For those that say original ideas are dead in the world of video games, guess again as a new spin on an old aspect can revive an entire genre. Lock’s Quest, developed by 5th Cell and published by Play THQ (THQ’s new casual gaming label) is the next release from the creator (and first DS project) of the innovative and unique RPG, “Drawn to Life”. This yet again innovative Nintendo DS title was released September 8th, 2008 and promises more unique gameplay not found anywhere else. That being said, it seems a little odd that I tout it’s uniqueness, yet mention that it’s a take on an old feature, what I mean by this, is that Lock’s Quest reminded me a lot of the mini-game where you must defend the egg at fort Condor in Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 7.

Lock’s Quest begins by explaining archineers (architects / engineers), source (the resources used to build), and clockwork (evil soulless robots fighting for a period of time using source). You are told the tale of an epic past battle of good vs. evil, a good archineer king defending his kingdom against an evil force using clockworks to take over the world, an explosion occurs and everyone assumes the evil force is gone. If that were the case, would we be playing this game now? Of course you’re a young reckless farm boy with little archineer experience and just by chance you come across an archineer commander wounded in battle. Turns out the clockwork are back and heading right for your town! You send your little sister (which by the way, is an orphan being raised by your wise, strong grandfather just like you of course) to get help only to find out she was kidnapped by the evil forces and you must get her back. The game begins.

The game plays in certain stages, you’re given a grid, your battle field, sometimes you must defend a specific location from the oncoming forces and all you have to defend yourself are your fists and your archineering ability. Each round starts off with a build period in which you use source to build walls, traps, and turrets (which can be fortified with walls), each item costs a certain amount of source. The next stage is when you are being attacked by wave after wave of clockwork (soldiers, archers, berserkers, etc), as this happens you use your stylus to run around attacking the clockwork using special combo attacks, or running to your damaged defenses to repair them before they are destroyed. Every once in a while you find some scraps from fallen clockwork and use them to build new defenses, as well, every clockwork drops some source. Once the timer runs out, all the clockwork drop and you repeat the process until a storyline event happens.

The controls are pretty simple yet intuitive, you can use your stylus to do everything from moving around to setting up your to attacking. Tap on a clockwork to attack them and (initially) a set of numbers (in a random order) appear at the bottom of the screen, click them in the right order and you do extra damage. Tap on a damaged turret and a little wrench appears at the bottom, turn it back and forth the correct amount of times (there will be a number on the wrench) and you repair quicker. Simple and innovative controls to keep the action fast and stress-free.

Music within the game is orchestrated and epic feeling to the extent a DS game can please our ears. It’s not really anything exciting but you at least get a feel for the sense of urgency based on the type of music being played. Not really much else to discuss here, sound effects of clanks and whacks sound similar to that of Drawn to Life (5th Cell’s first DS game)

The graphics seem geared (pun intended) towards a younger audience but don’t let that sway your decision, simple animations and cartoon style still frames (during character interactions) may make some gamers decide against picking this title up, but I feel the simplicity of graphics in this title allowed the developer to focus on gameplay and depth. There is also a pretty sweet animated intro to the game that got me excited to play!

Once the story is over you can read the ten page mini-comic that came in the game case, OR you can check out the multiplayer option. Here two players (each with their own game cartridge) can play wirelessly in which they battle head on with a specific amount of source to spend both on offensive clockworks and defensive structures.

In the end, this game was a fun title to pick up and play on the subway or bus, allowing players to create their scenarios and use a little planning in the process, but a couple of little things annoyed me. First is the layout of menus, you aren’t given a main menu off the bat and only two save files to work with, both of which rotate auto-saves and I haven’t noticed an option to turn off, small little annoyances like this here and there. Secondly is the story, or holes within the story at least. An example of what I mean is you send your sister for help at the beginning, she just had to run one screen over to the village, but she never makes it, you tell your grandpa you have to go look for her, he says instead that you should stay and fight the army (without any training) while everyone runs away. Now don’t get me wrong, but if you have a village filled with experienced, strong men, why send a weak kid to the front line while everyone runs away? That’s just bad parenting. Another point in the story that annoyed me was also near the beginning. You’re walking with your new archineer friend you just saved and your grandfather when you spot your missing sister’s teddy bear (which she wasn’t carrying before). You see this bear and immediately assume she was kidnapped by the bad guys, even though right beside the bear is a friendly army fortress… it just doesn’t make sense to me.

Gripes aside, this unique yet simple game was quite fun if you take it with a grain of salt. Let your planning skills guide you and save the world while your at it. Grab a buddy that has this game as well and see who the better archineer is. P.S. Lock also has super powers.

Enjoy

Gameplay: 4.5/5
Graphics: 3.5/5
Sound: 4/5
Replay Value: 3.5/5






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