A Solid Action TitleThere is

User Rating: 6 | Lunar Knights DS

You press through the menu, and the ominous music begins, announcing the entrance of a purple-haired warrior and his bright-eyed partner. Queue the upbeat jazz, and the game begins!

In a lot of ways, Lunar Knights is an extremely straightforward action RPG. The player finds himself in Culiacan, a city completed oppressed by vampires who've harnessed the ability to manipulate the weather, thus blocking out the sun. As Lucian and Aaron, the player's job is to progress through each dungeon of the game, beating up zombie underlings and vampire baddies while gradually making their way to the kingpin above it all.

Though the two can be very different (dare I say like night and day?), Lucian and Aaron make an excellent team, with Lucian serving as the player's melee character, and Aaron taking care of any ranged exchanges. When you use them is entirely up to you, but many will appreciate the ability to switch back and forth as comfort or need demands it. The characterization itself is, unfortunately, a little more plain. Lucian is bent is a brooding, lone ranger who seeks only revenge, while Aaron is the happy-go-lucky member of the team, determined to protect humanity and the citizens of Culiacan without a second thought. Neither is outright dislike-able, but they are characters many players will have seen for years, even after the game's release, and don't make for the most exciting of leads, even with the occasionally amusing exchange.

Luckily, the gameplay holds up fine. While the enemies do get repetitive after a time, testing out new weapons you acquire throughout the game keeps it from ever feeling too stale. As an added bonus, after defeating certain bosses throughout the game, the player slowly unlocks more terrenials, beings who control the planet's weather and can be used to conduct unique special attacks that require the player to interact with the DS in surprisingly clever ways (most of the time, anyway). Testing a new terrenial each time is always a treat, though it is a shame the system wasn't taken even further, as combat with any weapon rarely changes once you understand the basics of each weapon you find. It still works, but it is lackluster.

The storytelling is much the same. Lucian is trying to find the vampire with horns, and Aaron wants to save the world. While the character interactions between the two and other people they meet are fun, there really isn't a whole lot to them. For some, that will be fine, but for players coming in with hope for a slightly more intricate story, you'll walk away disappointed. It's easy to lay that at the feet of this being 'just a DS game,' but considering how many other titles in the system's library have managed some excellent, even amazing storytelling over the years, it still feels like a bit of a letdown.

The music is the only thing that managed to really stand out to me after I put the game down. The dungeon themes are catchy, and the jazzy tunes playing in the game's inns was a very pleasant surprise. Don't be surprised if you have a few of the tunes running through your head after you've put the game down. It's a small thing, but it goes a long way in giving the game a bit more color to distinguish it from the dozens of other action RPG's many, myself included, will have played over the years. Unfortunately, a fun soundtrack isn't enough to make a game stand above the competition, and while Lunar Knights is a decent title, it's difficult to recommend as more than a bargain bin purchase.