So how does Dark Dawn stack up? On the Japanese RPG tradition spectrum, the series is far closer to conservative Dragon Quest than risk-taking Final Fantasy. It’s not quite as good as either, lacking the former’s charm and the latter’s pizzazz. But Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is a solid, if somewhat generic, RPG that fans will enjoy absorbing in short or long doses.

Tradition, Tradition!

Like the Golden Sun series’ previous entries for Game Boy Advance, Dark Dawn puts you in the role of a stock-standard group of adventurers out to save the world. The game, which hits U.S. stores Monday, boasts lots and lots of dialog, plenty of Psynergy (magic) and Djinns (summon creatures) to play with, and fistfuls of other JRPG tropes like pirate ships and ice queens.

In generic JRPG fashion, Dark Dawn’s magic system revolves around the four alchemical elements, each of which can be used both in and outside of combat to kill bad guys and interact with the environment.

Dungeons are filled with all kinds of Zelda-style physical puzzles that must be traversed in order to progress through them. While some of them are laughably easy to solve with a few spells, others require some careful thinking and plotting. You eventually get a spell that shows the answers to most puzzles, but the game’s more fun when you don’t use it.

Enemies are rarely difficult. But for the first 15 to 20 hours of the game, you won’t be able to revive characters from the dead without trekking back to town. This can prove very annoying, especially when you’re trying to fight a boss that can use instant death attacks. You’ll have to be very liberal with healing spells and hope you don’t get screwed.

Fortunately, being able to save the game at any point helps alleviate these frustrations. If one of your characters accidentally falls, a quick reload can save you some time and energy.

Combat, for the most part, can be mastered by upgrading your equipment and hammering on the A button. Your mashing finger will get very tired, mostly because every line of combat requires a button press to scroll through. I presume this is so players won’t miss any messages while fighting, but it’s still kind of a pain.

Dark Dawn’s production values are exceptional. I typically mute my DS audio, but Dark Dawn had me cranking the volume and rocking out to the harmonies. The cel-shaded characters and settings look great, and the camera captures the action exceptionally well, moving around as you do.

Loads of Chatter, Lots of Quests

Remember when I mentioned that Dark Dawn packs in lots and lots of dialog? I don’t think I can stress that point enough. The game opens with a torrent of scrolling text meant to catch you up on the previous games’ plot lines, which is a very ineffective form of storytelling. Your characters will often stop to talk … and talk, and talk, and talk, and never stop talking, regurgitating the same plot points over and over again to the point of absurdity.

The chatter is often broken up with prompts that ask you to choose from a number of facial reactions — sad, happy, angry, etc. — which do absolutely nothing other than slightly change the next line of dialog. At first I only picked angry, hoping that this would shame my party into shutting up. It didn’t work, so now my character is sad all the time.

And just in case one quest wasn’t enough for you, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn embeds quests inside your quests, like a Russian babushka doll. At many points, you’ll take on a task for someone who can help you reach something that can eventually lead you to someone who will guide you to your eventual goal. It’s an unremitting chain of chores that might lose you along the way.

The story can be overwhelming if you’re not familiar with any of the names. Thankfully, the chat windows feature hotlinks to an in-game encyclopedia. Touch a proper name with your stylus and the top screen will give you a rundown of who or what it refers to. It still feels a bit messy, but it’s manageable.

Despite its flaws, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is a very good game that JRPG fans won’t want to miss. The obscure names and redundant dialog can reach levels of absurdity, and sometimes you’ll want to yell at your characters to just shut up and get on with the adventuring, but the puzzles and presentation make the complex plot worth slogging through.

Images courtesy Nintendo

WIRED Fantastic graphics and music, fun puzzles, lots of content.

TIRED Never-ending jabber, too much button-hammering.

$35, Nintendo

Rating:

Read Game|Life’s game ratings guide.

See Also:

• Nintendo 3DS Idea Man Pulls Back Curtain on Handheld's Capabilities
• Why Tokyo Crowds Can't Stop Playing Dragon Quest IX
• Live Blog: Nintendo 3DS Debuts at E3 Conference

Authors: Jason Schreier

to know more click here