C. S. Lewis arrives on the DS.
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 2:18 pm
Source: http://ds.ign.com/articles/633/633276p1.html
Hands-On: The Chronicles of Narnia
On Nintendo DS, Buena Vista has thrown in the lion, the witch, the wardrobe, and everything else in this adventure RPG.
by Nix
July 13, 2005 - C.S. Lewis' beloved novel series, The Chronicles of Narnia, has been a long time coming in cinematic form -- so long, in fact, that one might have expected a videogame version of the adventure to have appeared ages ago. At last, the feature film is on its way, and along with the movie are a whole spread of videogame takes on the story to accompany it. For the Nintendo DS version of the story, Buena Vista Interactive has crafted an intriguing adventure game that weaves in a lot of character management and ally relation elements to bring much-needed RPG depth to Nintendo's newest handheld.
Griptonite, the developer of Narnia on DS (which is completely different from the GBA Narnia from the same development house-- no quick ports with touchscreen menus for this legendary tale, thankfully), should be familiar to adventure fans for their GBA Lord of the Rings games. While this DS take on the Narnia tale does have hack-and-slash action somewhat similar to the action in Griptonite's prior titles, the depth of RPG development and aspects unique to the Narnia series make for a very different type of adventure game.
On the DS, The Chronicles of Narnia is largely about making your party of characters to become more than just four helpless children who first entered the magical wardrobe which begins the tale. While traversing the strange land that these children find themselves in, they will encounter creatures and characters who are friendly, who are hostile, and who are impartial to your existence. As the story runs on, you will find that this epic story is more than you four can manage, and how you have handled encounters with NPC figures will determine how the game plays out.
How that fate is determined all depends on how you conduct yourself in relation to the character and how your characters' qualities are measured at a given time. Once you engage conversation with a character, there is a stream of dialog trees (managed with the touchpad) where you converse with the other character. Buena Vista has made sure that each encounter is somewhat random as well as being story-based and stat-based, so you can't just use the same tactics on every character through the game -- you have to listen to them and make the right decisions based on what questions the game decides to ask you. Four character skills will develop for each of Narnia's heroes: Valor (your combat skills), Magnificence (your defensive strength and ability to withstand cold), Gentleness (your reputation with others, essentially how well others like you), and Justice (your charisma, based on fairness when you make decisions or actions.) Each of these four stats will determine how a character talks to you and what he or she will offer you. Depending on how you talk to them and what your standings are, that character may send you out on a quest, or challenge you to a sparring match, or else force you into some other type of challenge.
With the Lord of the Rings Trilogy behind us, something new would have to take it's place. As a wise man once said, "nature abhors a vacuum." I can't think of a better thing to take it's place, than the books written by the man Tolkein inspired. I'll be on the look-out for this game, and I hope you will, too.
Hands-On: The Chronicles of Narnia
On Nintendo DS, Buena Vista has thrown in the lion, the witch, the wardrobe, and everything else in this adventure RPG.
by Nix
July 13, 2005 - C.S. Lewis' beloved novel series, The Chronicles of Narnia, has been a long time coming in cinematic form -- so long, in fact, that one might have expected a videogame version of the adventure to have appeared ages ago. At last, the feature film is on its way, and along with the movie are a whole spread of videogame takes on the story to accompany it. For the Nintendo DS version of the story, Buena Vista Interactive has crafted an intriguing adventure game that weaves in a lot of character management and ally relation elements to bring much-needed RPG depth to Nintendo's newest handheld.
Griptonite, the developer of Narnia on DS (which is completely different from the GBA Narnia from the same development house-- no quick ports with touchscreen menus for this legendary tale, thankfully), should be familiar to adventure fans for their GBA Lord of the Rings games. While this DS take on the Narnia tale does have hack-and-slash action somewhat similar to the action in Griptonite's prior titles, the depth of RPG development and aspects unique to the Narnia series make for a very different type of adventure game.
On the DS, The Chronicles of Narnia is largely about making your party of characters to become more than just four helpless children who first entered the magical wardrobe which begins the tale. While traversing the strange land that these children find themselves in, they will encounter creatures and characters who are friendly, who are hostile, and who are impartial to your existence. As the story runs on, you will find that this epic story is more than you four can manage, and how you have handled encounters with NPC figures will determine how the game plays out.
How that fate is determined all depends on how you conduct yourself in relation to the character and how your characters' qualities are measured at a given time. Once you engage conversation with a character, there is a stream of dialog trees (managed with the touchpad) where you converse with the other character. Buena Vista has made sure that each encounter is somewhat random as well as being story-based and stat-based, so you can't just use the same tactics on every character through the game -- you have to listen to them and make the right decisions based on what questions the game decides to ask you. Four character skills will develop for each of Narnia's heroes: Valor (your combat skills), Magnificence (your defensive strength and ability to withstand cold), Gentleness (your reputation with others, essentially how well others like you), and Justice (your charisma, based on fairness when you make decisions or actions.) Each of these four stats will determine how a character talks to you and what he or she will offer you. Depending on how you talk to them and what your standings are, that character may send you out on a quest, or challenge you to a sparring match, or else force you into some other type of challenge.
With the Lord of the Rings Trilogy behind us, something new would have to take it's place. As a wise man once said, "nature abhors a vacuum." I can't think of a better thing to take it's place, than the books written by the man Tolkein inspired. I'll be on the look-out for this game, and I hope you will, too.
