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Lock's Quest: DS Preview By: PoisonRamune, the Apathetic Lizardman
Recently at PAX I've gotten the opportunity to play a demo of Lock's Quest for the DS. The game is due out early September 2008 and will be costing about $30. In a way this game can be described as communism in video game form. The concept sounds good on paper, but it is somewhat broken and unjust. The game takes a cue from classic “build a fortress” type games such as Castles and/or Rampart, but with a battle system much like a hybrid of a turret defense game and a real time strategy game.
Each level is divided into 2 phases build mode and battle mode. In build mode you have a limited time to fortify your castle with walls, turrets, and gates in order to ready yourself for the upcoming battle. However, you can't just build anything you want, as you have a limited amount of “source” (the in-game currency). Therefore, you must use quite a bit of strategy as to where and what you need to place to destroy the enemies to come. The drag and drop system with the stylus makes it easy to place your castle parts in a strategic manner. However, due to the graphic limitations on the DS you can't rotate the map, thus making it a little hard to place a piece EXACTLY where you need it.
After your building time expires you are sent into battle mode. Hordes of foot soldiers begin to meander towards your fortress and it's your job to guide Lock to the baddies to fight them off. A fair amount of strategy is needed in this part as Lock is your only foot soldier holding off the groups of enemies coming from multiple directions. So you'll find yourself constantly guiding Lock around the map with your stylus (in a style much like the controls of Phantom Hourglass) from one group of baddies to the others. When you do meet up with an enemy, Lock automatically attacks them until you click away to another part of the map. Though you don't directly control any of Lock's attacks, there is an attack buff system where you must click on a series of “buttons” on the touch screen to allow Lock to do more damage when he attacks. While this sounds easy and clear cut in theory, Lock's “click to move” system is pretty flawed. Often times you'll find him stuck behind a small piece of wall in a relatively empty area or making a path to the point you clicked using the farthest possible route. This in itself is frustrating, as often times you'll find the part of your castle you wanted to defend destroyed by the time you get there.
One gripe is that the control scheme in both modes is a very unfair for left handed players (like me), in that you control all the action in the game with the D-pad (to move the camera), shoulder buttons and stylus. This may not seem like a big deal, but south paws will be forced to either learn to use a stylus with their right hand or find a way to cradle the stylus in their left and use the D-pad at the same time. I personally hope that this was just a problem with the demo and that the full version will have a control scheme option for left handers. Though the stylus scheme doesn't favor lefties, one universal problem with the stylus control based gameplay is the “tacked on” feel of a lot of the functions. You're to play this ridiculous, time wasting “match a part” mini-game whenever you get new building technology. This inane task is totally unnecessary and greatly slows down the pace of the game. The game's overall design is very appealing with a classic Squaresoft feel. The sprites have a cutesy look that's reminiscent of Chrono Trigger in their design. The characters in the cut scenes are very clean and sharp. The music is appropriate for the mood and fairly well produced. The tracks have the feeling of the urgency and epicness of the battles you fight.
Overall, the game was pretty easy. The only trouble I found beating the levels were due to the control scheme problem mentioned above. I suppose this game is made for children in elementary school as a “starter” real time strategy game. The basic dialog and “light” storyline reinforces that assumption as well. Perhaps, the flaws I wrote about will be remedied when the full version comes out. However, I'm not going to find out, as I have no interest to purchase this game after playing this demo. If I ever do choose to purchase this game, I'm going to wait until it drops in price and hits the bargain bin. Though as of right now, I'd rather be playing Ninja Town (another turret defense/real time strategy hybrid game coming out in October). If you feel compelled to check this game out (for some masochistic reason), the demo will be available for download in mid-September.
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