Critic & User Reviews
IGN Review of Contact
If you're anything like us, you've spent countless hours in the middle of the night staring at your DS as it lay powered off on your nightstand. Not because you're contemplating playing it, but because deep down you've always known there's something more to being a gamer. Somewhere beyond the known world, there's an unknown force mysteriously guiding you. And somehow, some way, you've always known you were special. Well my friends, the day has finally come. We've made Contact, and it's time you gather your nerves - as well as $34.99, standard "initiation" fee - and do the same. In an amazing feat never before witnessed, Atlus has found a way to use the Nintendo DS to not only make contact with the world, but with worlds beyond.
Contact is an odd little game, and if you haven't been keeping up with it, prepare to be a bit confused. The adventure plays out as a non-traditional action role-playing game, having your act not as the hero, but as a correspondent between the game's protagonist and his outer-space friend. In Contact, you play as yourself, not as a character within the game. The basic premise follows a man known only as "Professor", as he makes contact with you through the mysterious handheld device known as the Nintendo DS. Desperate for help, the geezer has crash landed on a mysterious island, and is recruiting an impromptu crew to help him find the scattered pieces of his ship across the lands so that he can ultimately get back to his home world.
But you won't be the one doing it, no sir. Instead, the Professor picks up a young boy by the name of Terry, who is both novice and unqualified in the ways of world-saving. Lucky for them both, today's gamers know there stuff, and many of you have already saved the world countless times (of course many of you still use strategy guides, but we'll just ignore that for the time being…). Your role will be to act as the unseen, unheard force that guides Terry on his quest, using the stylus to influence his movements and actions, while still taking orders from the Prof. himself. If there's an enemy to attack, it's your job to (quite literally) point Terry in the right direction. When it comes to navigation, it's your role to plot the course, as Terry follows your stylus input.
Since your roll in Contact is primarily detached from the main character, we can see how some gamers will get into the design more than others. It's true that you can directly control Terry's movements with either stylus or d-pad, but when it comes to fighting, the actual attacks are totally automated. You command Terry to go into battle mode, and he'll instantly start attacking the closest enemy (or one of your choice, if the stylus is used). All advanced techniques can be called up at any time, but aside from throwing in a few special attack from time to time, you're pretty much pointing out a target and watching the guy go. Where you put in the most time as a gamer, is in the form of the field strategist. You'll manage the special attacks, the endless amount of items, Terry's actions towards friendly/enemy characters, and a unique sticker system that allows you to physically place modifiers on the battlefield with virtual stickers. So while you aren't directly controlling the battles, there's definitely a ton to do.
From beginning to end, Contact is an extremely unique adventure. Everything from gameplay to presentation, graphical design and story progression is very stylized, and very specific. Using the two-screen display of the DS, for example, players can observe both the Professor and Terry at the same time, receiving orders from the big man upstairs while controlling Terry with the touch screen or d-pad. Following suit, the two screens are presented in very different styles, having the top screen look like the more traditional 2D gameplay of something like Earthbound, while the bottom screen takes high-res backgrounds and combines them with a more realistic form of art direction.
Where the game really shines for us, however, is in the immense depth it presents. Rather than a few measly stats, Terry has dozens of number values that can be modified based on his actions (and your influence). Level-ups happen on the fly, so if you command Terry to run for the majority of the game, his speed is going to increase. Use a ton of melee attacks, and his melee attacks go up. Allow him to get the crap kicked out of him, and he'll slowly become more resilient to physical combat. Everything from stats, skills, magic ability, personality, vocational skills, defense, and endurance can be managed and modified, each acting as a main category with sub-skills to tweak as well. Add in a unique ability to have Terry put on different suits reminiscent of Final Fantasy's job system (wear a chef suit, gain the ability to cook, use chef skills, and chef items in battle), and you have a package that has an immense amount of depth.
©2006-10-19, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Contact is an odd little game, and if you haven't been keeping up with it, prepare to be a bit confused. The adventure plays out as a non-traditional action role-playing game, having your act not as the hero, but as a correspondent between the game's protagonist and his outer-space friend. In Contact, you play as yourself, not as a character within the game. The basic premise follows a man known only as "Professor", as he makes contact with you through the mysterious handheld device known as the Nintendo DS. Desperate for help, the geezer has crash landed on a mysterious island, and is recruiting an impromptu crew to help him find the scattered pieces of his ship across the lands so that he can ultimately get back to his home world.
But you won't be the one doing it, no sir. Instead, the Professor picks up a young boy by the name of Terry, who is both novice and unqualified in the ways of world-saving. Lucky for them both, today's gamers know there stuff, and many of you have already saved the world countless times (of course many of you still use strategy guides, but we'll just ignore that for the time being…). Your role will be to act as the unseen, unheard force that guides Terry on his quest, using the stylus to influence his movements and actions, while still taking orders from the Prof. himself. If there's an enemy to attack, it's your job to (quite literally) point Terry in the right direction. When it comes to navigation, it's your role to plot the course, as Terry follows your stylus input.
Since your roll in Contact is primarily detached from the main character, we can see how some gamers will get into the design more than others. It's true that you can directly control Terry's movements with either stylus or d-pad, but when it comes to fighting, the actual attacks are totally automated. You command Terry to go into battle mode, and he'll instantly start attacking the closest enemy (or one of your choice, if the stylus is used). All advanced techniques can be called up at any time, but aside from throwing in a few special attack from time to time, you're pretty much pointing out a target and watching the guy go. Where you put in the most time as a gamer, is in the form of the field strategist. You'll manage the special attacks, the endless amount of items, Terry's actions towards friendly/enemy characters, and a unique sticker system that allows you to physically place modifiers on the battlefield with virtual stickers. So while you aren't directly controlling the battles, there's definitely a ton to do.
From beginning to end, Contact is an extremely unique adventure. Everything from gameplay to presentation, graphical design and story progression is very stylized, and very specific. Using the two-screen display of the DS, for example, players can observe both the Professor and Terry at the same time, receiving orders from the big man upstairs while controlling Terry with the touch screen or d-pad. Following suit, the two screens are presented in very different styles, having the top screen look like the more traditional 2D gameplay of something like Earthbound, while the bottom screen takes high-res backgrounds and combines them with a more realistic form of art direction.
Where the game really shines for us, however, is in the immense depth it presents. Rather than a few measly stats, Terry has dozens of number values that can be modified based on his actions (and your influence). Level-ups happen on the fly, so if you command Terry to run for the majority of the game, his speed is going to increase. Use a ton of melee attacks, and his melee attacks go up. Allow him to get the crap kicked out of him, and he'll slowly become more resilient to physical combat. Everything from stats, skills, magic ability, personality, vocational skills, defense, and endurance can be managed and modified, each acting as a main category with sub-skills to tweak as well. Add in a unique ability to have Terry put on different suits reminiscent of Final Fantasy's job system (wear a chef suit, gain the ability to cook, use chef skills, and chef items in battle), and you have a package that has an immense amount of depth.
©2006-10-19, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved