Game Review: Moon

Billy O'Keefe - Mclatchy -Tribune News Service

Moon

For: Nintendo DS

From: Renegade Kid/Mastiff

ESRB Rating: Teen (drug reference, violence)

Before "Brain Age" single-handedly transformed the Nintendo DS into some bizarre educational/self-help/virtual pet device, gamers were salivating over the prospect of the little portable's potential to replicate the control scheme that makes first-person shooters so popular on the PC.

Finally, "Moon" validates all that long-ago excitement. The control scheme - D-pad emulates arrow keys, touch screen emulates mouse, left trigger emulates mouse button - works as hoped, and the game helps itself by masking the DS' shortcomings about as much as can be expected.

"Moon" accomplishes that last point, with arguably unfortunate effect, by easing up on the insanity. Though the touch screen absolutely works, it's still neither as swift as a mouse nor as intuitive as dual joysticks. So the enemy quotient is kept reasonably in check, and other perks, from handy save points to strategically-placed reinforcements, do plenty to keep you and your remote-control droid alive.

Given the amount of storytelling and puzzle-solving Renegade Kid mixes into the equation, though, the slightly lightened load makes considerable sense. "Moon" gradually makes it clear that it's an adventure game with first-person shooter elements and not vice versa, and it's hard to mind once the full scope of the adventure comes to light. There are voice-acted cut-scenes as well as tons of discoverable backstory you can choose to ingest or ignore. The 3D environments look fantastic on the tiny screen, and the action is shockingly fast and smooth despite levels that, while nothing artistically revolutionary, are impressive in their scope.

Happily, that ambition fully extends to the gameplay side. The number of unique enemies you'll face isn't very high, but the encounters are fun thanks not only to the controls, but how good the guns feel - a staggering surprise given the hardware in question. (That holds exponentially true if you have a Rumble Pack handy.) "Moon" also goes the extra mile by throwing in vehicular and reconnaissance droid segments, which control similarly but still serve to mix up the mood and pace of the action.

None of this is to suggest "Moon" is indistinguishable from more full-featured, big-screen shooters. The hardware makes that impossible, and that's to say nothing of game's complete lack of multiplayer features.

But "Moon's" $30 price tag reflects that, and the lengthy adventure that awaits inside provides more than enough quality and quantity to validate the price tag. The landfill's worth of showstring-budget game releases has made it harder than it should be to gauge what the DS' technical limitations are, but until something comes along to knock it off, "Moon" sits atop the bleeding edge.

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