An overall solid campaign and high replay value make Lunar Knights a wise investment for your DS.
Spiritually, as the 4th Boktai game, Lunar Knights features many similar features and themes found in the original GameBoy Advance titles. This time, however, the solar sensor idea has been ditched and replaced with an automatic weather feature. While not allowing the gameplay to become as deep as before, this and many other features add a new flavour to
the gameplay.
Unlike the previous titles, Lunar Knights features an entirely new cast of characters. The heroes this time are Lucian, a mysterious vampire hunter with the power of darkness and Aaron - an apprentice sharpshooter and member of a sunlight lovin' guild. As the game progresses, you being to realise what a great pair these two are together and this really makes for some decent storytelling.
The main high-point in the game is it's gameplay and this is where Lunar Knights really excels. This is a free roaming, hack 'n' slash adventure, so you'll be running around, guarding and using a great deal of weapons to stab, slice and shoot at foes. The battle system here works rather well, even if a lot of the time you'll be getting your ass handed to you by even the least threatening of enemies. Yes, from start to finish Lunar Knights is quite a difficult game, and it wouldn't surprise me if this put some people off it entirely. Perserverance is key, however and once you get the hang of the
game's control scheme, you'll feel right at home. The best part is that the game allows you to choose between two characters who are in no way alike. Lucian uses close combat weapons such as a sword, lance etc, while Aaron will be using long range weapons like pistols, flamethrowers and missles. The way the game allows you to pick and choose a fighting style is great, plus it opens up so many different ways to fight the various boss monsters in the game.
One thing that can be improved upon is the casket rocket stages. For this, the game goes 3D and completely relies on the functionality of the DS stylus. This is one of the biggest flaws the game has. While not being too bad, these rocket stages feel quite clunky and, well... bare. For this stage, you move the rocket AND shoot with the stylus, meaning dodging and shooting is a real pain. This is pretty much all you can do during these stages too - dodge and shoot. Considering the main battle system boasts so many options, it's quite dissapointing to be downgraded to just one little cannon. However, these stages are sparse and hardly outstay their welcome.
As far as graphics go, Lunar Knights isn't exactly the game that steals the spotlight. That being said, the game has brilliantly animated sprites, a great art style and even anime cutscenes to help tell it's story even better. The main part of the game is shown through an istometric view, much like the previous Boktai games. This, on the whole, still works out really well.
Overall the main story of the game should last from 10 - 15 hours, depending on how well you can cope with being constantly barraged by difficult enemies. After that, there's a hard mode to take on as well as some optional stuff for the completists to go crazy with. So, overall, this is quite a lengthy game depending on how much you grow to like it.
Even though it's got an entirely new name, this is definitely still the Boktai people have come to love. If you played and enjoyed the GameBoy Advance games, get yourself a copy of this. If not, I recommend it only if you really want a good challenge to sink your teeth into. Either way, Boktai is back and it's shown itself to be one of the best titles on the DS to date.
Pros
- Brilliant gameplay
- Well presented
- Anime cutscenes area nice touch
Cons
- Some parts of the game are too difficult
- Casket Rocket stages feel like a chore