Locks Quest (Nintendo DS) - Review by Chris

Introduction

Even though the functionality of the console seems perfect for the type of game, real time strategy titles haven't exactly flocked to Nintendo's DS handheld. The ones that have appeared have scaled things back slightly or, in the case of one big franchise, altered the way in which the game plays out completely. With room for a big, innovative and fleshed out RTS experience in the DS' library to appease fans, THQ and 5th Cell have taken to the challenge to provide just that sort of experience with Lock's Quest, a brand new game from the minds behind the Drawn To Life games which sees you build and battle your enemies in a unique twist on the genre. The end result is perhaps the best RTS on the console to date.

Gameplay

Lock's Quest follows the story of a young boy named Lock who, when asked to help building a wall to prevent his seaside town from flooding, comes across Isaiah, an Archineer, who has stumbled into his town after his patrol was ambushed by an army of Clockwork soldiers. Events quickly gather pace from here on out as Lock becomes embroiled in a battle between the Kingdom Forces and the Clockwork army, headed by Lord Agony. An impressively designed introduction cutscene provided the background to what happened to Lord Agony, showing that he was once the star Archineer responsible for creating the world and the people but was told by the then king to stop his work and consequently turned evil and tried to gain control over the world's resourced before supposedly being slain in battle. Leading a resurrected Clockwork army, Lord Agony is once again after the world's Source energy and as amateur Archineer Lock, you'll have to travel the kingdom and put a stop to Lord Agony, all the while searching for your lost sister.

The game's story manages to fall on the right side of unique and while it may seem a little heavy, it's spread evenly out across the course of the single player element of the game and never borages you with too much information at one time. This of course extends over to many other elements of the game, such as how the gameplay unfolds, and as such, right up until the end you'll still be encountering new things.

As an Archineer, you'll be tasked with building defences and maintaining them. You'll also be tasked with leading the attack on enemy forces to take down generals in the Clockwork army, allowing for a variance in the gameplay to keep it entertaining. And entertaining it will be. Primarily built as an RTS, the game crossed genre boundaries, bringing in elements of micro-management and RPG like mechanics to keep you on your toes. Yet, where the crossing of boundaries can dull the gameplay in certain games, here it is handled expertly and the game never truly loses sight of what its core gameplay is; that being in the RTS genre.

With such a variance in the tasks you'll undertake in the single player, the game employs a unique battle system that is split into two sections. When you have been giving an objective, the game will first and foremost place you in a Build mode. This is where you'll be tasked with building defences, such as walls, turrets and traps, all to aid in defending your location or to aid you in your advances up the battlefield. To do so, you'll have to use your Source material that you have in stock, and each placement of a defensive feature will decrease the amount of Source you have. As you progress through the 100 day single player, you'll continue to add new turrets, traps and helpers to your arsenal adding a further layer of strategy to the placement of your defences. Once you've got everything in place, or when the timer runs down, the Battle phase begins and waves of enemies will charge your fortifications in the hope of getting to the objective you are protecting. As enemies attack your defences, you'll have to begin repairing otherwise you'll lose those particular units, something which becomes a more common occurrence as your progress with new and more aggressive enemy types and bosses appearing.

While it does sounds confusing when reading about it, believe us when we say it couldn't be more simpler when sitting down to play, with the only difficulty other than that of the enemies you face coming in your decisions of where to place fortifications. It's a surprisingly deep experience, and one that never fails to excite over the course of the 100 day campaign. It is therefore a fantastic single player experience for any RTS fan but luckily, there are also multiplayer options to grab your attention. 2 players will be able to face off against one another in local wireless battles where they'll have to split their Source between building Clockwork soldiers to send at their opponents and building defences, adding a new dimension to the gameplay. It adds to an already fantastic experience and while larger numbers for the multiplayer would have been nice, it's still a fantastic package.

Controls

Primary control over the game falls to the stylus, with virtually all actions in both the building and battle sections of the game carried out solely by way of the touch screen. Sparse use of buttons is included in the package, with the A button being able to be used to pass through the dialogue and the d-pad and L button being used to move the camera around the battlefield and snap it to your characters current location respectively. The controls, though, work extremely well and while it would have been better if the camera moved slightly faster, every gels to create a very workable setup that's easy to get to grips with and never becomes complicated because of the grid based system being employed.

Graphics

While certain elements of the terrain may look slightly dated in their design, every other visual element of the game is expertly designed and looks fantastic. The developers, even with a short development cycle, have produced a really good looking game, with some of the best sprite work on the console. Locations are handled extremely well, with many of them harking back to RPGs of yesteryear due to their designs and the amount of work that has gone into making them look so good. The various building types, turrets and other defensive objects you'll have at your disposal are also designed well and the number of these which can fit on the screen at one time is a very impressive feat.

This visual feat, however, is furthered even more when the screen begins to fill up with characters, all of which are beautifully created and animated superbly, with hair moving while the character rocks or the characters themselves showing signs of fatigue or injury after big battles. The enemy character models continue this superb level of design and when you see just how many units are on screen at once and how much is happening, with turrets and traps firing and attacks being launched, it really is impressive that the game manages to maintain a solid frame rate throughout the entirety of the game.

Pulling an already fantastic visual presentation together are some excellent cutscenes, with specific mention having to go to the intro one which has been done in a periodic style to tell the tale of the world up to the point of your beginning and it really does look fantastic. It's a style of cutscene which is used throughout the game and it really completes a very impressive looking package.

Sound

Music follows a similar pathway to that of the visuals, with the game packing a very impressive score to accompany the in game action. Such is the composition of the pieces, you'll find yourself reminiscing about many games from the Super Nintendo era, and while the score doesn't quite match up to the majesty of some of the best in that era, or on the DS for that matter, what is here doesn't lag far behind and is indeed another impressive plus point for the game.

Dual screen

Much of the game is controlled by way of the touch screen, with the camera truly being the only thing that it isn't used to control. Some games in the genre have had trouble making use of this control setup up yet here, they're implemented almost faultlessly as they work incredibly smoothly, making placement of defensive features an almost effortless task and movement around the battlefield to either take the fight to the enemy or shore up your defences is similarly well handled. There are very odd occasions where your character may not go exactly where you've pointed them to go, such as when trying to repair defences surrounded by permanent structures or forestry, but other than that, the touch screen is used extremely well and the control scheme really is fantastic.

Final comments

For their second game on the console, developers 5th Cell have already managed to up their game and with Lock's Quest, they've created one of the best RTS experiences on the DS to date. The gameplay provides a unique take on the genre and what initially feels like a shallow experience quickly reveals itself to be incredibly deep with a hefty layer of strategy involved. The visuals are superbly designed, managing to give even the smallest unit a sense of being alive, and the audio helps to put the icing on the cake by providing some excellent compositions. There's plenty of room to grow and expand should the game get a much deserved sequel but as it is, Lock's Quest is a fantastic game that RTS fans should rightly snap up.

Pro: Unique and surprisingly deep gameplay mechanics, controls are almost flawless, presentation is superb
Con: Occasional issue with character movement, camera movement is a bit slow
Final score: 8.6

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