Boktai 3 - I mean Lunar Knights could only be the creation of Metal Gear Solid's Hideo Kojima. Vampires have conquered the Earth and blocked out the sun with a satellite known as the ParaSOL. These vampires also have powerful abilities thanks to Casket Armor and terrenials, pokémon-esque creatures that can imbue their companion with immense elemental powers. Lunar Knights is fun, interesting, and complex. Why then, was the Boktai name dropped? Because a big part of what makes Lunar Knights fun is the abandonment of the things that kept Boktai from attaining more than a cult following, namely the sun sensor and the casket-dragging portions of Lunar Knights' spiritual predecessors.

Despite the loss of its sun sensor, Lunar Knights sill makes use of a day/night cycle, and the player characters draw their power from the affects of the sun and moon. Lucian, the first player character, draws his power from the moon while Aaron, the second player character, draws his power from the sun. Lunar Knights day/night cycle is more than a simple timer defining whether the sun is shining. Lunar Knights feature a full-blown weather system, and as players defeat bosses they gain access to more and more sections of the ParaSOL satellite. The weather system adds another layer of complexity and fun to an already complex game. Additional features include weapons upgrading, multiple terrenials for player use, differing weather types, differing levels of clarity (clouds and the like sometimes obscure the sun or moon), and 3D stylus-controlled shooter segments (instead of Boktai's casket dragging) interspersed between the isometric dungeons and combat.

Lunar Knights is a satisfying adventure, and there's enough variety to keep you interested all the way through the adventure. The experience is equal parts Metal Gear Solid (completely ridiculous, but oddly compelling story), Diablo (well-implemented isometric combat), and Castlevania (eerie Gothic atmosphere).

Lunar Knights isn't just fun to play, it's beautiful to look at and listen to as well. Just as Square Enix surprised us with FMV in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, so does Konami deliver a pleasant surprise in the form of FMV anime clips and voice acting sprinkled throughout Lunar Knights' neo-Gothic adventure. Graphics and sound outside of cutscenes are beautiful as well. For those of us that love and miss long and engrossing sprite-based games Lunar Knights is a rare treat. Sprites for the main characters and bosses are detailed, and this is where most games would stop, but enemies are easily distinguishable thanks to the same quality artwork of the player characters.

Most portable games are fairly simple, but Lunar Knights holds a nice surprise with its layers of complexity and replayability. Even before the adventure is over, it is worth the player's time to revisit prior dungeons to level up and collect treasures that were missed along the way. The space shooter segments, weapons upgrading, character selection, terrenial selection, terrenial use, style of terrenial use (either augment standard attacks or fuse with the terrenial for a short time for devastating attacks), and weather effects make for a hugely satisfying game that everybody with even a passing interest in vampires or dungeon crawlers should pick up.

Feb 27, 2007 | 0 comments
Justin Last