Moon (DS) Review
When Dementium: The Ward was first announced and released, I was pretty much in love. What more could I love about a horror title that was designed exclusively for the Nintendo DS? When Dementium was released, I was surprised at how much effort went into the title, but it wasnt without its shortcomings. Moon is the second title from the same developer, Renegade Kid, and it does a lot to improve on most of my complaints with Dementium but also still has its shortcomings. Regardless, its a pretty solid first person shooter that has a few unique features while borrowing from another popular sci-fi title that most Nintendo fans should know.
Moon is set in the near future, the year 2058. Technology has obviously advanced, and the United States have funded a project to build stations on the Moon, which are designed to help in facilitating the construction of a device that can launch humans to Mars. Through their research though, the humans have found a sealed hatch leading beneath the moons surface. Major Kane is sent in to investigate by his superiors, only to uncover something far more chilling – experiments being conducted by extra-terrestrial life on human beings. Major Kanes task begins with finding a lost research team, but slowly expands to something much bigger and on a much grander scale. The story is somewhat compelling but with my play through Moon I found it to be rather “phoned in”. The presentation in Moon is top notch. Graphics run at a very smooth and solid framerate, character models are detailed and textures are amazing. Environments are all pretty nice, with a lot of closed in corridors having lots of amazingly detailed textures, and it doesnt stop there either. Textures are, for the most part, animated and really help in establishing that you really are venturing into extra-terrestrial territory. Players will also find themselves venturing out on to the surface of the moon, and this is where the game really shines.
The Renegade Engines second version really shows its improvements from its younger brother last seen in Dementium. The sky is littered with shining stars, the moon is as barren as youd imagine it to be and Earth is in clean view. Looking towards the sun has a very nice lens flare effect too. The only thing about the games presentation I would mark down Moon for is that the characters all look very blocky, and it feels as if the games designers simply implemented the design of the aliens in order to avoid modelling a smooth looking alien. Secondly, you might find the games graphics becoming a bit repetitive, with the same three to four textures being used in each environment, but the game does eventually pick up from this and vary things up a bit, but it takes a while. The gameplay in Moon is pretty awesome too. There are two modes, Quick Play and Story Mode. Story Mode is the games crux, split into episodes which are replayable through Quick Play mode. If anyone played Dementium or Metroid Prime: Hunters, you will know what to expect. The D-Pad on the Nintendo DS is used to move Major Kane around, while the stylus is used to access your map, change weapons, access options and to orientate Kanes view, much like a second analog stick would in the newer first person shooters. Shooting is done by pressing the left shoulder button. Most gameplay consists of moving between different hatches on the surface of the Moon and exploring them, with a few detours to the odd UFO here and there. Travelling between hatches really surprised me though, as players will be able to control their very own moon buggy across the surface of the moon – which is steered with the stylus too. The controls and general gameplay do a great job of encouraging exploration, and more VR style missions can be unlocked by exploring, as well as some health expansions.
That being said, its all very much inspired by Metroid, you would hope. Major Kane has a remote assist droid which he finds in one of the hatches, which kind of functions as a morph ball, in that it can fit into tight spaces and retrieve things for Major Kane. Secondly, there are save rooms and map rooms which do exactly what they did in the Metroid games. Finally, some doors are sealed with locks that can only be opened with specific weapons, another allusion to the popular Nintendo franchise. Its by no means a straight rip off, as there are some differences too, but its almost impossible not to notice the similarities. I guess the best way to describe Moon from a gameplay perspective is “Metroid Prime Lite”, and while it does give you a great sense of isolation and some exploration opportunities, it never really feels deep enough to feel just like Metroid. What is perhaps (actually no, definitely) Moons biggest downfall is the sound design. My initial weapon had a terrible noise, the music sounds extremely distorted and, well, the game itself just doesnt have a lot of compelling pieces. When I first ventured into enemy territory, I had to physically check that my DS wasnt malfunctioning because the soundtrack sounded like raw noise rather than a nicely crafted piece of music. Some may argue that it adds to the atmosphere (which, by the way, Moon has a lot of) and I may have to believe them because there is no other explainable way as to how the music can be so bad.
As far as replayability goes, Moon offers little. There is no multiplayer at all, as Renegade Kid chose to focus on the single player campaign instead. With such an awesome engine, its a shame they didnt include it. Once youve finished Moon, however, you can go back and collect Alien Artifacts that you may not have found throughout the main quest. These artifacts unlock VR style missions which players can play through to hone their skills, and although they are a nice touch, they are a bit boring to be quite honest. However, the main campaign mode for Moon will set you back a fair few hours, taking between 5-10 hours depending on how much you explore your environment. Regardless, you will definitely be getting bang for your buck with Moon. Moon is one of the best available first person shooters for the Nintendo DS. It mixes a very potent blend of atmosphere, decent storytelling and engaging gameplay to deliver something truly special to the system. It is a perfect example of how an explorative first person shooter on the Nintendo DS should be done. With this project done and dusted, I am eagerly awaiting Renegade Kids upcoming “Fantasy Gothic” project, hoping to see what they can do with a genre other than first person shooting. Great job guys.
