So Dragon Quest IX has come out recently here in Europe, the latest edition in a series I've long been itching to give a try. And it's really good - sure, in terms of battle and overall presentation it's nothing new, especially to hardened DQ fans. But the characters and dialogue are excellent, so are the graphics and sound effects, and the amount of LOOT!
...but that's not what I'm wanting to post about. The Above game is one I only found out about when reading the latest issue of Edge magazine. It had a colorful, multi-page article about this quirky wee title. As soon as I saw the immensely appealing character design, and read the premise of the game - where you play as a Slime called Rocket on his adventure to save 100 of his friends and rebuild their home city of Boingburg, ravaged by the Plob, I just had to get it. What I got was one of the most original games I've played in a long time.
I'll admit, before I played Dragon Quest games I didn't like the design of the Slime character. He's an icon in Japan - in the lofty ranks of Pikachu and Mario's popularity - and it's only from playing the games that I see why. They are immensely appealing, the way they move and are animated, their sound effects, and dialog, would crack a smile on even a hardened criminals face. The amount of puns used in the game is on a Wallace and Gromit scale, due to some fantastically well executed localization.
The game itself is pretty damn unique - you bounce around the game world saving 100 slimes, all put in treasure chests which are scattered around each area by the plob, a race of platypus creatures. You also collect all objects you find, as well as enemies, and bounce up to 3 things at once on your head. Then these items (and foes) are placed on trolleys which head back to Boingburg. The items you find turn out to be used as ammunition in gigantic castle tank battles, and the enemies are your helpers if you collect enough of them. The battles themselves are frantic, with an outside view of the battle taking place topscreen of the DS whilst you run around frantically loading up cannons and defeating enemies on the lower screen. Hop into a canon yourself to blast over to their tank, where you can sabotage it from the inside - which you will ultimately need to do in order to destroy it's engine, the literal beating heart of the tank.
It's a bit easy, but there are more than enough difficult games out there if I want a challenge. It's just nice to play something that is so different, unclassifiable, genre defying, and as totally charming, as this title. Long live slimes! *slurp*
Jailcat!
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