An interesting ds title to keep an eye on: Away: Shuffle Dungeon
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The Nintendo DS library looks pretty crowded of late, but it still comes as a surprise to see dungeon role-playing games taking part in that growth, especially when most gamers would consider them from a dead genre.(says who!? We're sure seeing a lot of them for a "dead" genre!) From Etrian Odyssey to Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (both excellent games!), Nintendo's handheld is quite the source of moderately sized quests that are light on story and heavy on action. Developer Mistwalker -- who you know from the Xbox 360 epics Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey -- stands ready to be the next to join the crowd. Aided by developer Artoon and U.S. publisher Majesco, Away: Shuffle Dungeon gives gamers a different kind of challenge in the hack-n-slash RPG universe.
The name "Away" comes from the game's mythology: It's the name of the phenomenon plaguing quiet Webb Village, where a mysterious force takes away a resident every hundred years. You play as Sword, a young man new to the hamlet who happens to be the sole survivor when the Away returns one day and takes everybody in the village -- including Sword's girl, Anella. Oh, and the force opens a portal to a strange underground dungeon where the floor periodically moves. At its end, Sword finds the village chief. He must then find more portals to rescue the remaining villagers and help them rebuild by finding a spot to put back their houses or shops, but more on that later.
The best news is that Away isn't as draconian as other dungeon RPGs, but its big wrinkle provides a fair bit of challenge. The "shuffle dungeons" aren't randomly determined maps -- rather, the parts of the dungeon that you see on the top and bottom screens of the DS "shuffle" into new maze formations via a countdown timer. Each cycle, you have to make it to the safe, non-shuffling side before you're literally, ahem, lost in the shuffle and severely hurt. After a few shuffles, the exit to the next floor appears, and you rush there to advance. Even though the game provides multiple indicators of an oncoming shuffle -- the beeping timer, the flashing screen border -- you still run the risk of getting caught due to obstacles like boulders and fireball-spitting turrets. It can be frustrating, but at least you can retry as often as you like.
And you won't always be alone in your quest, either. Sword comes upon a race of cute, blobby little creatures he calls "fupongs," which he can recruit to trail behind him when he's underground. They come in different elemental types and can shoot beams of fire and ice, for example, in order to hit enemies from afar or knock out other obstacles. Fupongs get worn out once you use them, but they continue to follow Sword until they recharge, and they can eventually grow into larger, longer-lasting creatures. (Lol, a lot like the elemental djinn from Golden Sun!) Several fupongs can follow Sword at once, but you risk losing them in shuffles, even when Sword himself makes it to safety -- that's why it's important to be quick on your feet.
While the central goal of Away involves the rebuilding of the village, there's an important (if ridiculously simple) simulation aspect. Like in Animal Crossing, the entire village subscribes to feng shui. As a result, placing buildings of the right colors and in the right locations can alter their rate of growth, which leads to the merchants offering better items that come up for sale sooner than they otherwise would. And yet, these stores only grow when you give them special dungeon-only items that kick-start the upgrade process. It's clear that Away already stands out among a glut of similar dungeon crawlers, and this additional interaction between adventuring and building only solidifies that separation.
I'm a sucker for a unique game, and I have to admit, the idea of this crazy little game will have me looking forward to its October release!
Source: http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3168953
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