Lunar Knights is a great game for both fans of Boktai, and newcomers alike.
User Rating: 10 | Lunar Knights DS
Lunar Knights is a great game for both fans of Boktai, and newcomers alike. This game is one of the better games on the DS for many reasons, great storyline, engaging game play, and good replay value among other things. Although this is a veritable arsenal of pluses for the game in my opinion, the reason why it has done so well is because of it's use of the DS functions. The Microphone is used for a few things in the game, but it still holds some use, and can sometimes be necessary for sneaking away from enemies to survive and complete missions. The Touch screen is used for many things, such as initiating your trance. For those of you who have not played this game, going into a trance is the equivalent of your Final Fantasy type limit break, or any other super move from other games. Other things the touch screen are used for are attacks in your trance mode, drawing circles to summon fireballs down on enemies (Bigger circles are better and make wider ranged attacks), drawing a circle to summon a tornado (the faster you draw, the faster it moves), and sliding it in a zig-zag pattern to summon an earthquake down on your foes (Faster is better again, causing more rocks to fall down on them faster). The final use of the touch screen is more of a mini-game than it is an extension of actual game play, but after playing the game for a while, even this odd use will seem to be a regular part of the game. The touch screen is used for controlling a spaceship that you will use for purifying vampires. You hold down on the ship to move it, and tap on enemies to fire at them, no buttons are used except to change your ship's weapon element. This aspect can be tedious, but it is very engaging at the same time, making you want to finish off all of the scene before you bother to put your DS down. Along with these great uses of the DS, the game does have it's moments that prove it is much more than your average RPG. The game revolves around needing energy to power your attacks with elements, and by doing so causing more damage to your enemies. The game makes a great use of the elements by having an in-game day/night time system that flows on it's own, separate from our own time, so that you can play it any time, even at night. Along with the day/night time system, there is also a thermometer, humidity measure, and even a wind speed measure, all of which are used to power up elements, but also alter the in-game environment. During freezing temperatures toxic sludge freezes and can be safely traversed, during high temperatures certain areas that were flooded can now be crossed because the water evaporated. These are just a few of the several environmental aspects of the game. Aside from the environment aspect, the game has nine regular dungeons that you acquire through completing the story the first time through, and after you complete the game once, you unlock the tenth and final dungeon. This final dungeon is very intimidating, it is 100 floors of adventuring and traps, and you cannot save until you complete 10 floors and a mini-boss. Even with this limits this dungeon is worth completing, if not for the challenge, then for the storyline event that happens when you complete it, along with the many powerful and unique items you get for completing 10 floors. To be just short of spoiling what happens, I will simply state that the final story event hints that there will most-likely be a second Lunar Knights game.
Overall, this is a great game for any role-playing fan (I have convinced 4 people into buying this game based off of what I have said to them in person), but the experience this game provides is much more rewarding if you have played any Boktai game. There was only one problem this game had if any, and that was an occasional slowdown when tons of enemies were on screen. I give this game a perfect 10 out of 10.
