A handheld legend returns, but is it lost in a mire of action without reason?
Format: DS Dev: Camelot Pub: Nintendo Out: 10/12/10 Players: 1
There’s a huge amount of choice for fans of the Japanese turn-based RPG genre on Nintendo DS. Both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises have spawned numerous titles on the console leaving the area well explored, if not a little overcrowded. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is the third game in the much loved Golden Sun franchise from the Game Boy Advance, but with this steep competition, can it stand out and be the sequel fans of the franchise deserve?
After a lengthy, text-based recap of the previous games’ story, Dark Dawn kicks off, putting you in the shoes of the protagonist an archetypal teenage boy leaving his home to become a man. The default name for the character, Matthew, is almost as uninspired as his personality but don’t let this put you off. The game is set 30 years after the original Golden Sun, fans will recognise their favourite heroes, Isaac and Garet, taking a backseat role in the prologue, appearing as the fathers and mentors of the new gang. The story does well to reminisce about the first two games, often alluding to characters and events, but is never too overwhelming and alienating to anyone unfamiliar with them. Newcomers are very much welcome to Dark Dawn.
Though accessible, the storyline fails to capture the imagination and charm of the series and after a few hours of gameplay you’ll find that you can do without it. This is largely due to the huge bulks of text the story is told through. Speech bubble dialogue will begin to burn themselves to your retina, cropping up almost constantly in between gameplay – these characters love to talk. The dialogue is often dull and unnecessary, I would often find myself hammering the A button and not missing anything, just to get to the next puzzle or fight. These are where the game really comes into its own.
Dark Dawn returns to the turn-based, random monster battles we all know and love. The game is not ashamed of its roots and makes no attempt to cover them with annoying visible monster encounters and superfluous battle visuals, unlike most recent Final Fantasy canon. Battles look great in this game; character models adapt taking far more slick forms than their open world counterparts. The turn-based commands are all staples in the genre, but Golden Sun throws its unique Djinn mechanic into the mix.
Djinn are little creatures that can be discovered throughout the game, taking different forms based on the four elements the game is built off. Assigning different Djinn to different characters creates a very customisable party, adapting skill sets, strengths and adding new magic attacks. The system is poorly introduced to the game with a boring, unclear tutorial, but it is fairly easy to pick up as you go along.
Puzzles take centre stage in Dark Dawn with random battles becoming less frequent and dominant to gameplay, at last. These sections construct a large portion of the game and are mostly solved by implementing each character’s unique elemental magic skills, gradually acquired along the way. The puzzles are largely fun, but are let down by the incredible ease with which they can be completed. You’ll rarely find yourself stumped.
This brings me to my biggest disappoint with what should have been a great addition to the franchise: it’s far too easy. With 15+ hours racked up, I’d yet to die or get stuck for more than five minutes. On very rare occasions, twice to be exact, I’ve found one member of my party KO’d in a battle making for very stale battles. New weapons and magic attacks are acquired constantly, making sure you’re always ahead of the curve and far more powerful than the monsters. I even found myself opting out of using summon attacks because the battles were far too easy.
The difficulty of the game suggests it’s an RPG geared more towards kids, but an overly wordy plot and pretty much everything else in the game begs to differ. Failing to deliver on either side is ultimately disappointing. Fans of the franchise have been given only a decent third instalment, the names and places are familiar but the charm and a lot of the fun have been dropped, leaving a game that’s hard to rate any higher than average.
Dan Key
Tags: golden sun, handheld, nintendo, rpg
