"Houston, we've made Contact."

Contact is a action/rpg hybrid that will please any fans of games such as Earthbound and Ragnarok. You start out as young hero Terry, and must traverse your way through many dungeons in order to help the Professor find the power cells needed to fix his spaceship.

The gameplay is very much like Ragnarok's combat. You run up to an enemy, enter combat mode, and watch as Terry hacks away at the enemy's lifebar. This may not sound very entertaining - and it isn't, at first. But, once you get used to the idea that you'll basically only watch Terry fight, you'll enjoy this game alot more. You'll spend many hours traversing multiple dungeons looking for all of the lost power cells. But, be warned - if you don't like power leveling in games, then this game definitely isn't for you. Every time you encounter a new dungeon expect to go kill enemies for a few hours before you can even dare enter the dungeon. Otherwise, you don't stand a chance.

The storyline is very reminiscent of the SNES title Earthbound. It even has Earthbound's bizarre sense of humor. From entering classic video games (You are actually transported into old fictional video games) to battling refrigerators - it's all there. So if you were into Earthbound back in the days, expect to love and cherish this game. I like to think of it as a sort of spiritual successor to Earthbound. Even the music in some parts is very much alike, which is a good thing. The music isn't really memorable (I'm not going out to buy the soundtrack anytime soon) , but at least it's easy on the ears.

The real fun of Contact is all of the items, weapons, and outfits you can collect throughout your adventure. There are literally hundreds of items and weapons to collect, which is very impressive for a handheld title. This is also where he game gets all of it's replayability from. Contact is a game that will bring out the feminine side in even the most macho men. I spent hours searching through every dungeon just to find a new outfit or new weapon for the main hero, Terry. I spent alot of time deciding which weapon looked best on him, and if it matched his outfit or not. It is definitely a sign of good developing when the developers can make you care enough about the hero to spend your precious time deciding on the perfect outfit combination. So if you're a completionist expect about 50-60 hours of gameplay. If not, you can still expect a good 15-25 hour adventure.

Overall Contact is a truly fun game. I gave Contact an 8 because, the player should have been more involved in combat. Other than that, this game is basically flawless. It's a blast from start to finish and if you run across a copy of this game (It's made by Atlus, meaning it saw a VERY limited release), you should definitley pick it up.

Overall 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/06