August 8, 2008 - If you're a Nintendo fan and you haven't yet heard of studio Renegade Kid, you haven't been paying attention. The company's first title, a DS-exclusive first-person shooter called Dementium: The Ward, turned a lot of heads with great tech, tight controls and a creepy presentation and its second effort, Moon, looks even better, sporting an improved 3D engine (one of the best on DS), the same speedy controls and a completely different storyline set not on, but inside the moon. In 2058, mankind discovers a hidden alien hatch on Earth's closest neighbor and dispatches a secret elite task force led by you, Major Kane, to open and explore the find. Of course, everything that could go wrong does and before too long you're seemingly all alone, gun in hand, running through alien corridors teeming with all manners of extraterrestrial life. Like Dementium before it, Moon comes to DS at a blazing fast 60 frames per second and with some of the prettiest 3D graphics to grace the handheld. It's a showpiece, but more, it's a project designed for the hardcore.
Right now, Renegade Kid is hiring as it wraps up work on Moon and digs into its first console game. And yes -- that's more good news for Nintendo fans. "Our Wii game will be announced very soon," confirmed studio head Jools Watsham, who was quick to add, "We won't turn our back on DS, though." And that's also very good news, for Renegade Kid is one of the few third-parties really pushing the handheld.
Dementium was survival horror from the first-person. Moon is also a first-person shooter, but there's more exploration to be had as Major Kane journeys into the vast underground contents of the hatch and becomes intimately connected to the alien civilization. Shortly into the adventure, Kane finds himself just outside the hatch at a manmade dig site, where an alarm sounds. Outside, two men have been killed and several more have gone missing. Meanwhile, Kane's flexible space suit has been breached by some kind of alien material, which has in turn fundamentally changed him. In a conversation with his superiors, who chime in periodically from home base via headset, you learn that Kane's vitals have been restored to that of a 20-year-old.
All the action is displayed on the top screen, which also shows Kane's health meter and the weapon he has equipped. The bottom screen highlights the map of the immediate region (if you have one) as well as an icon for the options menu, where you can change control types (left or right-handed grip), set Y-axis to inverted, change your brightness levels, and audio levels. Control-wise, Moon feels a lot like Dementium or Metroid Prime Hunters -- very fast, very responsive. You move with the D-Pad and aim with the stylus. The configuration enables you to use the stylus to target with incredible zippiness and you can execute 180-turns in an flash. As a result, you will feel much more confident about your ability as your run through hallways gunning down enemies.
Moon's weapon select function, handled on the bottom screen, is also very intuitive. Simply use your stylus to tap on a gun icon and it will cue your full weapons screen -- slide your stylus over to the gun you want and you're ready to shoot some extraterrestrial scum. You can hold up to seven guns plus a drone as you advance through the game. Again, it's a very quick process and you'll be able to access weapons in the middle of a gunfight without any issues because the action will pause as you make your selection.
Moon's control is second to none on DS, but some fans may be disappointed to learn that you won't be able to jump in the game. Renegade Kid chose to omit the mechanic simply because it preferred to concentrate on the shooting challenges, which are plentiful and varied.
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http://ds.ign.com/articles/897/897743p1.html
| R.I.P Mr Iwata :'( | ||
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