Three great DS RPGs have divided the year into three handy segments. The post-Christmas blues were swiftly banished by Might & Magic, Dragon Quest IX is proving a fine friend in airport lounges and on trains in summer holiday season, and the hectic run-up to Christmas will be eased by Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.
What a surprise Golden Sun was. At a get-together for those of us not lucky enough to get to E3, Nintendo took over the top of the Millbank Tower in London and let us loose on the 3DS, Donkey Kong Country Returns and Kirby's Epic Yarn, among others. All were great, the 3DS especially (that'll be talked about loads more elsewhere, I suspect), but what grabbed my attention was the DSi XL loaded with a trial of Golden Sun tucked away under a window overlooking the Palace of Westminster.
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Naturally everyone else was engrossed in the gaggle of pretty ladies brandishing 3DSes in the centre of the room, so I got to try the two demo modes at my leisure. Now, I know 3DS is the main attraction, but I really can't understand why Golden Sun got so little attention. I could even pause the demo to grab chocolate ginger biscuits without fear of losing my spot.
It's shot through with the combination of top class gameplay and Nintendo charm that is rarely seen outside of the Mario-Zelda big two. In the two halves of the demo, I wandered through a training area and got to grips with the battle system. The former showed how to use the Psynergy abilities to move objects and set them aflame. I led my character through an assault course using my stylus just as in Spirit Tracks, hopping automatically over gaps, and aiming the direction in which my spells would be shot in with the D-pad. Simple, sensible.
The battle system was the more impressive, as this showed off the Djinn system. The little spirits are collected throughout the game, but as this was just a three-stage battle we had a limited amount. Each provides a different special ability for your characters, so you might send a whirlwind ripping through enemies, or a gentler, invigorating breeze through your own party. Once all the assigned Djinn were used, they could be combined, cheesy Power Rangers style, into a huge spirit entity to overcome the gnarly ogre I was staring at.
Once he was seen off, I got to wander through an early town, and while its structure will be familiar to anyone with even a passing interest in RPGs, its style was still a joy to behold. Buzzing with colour and vibrancy, with a pleasingly bold art style somewhere between Dragon Quest and Zelda, just ten minutes meant I was itching to bundle into the rest of the game.
I don't know what I expected, but I went away happy - and it definitely wasn't because of a chocolate rush. I know and love the originals, but to see it resurrected with such confidence fills me with hope that the finished version will bring real gusto to a genre that can be overburdened with its own stereotypes.
