds where it counts -- in the gameplay. At it's core Napoleon Dynamite is just a loose collection of mini-games wrapped around a painfully dry story and deliciously distinct visuals. Not all of the mini-games play as well as you'd like them too, but when they work, they work well -- and they always seem to capture the demented imagination and world of the title character perfectly. One game may have you feeding the family's pet llama Tina in an aim'n'toss style event, while the next has you riding a pencil-sketched pegasus through space in the Dynamite take on a shmup.

Like I said though, not all of the games work as well as you'd like them to. What should have been a simple rhythm game when Napoleon is practicing his dance moves becomes needlessly complicated by including a mess of buttons and a fluctuating difficulty throughout. Other games, like when you're helping Pedro bake a cake, require multiple steps that can end up taking far longer than the expected length of something dubbed a mini-game (some games lasted 5+ minutes) and the failure of any of those steps can bring you right back to the beginning. Stuff like that just isn't acceptable in a game aimed at the casual market, and it pops up a little too frequently in Napoleon Dynamite.

Still, when the game does work (throwing a football further than Uncle Rico being a personal favorite) it gets it right in the same way super-addictive flash games from a few years back did -- by giving you one simple task that you can't put down no matter how many times you've done it. This one is available on the PSP as well, though the inclusion of pretty solid touch controls for most of the mini-games make this one you'll probably want on your little two-screened wonder.

All in all, Napoleon Dynamite only does what it sets out to do half the time -- it offers some great mini-games and a solid art style that captures the quirky yet endearing spirit that made the film such a huge success. Unfortunately the collection is hampered down by an equal number of mini-games that are either controller-throwingly frustrating or completely devoid of fun, and a story that sucks the energy right out of the room. Worth keeping an eye for in the bargain bins if you enjoyed the quirky nature of the films and you're really into mini-game collections. For anyone else though? Napoleon Dynamite probably won't be for you.

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