Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Friends: Asian Elephants (Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi)

In RINGLING BROS. AND BARNUM & BAILEY CIRCUS FRIENDS: ASIAN ELEPHANTS, you are in charge of training one of the circus's famed pachyderms. You will interact with the animal by feeding it, playing with it, washing it, healing it (when sick), and yes, scooping its poop. Then you will train your happy elephant to perform various stunts and take your well-practiced show in front of the big top audience. Strangely, tricks are learned and performed by playing completely random logic, matching, and number games on the touch screen.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Friends: Asian Elephants is not a bad game by any means, but it is a strange one. It's fun to play with your elephant, learning the various signals you need to sketch out on the touchscreen in order to communicate to the animal to toot her trunk, stand up, or roll over. And it's also fun to purchase new outfits and dress up your elephant. Or to buy elephant toys that unlock mini games, such as a xylophone duel between you and the pachyderm. It's not nearly a much fun, though, to feed and clean your elephant, which has to be done pretty frequently. When it comes to performing, though, that's the really bizarre part. Instead of the different elephant stunts being tied to hand motions as was done with the playful interactions, they are connected to utterly random mini-games. For instance, to make the elephant hold up a sign, you have to play a matching memory game. To make her spin on a stool, you have to connect like-colored squares without crossing any of your lines. Some of these mini-games are fun and decent brainwork, but they have nothing to do with elephants.

Available on: Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi
Not available online
Genre: Simulation
Developer: 2K Play
Released on: December 2, 2009
Price: 29.99
ESRB Rating: E for Comic Mischief