Yes, that’s right. I said paddles. Devilish has two of them; one at the bottom of the screen, and another that can be moved up and down the screen and rotated to help better control where the ball goes. It’s a nice little feature, and one that lets you play the game a lot easier.
It doesn’t help that the ball only seems to bounce off at 45 degree angles from the paddle’s surface, but at least the freedom to move both paddles around on the screen allowed for some unique level designs.
The graphics of Devilish are passable at best, but they’re nothing that will make you want to rip out your eyeballs, thankfully. They’re just nothing that is really exciting or new. If I hadn’t told you that the game was an update of a Sega Genesis game, then the uninspired soundtrack, in all its MIDI glory, might give it away.
Once you beat Devilish, there’s really no reason to pick it up again. Because of the game’s style, there are no multiplayer or online features at all, and all that’s left to do is just to play through the game again.
Devilish is a fine example of a game that could have been so much more than just the Sega Genesis port that it pretty much is. Use of the touch screen on the DS would have made this game ten... no, a hundred times better than just the simple port that it is. Unfortunately, because it doesn’t, this is a game likely headed not from the shelves and into gamers’ hands, but from the shelves to the bargain bins instead. A little bit more work could have really made this title stand out more on the DS. Maybe we’ll see another effort that improves the graphics a bit and uses the touch screen in the future that will live up to its full potential.
Devilish is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Blood and Mild Fantasy Violence.
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