Nintendo DS

Contact

Contact is one of the most imaginative game concepts yet on the DS and fortunately for us all there is a deep and satisfying role-playing gameplay system to back up that concept and make it a thoroughly enjoyable and long-lasting adventure. There are a few very small bumps along the road to greatness, but Contact overcomes its obstacles and delivers an instant, one-of-a-kind DS classic you simply won't want to miss!

The special attacks, large number of weapons, and other aspects of the game work to keep it from every getting too boring, but it still could've been a bit better and a bit more interesting. Despite this, the style and story drive the game so well that a little repetition does little to harm the overall enjoyment of the title. If you enjoy imaginative experiences and want a taste of what the DS was built for, Contact is a must buy.

In the end, I truly hated having to pack the game up and send it back to Atlus, but I knew I couldn't keep it forever. Still, as of this writing, I have only two more days to wait until I'm reunited with my own personal copy of the game and I look forward to meeting up with the Professor and Terry once more. For those who seek something fresh and intelligent, unique and humerous, Contact is the perfect game for you. The combat and grinding may get old in the end, but the game itself is solid and that fact alone makes it all worth while. As I've said, Contact is more of an experience, one that will place you in a special role created, well, just for you, so be prepared for an adventure unlike anything you have ever played in the past!

Contact is a compelling entry to the RPG genre, with simple to grasp gameplay yet an extraordinarily deep quest. Plus, the game is a perfect fit for the DS, as it’s impossible to imagine it done justice on any other system out there. DS fans looking for a fun and quirky RPG need look no further.

In short, it's an altogether enjoyable and entertaining adventure with a few rough spots. Its high-concept nature never translates into pretentiousness -- on the contrary, the English script is by turns hilarious and intriguing. Despite its imperfections, it's unique, daring, and occasionally strange. Even if Contact turns out not to be your kind of game, you owe it to yourself to at least find out for yourself.

And as if the bifurcated visuals and unique story-telling methods weren't enough, there's the character customization. Terry has over 30 attributes that gain in level the more he (you) use them. How to do you get stronger? By bashing enemies' heads in with a blunt object, of course! Want to boost your speed? Then start running! The stat system is similar to that in Oblivion, but it's been radically simplified and condensed.

Contact is a quirky little RPG that all DS owners should take a look at. It's got a great look and can be played without causing too much stress. The DS is the perfect console for casual gaming and Contact fits that bill perfectly, although a better save system would have been preferable.

Contact is an amazingly interesting title, and while it isn’t necessarily for everyone, gamers who get into the design are going to find themselves rewarded with a ton of awesome content. Contact operates in a unique way, and the detachment from the main character may be something that certain players don’t exactly understand, while others will defend it to the bitter end. The amount of depth in the game is staggering at times, as literally every step taken can influence the character’s stats, and the potential lasting power is huge, teaming a job system with unique items, cooking, fishing, and the odd – but loveable – sticker system.

Die Idee hinter Contact ist genial: Zwei Welten prallen aufeinan-der, als dem Jungen Terry ein außerirdischer Professor begegnet. Während der Forscher im 8-Bit-Stil gehalten ist, scheint Terrys Welt wie von Hand gemalt. Der Spieler darf zwischen beiden Bildschirmen vermitteln. Man bekommt seine Aufgaben vom Professor und steuert Terry, um sie zu erfüllen. Die Story und die Präsentation sind dabei das Frischeste und Liebenswerteste, was sich seit langem auf dem DS abspielte, doch manche Patzer trüben den Spielspaß. Die Handlung ist sehr linear und die Kämpfe sind simpel und frusten dennoch oft.

Contact is eigenlijk voor twee groepen gamers interessant: de hardcore RPG-er die alles wil spelen in dit genre en de casual gamer die eens wat anders wil. Maar met de komst van Final Fantasy III en Children of Mana heeft die groep ten aanzien van RPG’s genoeg alternatieven op de DS.

On the whole, however, it's a workable vehicle, and you won't dislike it as much as wish there was slightly more to it. Because, despite the general air of it not being as good as it could (and, indeed, should) be, you'll still be charmed by the little details, you'll still feel a tingle of excitement as you travel to the next island, and you'll still feel a sense of cathartic jubilation when you nail a tough boss. A diluted experience, then, but a thumbs up for the flavour beneath it.

On a final note, I would like to mention what I always mention in DS reviews: Whether or not the touch screen is abused and the game becomes annoying due to it. The answer for this game is no. You can use the touch screen to point in certain directions and have Terry move that way, but you can also just use the directional pad to move him. This is good, since I would never be able to play this game if I had to move with just the stylus. The main thing you use the stylus for is peeling decals, which, when you stick them, either power up your character or have other special effects. Special effects such as placing a balloon on the screen which you have to blow up, by blowing on the touch screen, until it explodes and damages any enemies on the screen. Boom.

For a first attempt at a new RPG franchise and the first pairing of two extremely different developers, Contact comes off surprisingly well, with only a few (admittedly major) niggles to spoil an otherwise enjoyable adventure. With the core team now forming a separate company for a future sequel, you can only hope they build on this strong foundation and work on the battle mechanic!

At times like these, all of Contact's charm can't save it from the tedium that bogs down a lot of RPGs. But it's still as solid as they come, not terribly spectacular, but the perfect fare for devotees of the genre. Maybe next time Grasshopper Studios can blow our minds again. In the meantime, Contact is solid, if not unspectacular.

It's not totally rubbish and boring, but given the way the game sets your level of expectations so high, it does feel like it for a while. Still, if you can bear the disappointment, and push on through, you'll realise that, between the whole intertextual thing and the interesting-but-average RPG mechanics, there's still a decent game in here. It's just a shame it's not the amazingly brilliant one it could have been.

An RPG that dares to be different, plot-wise, but still starts you off fighting worms and skellingtons in cobwebby old dungeons.

Contact is either not quite fun enough or not quite weird enough. Its strangest ideas are introduced at the beginning and reconciled at the end, to a certain extent. But in the middle, you get a basic adventure role-playing game that'll make you forget about the game's oddball style and good writing. This turns out to be part of the point, but that point may get lost in the shuffle because the underlying game doesn't have more to offer.

Contact est avant tout un titre drolatique et généreux, parfois touchant, qui accumule les références, les petits instants cultes et les repompes à droite et à gauche : un peu de MMO par-ci, du Elder Scroll par-là, je touille avec une pincée de Baten Kaitos... Le résultat est vraiment très loin d'une leçon de Game Design. Chaque mécanisme de jeu a ses ratés. Les combats ne sont pas intéressants avant plusieurs heures de jeu, le pointage au stylet est parfois défaillant, le système de deck en soutien est très rigide, c'est pas bien long, et on cherche encore l'intérêt de certaines possibilités annexes. La déception est là, réelle. L'effort de Grasshopper ne se vomit pas pour autant. Le gameplay n'est pas détestable, et ses limitations permettront à un large public d'entrer sans souci dans le rythme. Certes, le titre ne réussit pas toujours à supprimer la barrière qui sépare le joueur du professeur, ce "mur" autrement appelé interface homme/machine.

Contact is a clever little game. The localization team is largely responsible for this description, as they did an excellent job of keeping the game genuinely funny, even in the face of decidedly Japanese themes and references. If you have visited Japan, have a soft spot in your heart for Earthbound, or keep tabs on gaming and the games industry in general, then you'll catch quite a few clever and humorous gags throughout your play experience. The music is worth mentioning as well, as the tunes are catchy, and set a good tone for the game's lengthy exploration and grinding sessions. The uninspired combat and backtracking may put you off, but the game's unique story and premise make Contact well worth experiencing.

Contact has a lot of things going for it. It’s got a wonderful story that not only breaks the fourth wall from beginning to end, but strays far from the usual RPG plots that we’ve come to love or despise. What the characters lack in details, they make up for it with personality and witty dialogue. The emphasis on stats, leveling attributes, backtracking for sidequests, and item collecting ought to leave many a perfectionist drooling over their DS. Sadly, the game’s horribly tedious combat and magic mechanics ultimately deprive it of true greatness. That won’t stop Contact from becoming a cult classic for the handheld, however. With a mixed bag of quality, humor, and creativity to work with, gamers will likely find themselves split over the game’s appeal. It’s not a bad game; it simply lacks a decent execution.

In all, Contact is an unfortunate case of a game that tries too hard to stand out from the crowd and ends up forgetting to be a good game itself in the process. There are certainly some good ideas and interesting presentational values at work here, but the game doesn't provide enough time for these to really come together into an enjoyable gaming experience, and a lot of the execution is off. Perhaps if the battle system was less "watch" and more "do," or perhaps if the game was considerably longer and meatier, there would be more good things to say here. But as it is, Contact is simply too shallow and short-lived an experience for me to recommend it.

Contact's greatest strength, ultimately, is also its greatest weakness: it's just too different for its own good. There's a lot of outside-the-box thinking and clearly Grasshopper enjoys taking unconventional paths (as with Killer 7), but I just felt no personal interest in the game, its characters, or its story, which made me wonder why I was even bothering to play the game in the first place, especially once the combat and training mechanics started to wear out their welcome. Give it a rent, and if you want, you can probably blow through it in about 15 hours just to give it as much of a chance as it deserves, but this is definitely not a "must-own" title for the DS.