Lunar Knights for Nintendo DS Reviews by Gamers

The game's pretty simple. You march around an area, killing guys with your sword, you level up, you get items, you fight bosses. The game is made interesting through a series of side-mechanics that sometimes work, sometimes don't.

The main quirk is the day/night mechanic. You play two characters, one uses lunar energy and one use solar energy. So at any given time, energy is readily available for one guy. Closely tied into that are the spirits. When you beat a boss you get a new elemental spirit. Enemies have affinities, so attacking them with the right element causes more damage (and all enemies come color-coded for your convenience). Some hidden areas are accessible only by using the right element.

Then there's the weather. Some puzzles are solvable by changing the climate, while some climates block the sun/moon and deprive you of a major energy source. You get new climates by, that's right, killing bosses.

There's also "weapon enhancement." Basically you collect scrap materials, and when you get enough you can bump your weapon's attack. You get a few different weapons in the game (guns for the sun guy, melee for the dark dude), but nothing really beats the sword. I could've done without the gun guy for a lot of the game.

The space battles are a way of making the touch screen not totally useless. You tap to shoot and drag to dodge. that's about it.

Throw in some items, a passable storyline, some cut-scenes and some decent voice work and you've got Lunar Knights. It's not the next Castlevania, but it's amusing enough.

Bottom line: it's an isometric hack-and-slash with some quirks. Worth the rent, might be worth the buy if it grabs you.

This was my first purchase for my DS Lite and I could not be happier now that I've finished it. I am a fairly new gamer so I managed to put about thirty hours of play time into it before defeating the final boss. There were several different aspects of the game that I was pleased to see. There were stylus-controlled space fighter shooting scenarios, puzzles involving monsters and some without. Also, having two different characters to alternate between (freely, for the most part) added another interesting component to this game.

I enjoyed the need to change the climate in order to get to some treasures and complete missions. I did not, however, enjoy having to leave each dungeon in order to do that. That was quite tedious, especially during my crusade through Castle Auguste. The cell phone helps get you out when you're mired deep in a dungeon but it won't help you get back in. That's the annoying part. You have to fight your way back. Oh well, consider it an opportunity to gain experience in order to "level up".

The only downsides that I can think of are the lack of quests independent from the storyline and the fairly linear way the game progressed. There was a list for quests but mine was blank. Perhaps that was an aspect of the game that I missed or misunderstood. As far as game play, I felt that I found most necessary items (keys, treasures, weapons) a bit too easily. I really expected to have to search for a while.

For what its worth, I had a lot of fun playing this game and would recommend it highly.

P.S. Another reviewer noted the diagonal layout of the game screens. I found that the game allows you to change the direction of your d-pad by about 45°, making it easier to move in a straight line. Instead of moving straight up by pressing up, you can go "up and left" by pressing up on the d-pad. This really came in handy during one of the puzzles.