Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth Remix
Publisher: Aksys Games
Developer: Aksys Games
Genre: Strategy RPG
Release: June 26, 2007
Platform: Nintendo DS
Reviewer: Eric
The Nintendo DS is dominating in portable sales and that might
be due to all the games that come out weekly for the system. One
kind of game that is starting to take over the DS library is
strategy/turn based games. Hoshigami is just like all the great
games of the past (in this genre), but it fails to give gamers
the same feel those classics did. What Hoshigami does offer is
the same game play people loved when this game was originally
released for the Playstation back in 2001.
When you first put this game into your DS and you get things
going you'll be treated to some pretty Gameboy Advance looking
graphics. This can be a little problem since people only want to
best graphics possible. The Nintendo DS for the most part has
some pretty graphical games out right now.
Games need to have a good story and Hoshigami has a good
story, but we've seen this kind of story a dozen times before. A
war between the Kingdoms of Valaim and Nightweld has begun on
the continent of Mardias. Fazz (main character) the leader of a
band of mercenaries is hired to protect one of the Ruins of Ixia
from the Valamian army. While this is going on an evil being
rises from the shadows and threatens to destroy Mardias. Been
there done that, Hoshigami doesn't get too many points for
having an original story.
Like most turn based games you have an army that you need to
build up. Hoshigami has two ways to do this, but the game really
wants you to enter the Tower of Trials to do all your money
earning and level gaining. It is a nice change in pace to have a
separate area to do your leveling up and it does make some sense
really. What really gets me down about the Tower of Trials is
all the backgrounds in the tower are the same, the only
different thing you will see here are the different kind of
enemies and how many you need to battle. Thankfully when you
advance in the game the different battle fields are nice and
detailed, you will forget the fact that this game doesn't look
nearly as good as other turn based strategy games.
One
major flaw in Hoshigami is the battle system, but not everything
about it. You can equip your team with magic, different
abilities and equipment, there is nothing wrong with that. What
I hate most about this game is when you move your character,
with or without the stylus. When you move your character there
is a tiny bat at the top that lets you know if you'll be able to
attack or now when you move to that spot, great, but once you
move to that spot you can't go back. Most turn based games let
you move your character and if you don't like that move you can
take it back. Hoshigami went with a realistic feel here and it
can be stressing due to the games poor camera. The game was fit
for the screen and at times it can be hard to see if where you
are moving is really where you want to be.
Hoshigami does take advantage of the stylus in the game and
it works great. With simple clicks you can move your characters
and choose what action you want them to do. While doing some of
your attacks you can either hit one of the buttons or click on
the tiny ones located at the bottom of the screen. People with
bad eye sight might have a hard time playing this game with the
stylus but thankfully the game is still enjoyable using the D
Pad and all the six buttons the DS has.
Final Verdict
Gamers looking for that best kept secret on the Nintendo DS
may not find it here. Hoshigami does offer the same game play we
are use to from turn based strategy games, but there are a lot
of little things that make this game unbearable to play at
times. It isn't the worst game on the DS, it should tie fans of
this genre over until we see the sequel to Final Fantasy
Advance. Fans of anime should also enjoy this game too, the back
of the case for the game, left corner, will have girls saying
"that's cute" and guys wishing this game was rated a little
higher than its Teen one.
Rating
6.25 out of 10
Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth Remix Trailer
