Atari to publish Point Blank DS

By Tom Bramwell Published 28 June, 2006

Later this year.

Atari has done a deal to publish Namco Bandai's DS version of Point Blank in Europe later this year.

Although out now in the USA, the game won't be around in European shops until Q4 2006 - when it'll turn up with an Atari badge on it.

And graphics that look like this (to get that link in good and early).

Point Blank DS effectively trades the light-gun based control of the arcade original for a similar approach using the stylus; where previously players spanked objects with little volleys of light, now they can bang them on the head with a stick.

The DS version includes four difficulty levels, 40 stages, high-score free-play, an arcade port mode, and even something called Brain Massage, which provides the obvious link between brain games and gun violence that we've all been crying out for.

Reviews in the US have been a bit lukewarm so far, but we've got one of our lot on the case and early word is that it's fairly good. We'll let you know the full story soon.

In the meantime, check out our original story for more detail.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (8) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Sko #1 6 years ago

    Isn't the repeated 'stabbing' of the DS touchscreen with the stylus in this game going to make short work of it?

  • escapedape #2 6 years ago

    Well, yes and no: Point Blank's minigames often have decoy targets such as bombs or innocent civilians that have to be avoided, so accuracy and timing are important if you want to stay alive...

  • Wrestlevania #3 6 years ago

    Point Blank was one of my favourite arcade games, and is about the only reason to make the journey to France via ferry, still; you're very unlucky if you don't find a Point Blank machine on-board.

    What bothers me about the DS translation though is that it won't 'feel' right. Using a stylus instead of a light gun seems odd in theory. I hope it does work though and looking forward to the imminent review.

    I expect this'll be on the cheap side (circa £20) when it comes out, so I might buy it anyway--just for the novelty factor. Single cart multiplay is nice to see as well.

  • myiagros #4 6 years ago

    the toughest challenges were always the single shot ones, surely those will become very easy.
    however some of the others will become more difficult due to control mechanism, such as the rapid shooting ones.

  • #5 6 years ago

    So now it really literally be "point blank" a la no distance between "gun" and screen".

    Well, finally.

  • abigsmurf #6 6 years ago

    loved point blank, hopefully the stylus won't trivialise this too much

  • thelastslice #7 6 years ago

    So Atari couldn't wait a few months for the Wii and make use of a system with a proper lightgun?

  • Dirtie #8 6 years ago

    It's crap. I "highly not recommend" this game. Stylus control defeats the whole purpose, Point Blank was meant to be played with a light gun.