Magic Destiny - Astrological Games Review (WiiWare)

Astrology has been around for a very long time now. With records of its existence dating all the way back to 5,000 years ago, it comprises a group of methods and systems examining the relative positions of astronomical objects to provide information about an individual's personality as well as make predictions about their future. There are many different ways this is done, most popularly through horoscopes, tarot cards and biorhythms, and it still has a large number of followers to this day. Now comes Shanblue Interactive's Magic Destiny – Astrological Games, offering a selection of astrology-related mini-games, predictions and a large encyclopaedia, and they pull it off fairly decently.

Once you start up Magic Destiny, you're given the option to create up to four profiles and set names and birthdays to each – a necessity considering there's a lot of importance surrounding these here. The game's encyclopaedia teaches you about a wide range of different systems used in astrology as well as the occult, ranging from more famous examples like crystals, horoscopes and numerology to lesser known ones such as Natal Charts & Colour Therapy. The Encyclopaedia describes each of them in very fine, extensive detail, making this an excellent choice for anyone interested in educating themselves better on the subject.

Predications play a very large part in astrology and, as such, are featured here. The game allows you the option to predict your future including aspects of your life like work and health. There are six different methods available: virtual representations of tarot card readings, horoscopes, chiromancy, numerology, magic conch shells and even classic fortune cookies to cater to those who are interested in, believe in or just want to have some fun with astrology, keeping things interesting over time by their variety.

Then we have the mini-games, all of which are, of course, based on elements of astrology. There are nine on offer in total, each of which contains its own local leaderboard. There's a wide range of mini-games available including a Whack-a-Mole-style amusement, a connect-three puzzle and even a game of Pairs (a.k.a. Memory) using Tarot cards. While they're fun at first and the leaderboards help add replay value, they won't hold your interest for long as they're rather bland gameplay-wise and just feel rather unoriginal.

Magic Destiny naturally utilises a graphical theme based on astrology and astronomical objects. While the visuals and soundtrack are nothing particularly special are at times a little bit bland, they still work rather well with the overall astrological tone of the game.