Lock's Quest Hands-On

It's not uncommon these days to come across a game that blends multiple genres to the point where you're not really sure what to classify it as. Lock's Quest is a role-playing game with strategy elements that follows the young archineer Lock, who must use his talents to help fight the evil Lord Agony. Switching between building and fighting breaks up the gameplay, and as the story progresses, it's hard not to wonder what challenges lie ahead. The cinematic opening provides a bit of history, and it's easy to appreciate the hand-drawn art and the epic score.

We are taken to a quaint seaside village where Lock lives with his grandfather and younger sister. This beginning sequence is a built-in tutorial that explains the basic building mechanics of the game. When an archineer from the big city of Astonia is injured nearby, Lock must step up and fight off the invading army of clockworks, a mechanical army led by Agony. As you progress through the game, more tutorials will come up whenever a new feature is introduced.

Building a solid defense is important, because if you have a solid base you won't need to fight as much and risk getting killed in the process. To build walls you will need source, and it's your job to defend the source wells that the enemy is after. As you defeat clockworks, they will drop source as well as scrap metal, which can be used to build weapons and traps that will strengthen your defense system. Like building blocks, different-sized pieces are lined up at the bottom of the screen, and you use the stylus to select the one you want to use. The L button rotates the pieces, and you'll want to make sure that the walls are connected and facing the right way. As you collect scrap metal, you can build turrets that will attack enemies as they approach. Reinforcing these turrets with walls on either side will give them a defense boost, making it harder for the enemy to take down. Traps can also be laid around your base to harm the enemy, but they last only one fight, whereas walls and turrets can be repaired, unless they were completely destroyed.

Each fight has objectives that must be met, such as defending a well or making sure no one dies. If these aren't met the battle is lost, and you can restart the fight phase or go back to the build phase. The fight begins with a build phase where you are given a couple of minutes to scan your environment using the control pad and determine the best line of defense. As an archineer, Lock can repair walls during and after battle to make sure the enemy stays out. Depending on how many enemies come at you, sometimes it's easier to build a gate where you can run outside and fight on your own. When the battle phase begins, you have a certain amount of time to stay alive and meet your objective.

Based on the sections we played, most of the time you'll need to fend off the attack for at least two minutes. You have the option to fight some of the enemies yourself, and Lock has a special ability to do some extra damage. To move Lock, all you need to do is drag the stylus around onscreen. Tap an enemy to engage, and tap away to disengage and heal if necessary. Lock will heal over time as long as he's not fighting. His special ability involves tapping numbers at the bottom of the screen in numerical order within a certain amount of time. The amount of numbers will increase each time you are successful. Later on he'll receive stronger abilities for which he has a meter that will charge when he fights or repairs; when the bar is full, he can unleash lightning attacks. When you're not fighting, you'll most likely move around clicking frantically at the walls to repair them. Lock can repair walls quickly with a ratchet, as long as you flip a lever that shows up at the bottom of the screen. The number shown will indicate how many times you need to flip it back and forth.

Fights will usually lead to more fights unless you've had several in a row already, and then the story kicks in. In the next build phase you'll want to do things like make maintenance repairs, fill whatever gaps you may have, or change up your defense if you don't like how it's working. Source is collected as enemies fall, so there's never the issue of running out.

Once you arrive in the big city of Astonia, you are introduced to a siege mode where you man the tower and lob cannonballs at the enemy. The view here is switched to a side view, as opposed to the three-quarters view you have in the rest of the game. After each fight you can upgrade, repair, or purchase power-ups or additional defensemen to help against the assault. This mode is less hectic than the other battles because you aren't under a time limit to build, and there aren't many options except to repair and upgrade in between fights. Using the stylus to aim and fire cannonballs isn't very difficult, either; all it needs is a little bit of timing.

The battle mechanics in Lock's Quest work well with the DS's touch screen, and so far the game is engaging with its blend of RTS and RPG elements. If you like the look and sound of old-school RPGs, then you should find Lock's Quest visually appealing with its big-headed sprites. The music is catchy and intense, a perfect counterpart to an RPG. According to THQ, multicard play is available where players can battle their friends. Look for Lock's Quest later this year as it approaches its scheduled fall release.