Lock's Quest (DS)
Review by Roger Hargreaves – And so again we are forced to criticise a game for which we have the utmost respect.
Developer 5TH Cell, who created the equally imaginative but flawed Drawn To Life, are almost the only Western developer making any effort on the DS.
We still can't unequivocally recommend any of their games, but we've every confidence that one day they're going to come up with a genuine classic.
At first sight, this gives every impression of being a standard role-player as you take on the role of your stock "chosen one" and chat with various spiky-haired characters.
At the point at which some manner of turn-based battle should appear, the game's true nature is revealed.
It turns out the game is actually a real-time strategy, heavily influenced by web games such as Tower Defence.
Your main character's skills revolve around the ability to construct walls, turrets, traps and helpers which can be deployed in the game's many battles.
Each battle is divided into three or more days, with each day split between a Build and Battle phase.
During the former you're free to lay down whatever buildings you can afford, generally to protect a specific object – most commonly a Source well.
During the Battle phase you have full freedom to run around the map wherever you like, repairing damaged buildings and taking on individual bad guys.
With dozens of enemies on screen at once and a pleasing variety of objectives and missions (including a separate mini-game with a siege tower), on paper this gets everything right.
In practice, though, things don't run nearly that smoothly.
The first obvious problem is the poor controls. Everything is handled via the touchscreen but the pathfinding is dreadful and you seem to snag on every corner you pass.
Even clicking on an enemy that's right in front of you often doesn't work.
Then there's the isometric viewpoint, which, though pretty, makes it very hard to join up walls properly, often unknowingly leaving huge gaps in them.
The problems with the controls and awkward viewpoint never go away and ensure the game's reduction to cult status as surely as the lack of marketing and rubbish name.
You could blame much of it on the limitations of the DS, but that doesn't help it become any more enjoyable.
We just hope the SpongeBob SquarePants edition of Drawn To Life is a hit and 5TH Cell get the chance to try again.
IN SHORT: Ambitious mix of role-player and real-time strategy, that's brought down by unreliable controls.
PROS: Superb production values with great graphics, lots of variety and innovative action-strategy battles.
CONS: Controls are game-breakingly unreliable. Isometric viewpoint makes accurate building very difficult.
SCORE: 6/10 Out: Now (UK)