"Contact Has Been Made"

This review is based on the Japanese version of Contact. I can not read Japanese, so this review is based on my experience with the game.

Contact in some ways has a throw back feel to the early days of gaming. The computer you log on to when you start your game each time and the 8-bit look of the top screen really bring back memories. However, the lush paint like bottom screen reminds you that you are playing a newer game on a newer hand held.

Regarding the story, this is what I think happened. You are helping a scientist and his pet find the missing green gems needed for his ship. Finding these gems will allow him to get home.

The game starts simply enough on a beach. This is where you learn the basics of combat. There is no tutorial, so you are flung right into to combat and have to figure it out for yourself. Luckily, the combat is very well done and very simple. Hitting the B button puts your character in crouch (attack) mode and draws what ever weapon you have chosen. An icon then appears over the nearest enemy and you will whack away at the enemy until you defeat the enemy. Your health bar is located at the top left of the screen and each enemy has a health bar that is displayed as well. Each hit shows the amount of damage done. As you acquire special abilities the Y button can be used to bring up special attacks. There is a nice variety of these special attacks. There is a green bar that goes up to five which is how many times you can use a special attack. The Y button brings up your inventory, which includes weapons, health/food items and treasures. The player can be controlled by the stylus or the d-pad. As a side note, you can attack good people as well. I am not sure what the purpose of this was but it will lower one of your stats if you continue to do it.

There seems to be 8 main locations that you can visit. A new location opens up as you accomplish goals (such as finding a green gem). You select these locations from a globe in your room. Your room aboard this ship, also provides you with a place to save and replenish your health. Saving is done via a bed and replenishing can be done via a bath tub. When saving, a green icon of a person shaking their head yes is all you need to click on to save. Very simple and very import friendly. Your inventory is also all icon based as are your stats. So, it is pretty easy to tell what you are using/equipping. You can hold, 90 weapons, 90 food/health items and 90 treasures. You will encounter shops in certain areas that will allow you to buy and sell, weapons health and treasures. There are some weapons and treasures that can not be sold as they are part of the story. As for stats, there are 26 different stats that can be leveled up. Stats are leveled up automatically depending on what you are doing. Again, very import friendly.

Through out the game, enemies (when defeated) drop money, food and treasure items. Killing enemies will also help fill up your special ability bar mentioned above. Food items are items that need to be cooked. During the game you acquire different suits (I won't list them because part of the fun is finding them and seeing what they do). I didn't find all of the suits but one suit is a Chef suit which allows you to cook the food that you have found.

There is not a lot of dialogue in the game but I am sure that I missed a good part of the story. I only got stuck a couple of times, so overall this is a very import friendly game IMO. There are stickers in the game which game be applied via the stylus. One is a Ship sticker which will return you to the your ship. Another one is used to pick up the green gems mentioned above. Other than those two, I really didn't use the stickers. I didn't find all of the suits or elements but was able to beat the game and see the ending. There were some areas that I could not get to and some treasure chests that I was unable to open. So, there is more here than what I saw on my 22 hour play through.

Pros:
Import Friendly/Title screen is in English/Saving/Weapons ect are all represented by icons.

Tons of items to find including, weapons, foods, treasures elements and suits. Nice variety in enemies and some very cool boss battles.

Cons:
When you die, you go back to the ship even if you saved in level. You can turn off the power to start at your last save (to prevent having to go through the level again) but you shouldn't have to do that.

There doesn't appear to be an end game save. So, if you want to keep playing you will have to do so from your pre final boss save.

Overall....I rate this game a 9/10. I might have rated it higher if I could read the story. The 22 hours I spent playing this game were all enjoyed. There was never a dull moment and the only bad part about this game is that it ended too soon. However, with more items to find, I can keep playing. There is Wi-Fi but there is no multi-player in the normal way.

Buy or Not....I would wait for the USA version. However, if you can't wait, you should be able to play through the import with little to no problems.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/10/06