Vampires and outer space – two common themes in video games, but very rarely do you see them together in the same title. Lunar Knights, developed by Konami for the Nintendo DS, combines these two game clichés into a singular action/RPG and somehow makes them new again. However, not even this awesome fusion can save the title from it’s ultimately mediocre gameplay.
Developed by Kojima studios, the masterminds behind the Metal Gear Solid and Boktai series, Lunar Knights drops the player into a world plagued by darkness and ruled by vampires. A lone, mysterious vampire hunter named Lucian is on a quest for revenge, while a rebel organization of humans plots to overthrow their vampire overlords with guns that shoot sun energy. Aaron, a fledgling member of the rebels, eventually meets Lucian, and the two (reluctantly on Lucian’s part) work together to take down the vampires while unraveling the mysteries behind the paraSOL and the mysterious Immortals. The story is one of the strongest aspects of the game. While it starts out as a clichéd quest for revenge, it soon grows into an interesting clash of morality while raising thoughtful questions about the nature of both humans and vampires. As the game wears on, it becomes quite philosophical; a typical trait of Kojima-helmed titles. The ending is not quite as satisfying as the rest of the story, but it gets the job done.
The plot is partially told through frequent and enjoyable, high-quality anime cut-scenes. While the voice acting is a little shaky at times, it’s still a welcome variable on the otherwise typical text boxes. The cast of characters (especially villains) are varied and interesting for the most part, with thought-out backgrounds and understandable motives.
You control Lucian and Aaron simultaneously, switching between the two at almost any time by pressing the Select button. The characters personality-wise are very different, though they control the same. Lucian uses a sword, or other melee weapons you may find on side-quests, while Aaron uses pistols and other guns you pick up along the way. I found myself using Lucian a lot more often, mainly because his sword was more powerful and reliable than the guns, which require energy to use and are pretty weak until you’ve upgraded them a bit. You level up much like an RPG, gaining experience for each enemy you kill. Once you level up, you can spend the experience points in upgrading either your health bar, energy bar, or overall strength in the poorly-designed, confusing menu. The game is extremely short however (it can easily be beaten in under ten hours), so unless you participate in the numerous side-quests, your characters will never reach their full potential.
The game mostly focuses on the fighting, though there are puzzles and even a few stealth sequences (including a truly inspired one requiring you to whistle into the DS) scattered throughout the quest. However, since the fighting is the meat of the game, it should be the most polished part. Sadly, this isn’t the case. The game is played from an overhead view on a diagonal plane, which makes the fighting (and navigating narrow walkways) tricky, thanks to the DS’s D-pad, which works better using the cardinal directions. The game also tries to fool you into thinking that the fighting has more variety by adding different Terrenials, or elements, to your weapons, but aside from their Trance powers (more on that later), they don’t add much variety to what is ultimately a hack and slash adventure. Some enemies require a bit of patience and strategy to take down flawlessly, but aside from using the Terrenials to your advantage there really isn’t any significant differences in fighting style – just keep mashing the Y button. The same enemies also reappear throughout the entire game, changing only in color and level; which when combined with the mostly similar and dull environments creates an unfortunate lack of variety. Not even the mini-bosses escape this flaw, as you will fight the same chimera about four times.
The most unique aspect of the gameplay comes from the interesting use of climates and weather, which effect things like armor and environments. However, too few environments actually make use of the climate dynamic, and even fewer use it well. It isn’t much fun waiting for the temperature to rise above 84 degrees just so you can pass the next room. You also have to leave the entire level in order to change the climate. That being said, random weather events like a sandstorm or aurora borealis add a fun layer of variety by causing random effects on the otherwise monotonous gameplay. The healing items are also clever, as fruit will rot over time if not consumed and milk will either spoil or turn into yogurt depending on the weather.
Another welcome (and unexpected) change of pace is offered at the end of most of the chapters in the form of a Star Fox-esque space battle. These battles in orbit are entirely touch controlled, meaning that you have to move your ship to dodge missiles while simultaneously tapping enemies and bosses to cause damage. This makes for some extremely tough battles, but they are also the most entertaining parts of the game. You can replay them anytime you wish, which adds a touch of replayability, in addition to New Game + and harder difficulty modes and a bevy of side quests.
Aside from the space battles, the difficulty of the game is a bit disappointing. Really, the game is as easy or as hard as you want to make it, thanks to the Trance ability, but there is no middle ground, which is the problem. Your Trance meter fills up as you fight enemies. Once filled, it can be used in conjunction with the different Terrenials to transform your character into a powerful creature, the most useful of which is Lucian paired with Nero. Later bosses in the game are incredibly hard, but using the Trance ability almost always ensures that you will be able to beat them within seconds – even the final boss can lose ¾ of its health bar just from using Trance once. So the choice comes down to either making the battle too easy with Trance, or too hard by not using it.
The graphics outside of the brilliant, CGI-filled cut-scenes are hit-or-miss. The 2-D sprites are designed well, but the environments are bland and the 3-D models used in the space missions are repetitive and boring. However, the music is superb – the catchy jazz-influenced melodies are more than enough reason to keep the volume on your DS turned up.
Overall, Lunar Knights is a hard game to judge, as it has its fair share of both creative successes and uninspired flaws. I would definitely recommend it to Boktai/Kojima fans, or anyone craving monotonous hack and slash decorated with an intelligent, enjoyable story. However, more critical gamers would do better to leave this coffin unopened.
