A stalk of bamboo located on the left side of the screen shows the reservoir of ink that is available for use. When the ink runs dry, a pool of ink will appear overhead, which the rhythm jumper will have to leap and soak up into his quill. As each character walks through a level and paints a word or phrase, it will utter the word or phrase as it walks over it. For example, "Mojib" and other Japanese words are uttered in tones which sound like a mix between Elmo and wilderness munchkins from Oz. Or were those Oompa Loompas? There's a robot character in there as well and it also mutters a mess of words in "robot voice" as it paints and walks. Control is through the Dual Shock thumbsticks - jab the right DS pad downwards to lay down the paint and jostle it upwards to jump and retrieve blobs of floating ink.

The presentation of the game is sparse so Sony throws in a moving 3-D background featuring mountains and other scenery which slowly scroll towards the viewer to add a sense of depth to the simplicity. The feel of the game isn't as "catchy" as Vib-Ribbon but once you get into the groove of the music, the chattering words and the swish of the pen as it glides out streams of Japanese words, it does grow on you. Sort of.

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