This is sort of a game review, but also a discussion about interface design, and the nature of fun in games. I recently purchased Lock's Quest, which was the best Strategy game at E3, which for a DS title, is pretty impressive. It's developers also put out Drawn to Life, a game that I wanted, but never got around to purchasing. Basically, you're a special boy in a war...blah blah blah, the story isn't really that important, but the game itself is really involving.
You have so build walls and turrets to fend off increasingly large and tough armies of clockwork robots. That in and of itself sold me, but the DS's touchscreen is really well implemented in both combat and repairing damaged structures. Depending on what you're trying to do, there's an associated task (pulling a lever, spinning a gear, etc) that makes the action you're attempting go faster, or more effective. While this sounds kind of hackneyed and repetitive, they're mixed up nicely, and you don't just sit around for 10 minutes doing the same thing over and over again.
I'm also really impressed with how they set the flow of the game up. After a few rounds with your defenses, you have an impenetrable death-fortress, and you're able to handle even the most vicious onslaughts. Then, the game tells you that you have to go grab an objective all the way on the other side of the map. It's frustrating, yes, but it breaks the whole build-repair-fight cycle, which is nice. It's also worth noting that there's few things more awesome than watching wave after waves of bad guys crash on the rocky cliffs of your defenses.
One thing is infuriating though. The screen doesn't zoom out, and there's a fixed speed to the camera, so panning from one wall to another can sometimes take precious seconds. This in and of itself is not too bad, since (if you're like me) you can set up relatively smaller, close defenses. However, when you pan to a location, and then tap (which tells your character to move there), the AI that keeps the main character from running aimlessly into a tree is a little bit lacking. So far, I have lost a solid number of turrets, and even a level or two, just because there was a rock or tree or bit of something in the way, and the flax-haired hero did nothing except struggle against the properties of matter until I realized and gave him an easier location to get to (after a while, you get used to tapping out smaller, shorter paths).
With that behind me, I do have a few more good things to say about this game. Despite the "ehh" story, the game has a good length to it. I thoroughly enjoy the game mechanics that are in place, and was worried that with all the cool stuff in it, that the levels would be cut tragically short, leaving me wanting more, much like when you when you visit home, and only get a single strip of bacon, because that's "healthier." Don't worry, this game has platters of bacon. I've been playing it for about two solid weeks now, mostly during my commute and at home and I think I'm only 2/3 of the way through it.
Also, the difficulty is really well done. While I didn't like that there wasn't a standard dial-a-difficulty, which would be pretty easy to do with this game, I was able to clear most of the levels on the first try, though a good number of those were nail-biters, and a couple of them required a do-over. The increases in challenge over time are well-paced. I never felt too bored, and when I was right on the edge, something new popped up. Also, there's a fun little seige mini-game which would be right at home as a flash game.
