"A whimsical adventure that breathes life into the DS's RPG scene"

The Nintendo DS is a system full of potential for every genre, but severely lacking in one- RPGs. Magical Starsign is the soap that will one day help bathe the DS in RPG fame. It is the first brick in the first stone of the stairway to RPG heaven. It is... it is fodder for a hundred other cheesy smilies that I could continue with all day, but for its sake, I won't.

Story 8/10
Magical Starsign tells the tale of six young students attending the magical school 'Will O' Wisp Academy' and their valiant efforts to rescue their powerful magician teacher, Miss Madeline. One day, Miss Madeline sets off on a journey to the Wind planet, and doesn't return. The students set off on a grand adventure to find her, and along the way are intertwined with galactic conflicts involving magician-napping space pirate otters, corrupt space police, and a magical rocket named Neumann. Such a simple storyline quickly snowballs into a much deeper one swimming with mystery and grander designs. With enough twists and turns to keep you guessing while at the same time not being so deep that it seems to stem from the likes of Shadow of the Colossus, Magical Starsign provides a new and entertaining story.

Script 10/10
Normally reviews would give a nod to the game's dialog and leave it, but I felt I would be doing this game an injustice by doing such. Magical Starsign's script gets its own section. MS contains some of the most well written, humorous dialog I've seen in a game. I actually found myself laughing out loud at a number of well written jokes or bits of humor, from a scene that portrays a 'bureaucratic maze' (as one character puts it) that resembles a stereotypical visit to the DMV, to memorable quotes like 'Bad things happen to me. Sometimes, I get hit in the back of a head with a stick. It happens.' Every character has a unique personality, and every line they speak fits them perfectly.

Game play 8/10
Magical Starsign combines classic RPG game play with a few new touchscreen add-ins. Players of older games such as Mario RPG are already familiar with timed hits, which are performed by tapping your character at the right time to make their spell more powerful, or to decrease the damage taken. Certain spells revolve around the touchscreen as well, like a healing spell that requires you to tap as many falling stars as you can (a difficult task).

However, what really sets Magical Starsign's combat away from most turn based battle systems is the Astrolog. Every element is affiliated with a planet (and light is to day as dark is to night), and the elements are powered up in turn when their planet orbits in a certain section of a handy, color coded galaxy. Every element (or starsign as they are referred to in game) is weak against one element, and strong against another. Eventually your characters gain the ability to move the planets themselves for strategic advantages in battle. While the game play overall isn't too extraordinary, its more than enough to keep the player interested.

Graphics 10/10
Sprites. I think that one word can sum up this perfect score. The DS is a handheld, and sprites are handheld graphics. Magical Starsign's graphics, however, are not. They are awesome handheld graphics, sprite-wise. Every character and environment is beautifully and somewhat cartoon...illy rendered. It's a nice attempt Mr. Blurry-Textured-Brothers-In-Arms, but this is how it's meant to be done.

Sound 7/10
The game falters a bit here. The only voice acting occurs when a character attacks or gets hit, and that can get a bit annoying at times (although Link's YA! HYUH! HRAHHH! every time I hit the B button in the remake of LttP still takes the cake). The music is a mixed bag- all the battle music is done perfectly, from the more intense boss battle themes to the comical yet catchy tribal theme when battle pirate otters, and a number of environment music fits perfectly. However, the music that doesn't meet that cut tends to be...annoying. As in, 'ouch that music is so happy it makes my ears ring' annoying.

Overall 8/10
Magical Starsign is a great RPG, and a definite must-have for the DS. While it doesn't present too many new concepts, and isn't something so amazing I'd bow down to it, but it's entertaining battles and lovable characters and dialog gave me 20 hours of hand held, sprite-based RPG bliss.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/26/07