Contact

"A fun trek through a strange universe"

After suffering countless delays, niche company Atlus' hotly anticipated title Contact has finally arrived. Developed by Marvelous Interactive and grasshopper manufacture - creators of Killer 7 - Contact offers a surreal, highly stylized action-RPG for the Nintendo DS that attempts to not only take full of advantage of the DS hardware but also to take the gamer on a cerebral, interesting journey. For the most part, Contact delivers.

For the sake of time, I won't go into detail about the plot of Contact. In a nutshell: an 8-bit Professor has contacted you through your Nintendo DS to aid him and an unknowing teen named Terry in recovering the lost cells to his ship that could cause some massive damage to the universe if not found. Read that line over and over until it makes sense. It's actually a very straightforward tale, one that surprisingly doesn't betray the gamer toward the end, as so many RPGs do.

The narrative makes for some phenomenal characterizations. The Professor and his dog, Mochi, are instantly likable, as is the silent Terry. Most notable, however, are the most fun and refreshing villains in recent history: the cyber-terrorist rock band the CosmoNOTs. There's no brooding Sephiroth to be found here; there's also no amnesia, angry witches seeking to take revenge on the lovers that scorned them or any sort of ancient empire on the brink of uprising. There ARE UFOs, but I'll let you find those on your own.

All this great storytelling would be for naught if the gameplay wasn't up to par. Thankfully, the gameplay in Contact is excellent. Rather than a simple job/class system, Terry can don several costumes, ranging from a chef's suit (which gives him a cooking skill) to a Thief suit (good for picking locks, though watch your karma points!). Each costume has its own strengths and weaknesses, such as water, wind and earth. The great thing, though, is that there's never a wrong choice of costume and you can always make it through.

The traditional spell system is replaced here with the Decal system: the Professor will give Terry decals, used to heal, summon Mochi and pop Balloons to kill enemies. There's also a hidden decal, but I'll allow you to find it for yourself. There are also decals which add to Terry's stat system. The stat system in Contact is surprisingly complex: your HP, strength, and affinity to elements are all affected by variables such as weapon, costume and decal.

All of these gameplay factors figure into one major aspect: the battle system. This, unfortunately, is where the gameplay falters, if only a little. Battling consists of the player clicking on an enemy with the stylus and watching Terry go at it. You can heal Terry or direct Terry around, but battling is largely automated. This is not too bad, just a little odd considering the complexity of the rest of the game. I will say, however, that you will find yourself fighting a ridiculously cool range of enemies. Tell me if you've ever seen another RPG where an 8-bit car killed you with one hit.

Contact isn't for everyone. The game can be a challenge, especially compared with many RPGs today, but the personal investment becomes apparent when you've realized you've wasted an entire day playing. This game offers an incredibly fun and fascinating journey through a really bizarre and wonderful universe. I highly recommend it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/24/06