TheBlackMarket
03-02-2007, 01:29 PM
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this game, Contact is a Nintendo DS game made by Atlus. Right from the start, the game's draw was supposed to be it's uniqueness- the back of the box states that you won't find any 'spiky haired guys with amnesia' or anything like that. It caught the interest of a bunch of people when teasers came around before the release of Mother 3 because the Professor in this game looks a lot like Dr. Andonuts from Mother 2. Of course, Contact is not a game in the Mother series, but it bills itself as another "Wacky RPG" in the same vein.
In Contact, you play the role of an outsider. Not the protagonist, but you, yourself. The Professor contacts you through your DS, and eventually asks you to help him get the cells that power his ship back, along with the help of a random boy he finds named Terry. Terry and the Professor are from different worlds, and you act as a sort of external force to Terry. You move Terry around the screen and can tell him to attack enemies, but he attacks them on his own. It's sort of like an Action RPG, but not quite, seeing how you don't press any buttons to attack or anything like that. Terry operates on around 24 stats that increase as they are used; for example, his cooking skill goes up when you... cook things. The game is controllable completely with the touch screen, the face buttons, or a combination of these. Contact is a bit difficult to describe, but it's easy to understand once you begin playing it yourself.
Terry gains new abilities with new costumes that you find at different points in the game. For instance, he learns to cook once he is given the Chef's outfit. The clothes effect what weapons you can use; you can't use a frying pan if you're a thief, and you can't use a Thief Knife if you're a cook and so on. This mechanic is interesting, but the fun factor is harmed by the fact that you have to trek all the way back to the Professor's ship to change clothes instead of automatically being able to change outfits anywhere. Terry's abilities are further augmented by Decals that the professor makes for you. You (with the DS, not Terry) peel off a Decal and stick it to Terry for various effects. I never used them much myself, aside from the ones you're required to use, of course.
Contact allows you to fight any people you see, but it harms your Karma points to do so. Depending on how much of a total asshole you are during the game, your Karma points change. If your Karma goes down too far, people in the towns will attack you, you goddamned menace. The storyline involves a space-terrorist rock band and... well, a lot of stuff, really. It can be a bit much to wrap your head around if you aren't paying attention. The game is also chock full of internet memes and references-- at one point, the professor says "It's Rizo Island! RIIIIIIIIIZO ISLAND!" Good times.
Contact was entirely too short. It has many shortcomings that would make it a sort of hit or miss as far as enjoying the game goes. I happen to love, love, LOVE Contact, right down to the concepts and narrative. Unfortunately, the gameplay isn't nearly as imaginative and can lead to a need to grind to progress, and a lot of the functions like buying and selling are really unintuitive. I can only buy items one at a time? What a pain. The ending is a little... unsettling, I guess I'd say. While I love Contact for what it is, it's a shame that it isn't what it should have been.
In Contact, you play the role of an outsider. Not the protagonist, but you, yourself. The Professor contacts you through your DS, and eventually asks you to help him get the cells that power his ship back, along with the help of a random boy he finds named Terry. Terry and the Professor are from different worlds, and you act as a sort of external force to Terry. You move Terry around the screen and can tell him to attack enemies, but he attacks them on his own. It's sort of like an Action RPG, but not quite, seeing how you don't press any buttons to attack or anything like that. Terry operates on around 24 stats that increase as they are used; for example, his cooking skill goes up when you... cook things. The game is controllable completely with the touch screen, the face buttons, or a combination of these. Contact is a bit difficult to describe, but it's easy to understand once you begin playing it yourself.
Terry gains new abilities with new costumes that you find at different points in the game. For instance, he learns to cook once he is given the Chef's outfit. The clothes effect what weapons you can use; you can't use a frying pan if you're a thief, and you can't use a Thief Knife if you're a cook and so on. This mechanic is interesting, but the fun factor is harmed by the fact that you have to trek all the way back to the Professor's ship to change clothes instead of automatically being able to change outfits anywhere. Terry's abilities are further augmented by Decals that the professor makes for you. You (with the DS, not Terry) peel off a Decal and stick it to Terry for various effects. I never used them much myself, aside from the ones you're required to use, of course.
Contact allows you to fight any people you see, but it harms your Karma points to do so. Depending on how much of a total asshole you are during the game, your Karma points change. If your Karma goes down too far, people in the towns will attack you, you goddamned menace. The storyline involves a space-terrorist rock band and... well, a lot of stuff, really. It can be a bit much to wrap your head around if you aren't paying attention. The game is also chock full of internet memes and references-- at one point, the professor says "It's Rizo Island! RIIIIIIIIIZO ISLAND!" Good times.
Contact was entirely too short. It has many shortcomings that would make it a sort of hit or miss as far as enjoying the game goes. I happen to love, love, LOVE Contact, right down to the concepts and narrative. Unfortunately, the gameplay isn't nearly as imaginative and can lead to a need to grind to progress, and a lot of the functions like buying and selling are really unintuitive. I can only buy items one at a time? What a pain. The ending is a little... unsettling, I guess I'd say. While I love Contact for what it is, it's a shame that it isn't what it should have been.