I have a DS and its probably the hardware i play most games on.
Firstly, I do think that handheld games are somewhat unfairly compared to console games. Handhelds are simply not powerful enough to compete with console games for depth or graphical ability, two aspects which have a large impact on the average reviewers rating.
But on the other hand I think that with the DS, game developer have been faced with a completely innovative interface, and many are still experimenting with the interface. This has brought some brilliant new gameplay designs. For example, someone mentioned Phoenix Wright. The game is some aspects is brilliant: the art style is amazing, you'll be laughing through the whole game. Its a brilliant game, but would it not be great if the game was a bit deeper. Imagine if the story line was not so linear, if the court cases actually involved really contemplating the next response, if the evidence was not so obvious, if it actually required some real hard investigative work to win a court case. It is just one example of an innovative style with tons of potential, but which isn't yet fully harvested.
Then there is Elite Beat Agents, one of my favorite games of all time. But honestly, there could have been more songs and maybe few more gameplay techniques could have been introduced, even though to me, as is, the game definitely deserves a 9.
With the DS, there are many brilliant games that could just be more immersive: Trauma Centre, Drawn to life, even Brain Training could have been more immersive. For god sake, how hard is it to just put 70 different simple brain games on one disk. Like the addition and subtraction of double digits. The DS must be capable of at least that.
So to me it is not necessarily the fault of reviewers. Game developers have to start taking risks and investing that little extra into a title if they want to achieve a 9.
Member of the Pikmin Fan Club
