"I can proudly say... I made Contact"

Contact is one of those quirky role playing game you either love or hate. It is expected to have that kind of mixed reaction due to the fact that it is created by one of the most interesting studio, which is Grasshopper Manufacture.

However, does Contact have the potential to be a cult hit?

While Contact is an interesting title that is being released by Atlus and it does have the potential, however, the game itself can use some more polish.

The story start out with the Professor and his ship was being under attack. While being under attack, a communication line is form between you (the player) and the Professor. During this attack, some cells fall out of his ship and Terry notice it when he was sitting on a bench. The Professor grabs Terry and gets him onto his ship. They became stranded on this planet and now it is up to Terry to find all the cells. While Terry is finding all the cells, it is up to you (the player) to guide him while Terry is unaware of your existence.

What's great about this game is the cast of characters and the quirky nature of the story. It's interesting to see the Professor at the top screen of the DS and the lines he would say when Terry is looking for the cells in the dungeons. Some of the lines of the Professor are memorable to a certain extent and you make notice that from time to time, he does makes a few references. Perhaps, you might be able to figure it out if you understand it. The graphics and visual also helps to portray some of the quirky nature of the story for example, such as the contrast between the Professor's simple looking room and the outside world. While the graphics are decent looking, there is nothing too special about them.

The gameplay aspect of Contact is where people will have some problems with. In order to enter battle, you would have to push B in order to be in a battle pose. The thing is that battle are automated in this game. You, as the player of the game, is guiding Terry to his next target or to the next area would be. Because of the fact that battles are automated, there might be some people who feel like they are not playing the game. It might even feel repetitive to some people. However, you do control his "techs" moves and his unlimited supply of items at your disposal.

Despite the fact that the battles are automated, there are plenty of other things to do in the game. There are different costumes which Terry can utilized. Each costumes can provided different skills such as fishing, cooking, and elemental skills. Also, the more you level up, you would also obtain more tech skills. The problem with the costumes is that the only place you can change is on the ship. So when you are in the middle in the dungeon and needed to change costumes, it's not convenient for you to go back to the ship and start over again. What's amazing about this game is the amount of weapons, food, and treasures that you can collect in this game. Many items are hidden very well and there are certain items where you must obtain certain skill levels or certain requirements for it. Not only there is a large variety of objects that you could collect, Terry has a variety of status where you can level up such as fame, resistance, good/evil points, etc. His status depends on your actions. The Professor also develops a decal system would also would help upgrade Terry's status or aid him in other ways such as transporting him back to the ship when Terry is in the dungeon.

Many people will be disappointed with the world of Contact because it is rather a small world. There are only a few islands and dungeons so people might be turn off by the game length. However, due to the fact that there are such a large variety of items to collect, it makes up for the length of the game.

Overall, the game suffer some technical issue with a lack luster Wi-fi feature. While it's not a perfect game but it does contains an interesting cast of characters and the fact that you will be spending endless hours trying to collect objects/ weapons, you can't help it but to love Contact.

After finishing the game, I can proudly say

"I made Contact."

Everyone should do the same and try out the game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07