Lunar: Dragon Song

Reviewed by Leland Bonaparte
November 4, 2005

Developer: Japan Art Media Publisher: Ubisoft Consoles Available: Nintendo DS Numbers of Players: 1 ESRB Rating: Everyone Website: Click here

Set 1000 years before the events of Sliver Story; Dragon Song stars acrobatic youths named Jian and Lucia. They soon became friends and also take jobs as couriers. While making deliveries in various towns a lot of strange events have taken place.

I was wondering how the touch screen would be incorporated in use with a RPG. It's mostly used as a secondary menu screen. As I started using the menu screen, I notice that it was fast and easy. Selecting magic and items using the stylus was a great idea. The idea of not having to use the D pad felt really good. Characters look great and the visuals are a pleasant sight to look at. Another feature of Dragon Song is the microphone. During battles if you find yourself in trouble, you can scream “escape” and you might get away. Unfortunately, I found that the microphone was not very responsive. Sometimes I would have to yell ‘escape' three to four times before an action took place.

One thing I did not like was the battle system. I was perplexed by the inability to choose targets during battle. Whenever you choose to attack, whoever is in front of you gets attacked. There were times I wanted to fight a higher-level monster, but it didn't happen. Before combat there are two different modes that you can choose. Defeating monsters in combat mode earns you items. Virtue mode is a way of leveling up your character or a point based system called “Althena Conduct”. I t will be up to gamers to determine which to use. While pressing to B button to run, I noticed my hit points slowly draining. That's right, while trying to speed up you get tired, and Jian will show sweat tears.

Ubisoft had a great idea that only the Nintendo DS could pull off. The game play is a little slow and a lot of backtracking is involved. The replay value of this game is low. I think Lunar: Dragon Song is only for die-hard RPG fans. You have to have a lot of patience to play this game, but if you are a Lunar fan, this is a must have for your collection.

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