Quite a few attempts have been made at producing a good DSiWare action RPG by now. Some of these games turned out to be top-notch, and others not so much. Thankfully, The Lost Town - The Dust falls into the category of games that are definitely worth their weight in Nintendo Points. This lengthily titled action RPG combines level building with real-time combat to create a unique and innovative new game.
The Lost Town - The Dust tells the story of a small town that undergoes a series of very unfortunate disasters and is eventually overrun by monsters. When all hope seems to be lost, a mysterious girl named Chilia appears in town and is pitted with the task of saving the surviving residents. Taking control of Chilia, it is your job to use an assortment of weapons and traps to defeat the monsters, save the townsfolk and protect the camp over the course of seven days and seven nights. It’s a very straightforward story that doesn’t scream out originality, but it’s just engaging enough to set up the action of the game.
The majority of the game will have you running around the town, killing monsters and saving civilians. With each passing day, the town map will expand giving you more room to explore and the enemies that show up will get stronger and have a greater desire to see you dead. The interesting thing about dying in this game is that if you are killed by a monster, you don’t actually die right away — you are instead turned into a zombie with a quickly draining health bar. If you can reach your camp in the centre of town before this health bar drains, then you'll become turned human again. While the game automatically saves after each night, if you die before the night passes then you will have to play through the entire day again. There is also a menu option to save whenever you’d like, so it might be in your best interest to do that more often than not.
As you venture out into the town to kill monsters and save civilians, you will gain experience points to level up with. With each level gained you will be allowed to assign one skill point to a variety of different attributes such as melee attack or luck, giving players control over how they would like to balance their character. While this customization may be limited to simply assigning skill points, it does bring a strategic aspect to the game, making it more than just a simple kill-or-be-killed affair.
Located in the centre of the town is your camp where you can purchase weapons, upgrade your camp or hire recruits to help you fight the monsters. The truly interesting thing about this game is that once night falls, your job shifts from strictly killing monsters and saving townsfolk to protecting the camp, adding a much appreciated variety to the gameplay. In order to protect the camp, you must set traps and fight off the monsters that are closing in on your base before they get the chance to destroy it. Strategising and planning around these attacks is key to the camp’s survival. The night portions of the game feel more like a real-time tower defense; the monsters no longer have any interest in killing you but simply want to destroy the camp.
Anyone who’s ever played either of the Legend of Zelda games for the DS won’t have too much trouble getting used to the controls in this game. Everything from movement to attacking to switching your weapon is done by tapping the stylus on the DSi’s touch screen, rendering the hard buttons completely useless. Though this control scheme can become a bit frustrating at points, and an option to control Chilia with the D-Pad would have been an appreciated inclusion, the controls are precise enough to get the job done.
All of the story sequences are told through a series of still drawings and blocks of text, a visual technique that works well for the gloomy mood surrounding this entire game. The in-game graphics have the same effect, with the color palette sticking mostly to brown and earthy colors. Rather than going with a more isometric approach like Zenonia did, The Lost Town - The Dust is viewed entirely from a top-down perspective. While this works just fine in gameplay, it is sometimes unclear exactly what you are looking at from directly above. Not showing off more of the character animations feels like a missed opportunity from this otherwise attractive game.
Conclusion
The Lost Town - The Dust is an ambitious game that brings some honest and original ideas to the DSiWare service. Blending RPG elements with real-time combat, fans of genres all across the board can find something that they will like in this title. While it may not be the longest game ever, with the campaign being beatable in just around two hours, there is enough diversity in it to make it worth more than one playthrough. Priced at only 500 Points, this fun, intriguing and innovative game is one not to be left in the dust.
Comments 18
This lengthily titled action RPG combines level building with real-time combat to create a unique and innovative new game
about how long of a game is it
you lose me here now
first you say
his lengthily titled action RPG combines level building with real-time combat to create a unique and innovative new game
then you say
While it may not be the longest game ever, with the campaign being beatable in just around two hours, there is enough diversity in it to make it worth more than one playthrough
why sort of diversity is in it and how can it be called long if it only last 2 hours
@slidecage He said the title was long, not the game.
This is surprising, I was expecting it to get a lower score than this.
@zachkaplan O now i see.. see what happens when your not 100% awake reading stuff
do have a question though will there ever be an edit button on this page so i can fix post instead of having to make more then one post when i forget something or misspell somethingor something like that ...
still wonder what diversity in it makes you want to replay it ... though
@slidecage as far as divarsity in gameplay goes, I do mention the customization in skill point allocation. There are also different weapons to use (some ranged and some not), so that would make a difference in your fighting style.
It's small things like that that end up forcing you to use different strategies each time you play. Download it and give it a try
@slidecage: there is an edit button, it's on the same header where your name, flag and date of the comment are.
edit: there's a delete button next to it, too!
Wow surprised it got such a good score. o.O Still, the top-down perspective where you only see some haircuts seems pretty ugly to me.
I'm just not really into these RPG/Combat games (except Starship Defense, the only one like this I really enjoy.) While they do seem to be a perfect fit for the 3DS or anything involving a stylus I'm just not sold on these types of games. I'll put this on my blech list.
I seriously thought that this game was going to get an 8, but since it's too short and the whole game is controlled with the stylus (can be both bad and good, I don't like using the touch screen.). I seriously thought that this game was just another game to avoid, might consider buying it next time I have points.
It seems the past few DSiWare games have been boosted up a little bit. Good Review, but I don't think I'll be picking this one up.
@Qwikman I agree, that seems really ugly.
thanks for all the help.. I really never saw that EDIT and delete till you pointed it out....
I'm interested and I'm feeling frisky, I think I may just get this.
I actually was considering getting this one already, have it in my 3DS wishlist (love that feature). Looks like I'll be snatching it up!
Yep. Two of my few favorite types of games put together; action and tower defense. Now I think I want to get it when I get a points card. Thanks!
Playing now, touchscreen aside I am loving this game! I am definitely a buttons kinda girl. The touch screen makes me feel like I'm taking a test or something, but this game is pretty awesome. :3
Judging from the art style, character design and name of the girl, isn't this the same Chilia from Animal Puzzle Adventure? If so, she went from animal puzzles to killing monsters O_O
Also, CIRCLE Entertainment lists Animal Puzzle Adventure as one of their games, so makes sense.
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