Luminous Arc

The Good
Within moments of starting your new game, players are thrown into a religious discussion. We see a Pope-like figure and one of his cronies discussing their God, power and the struggle of the church. All the while, we are (depending on your point-of-view) treated to the voice-acted dialog with subtitles thrown in for good measure. The first impression I got was that the game, although slightly unorthodox in it's presentation, remained a quality production. The voice recordings were first-rate quality, if not a little strange in their delivery.

Luminous Arc lets player take control of a pre-selected group of characters - orphans actually. Each, like any role-playing-game worth it's salt, come with their own strengths, weaknesses, abilities and attitudes. And, after only a few "missions" (as they're called), you begin to differentiate and appreciate the distinction between your motley crew. Some become more favourable, some become less so, and some become out-and-out annoying. But no one could argue that there's not enough variety between your team.

Players move about on an over-world map. It is prettily drawn and promises many different climate zones and variety. You exist on this map as a little sprite of the leading-man in the game: "Alph". (This is a silly name. Every time I read it, images of that puppet from Melmac trying to toast the cat fill my mind). And, you move to your next mission which is indicated by a little "Next" with a tap. This is as far as the games navigation goes -Luminous Arc is a 95% linear adventure.

Between missions, we can take an "Action". This includes shopping, reading at many of the land's libraries, or talking to your team-mates. Let's just say the most rewarding action is the first I listed. I never really got off on all the supplemental dialog and back-story. In fact, I just wanted more of the games turn-based action. Which, I must say, is surprisingly fun, addictive and satisfying.

The enemies you see a pretty varied and act fairly convincingly too. You don't see them making idiotic moves or harming their own kind like in other games. Also, they show a bit of cunning too. When their health is low, they move away from the action - but watch it. They often sneak back in when it's safe to finish one of your guys off! It's cowardly but realistic. The bosses you encounter do pose a real threat, but their level of ability varies too much. Some are easy and some are hard. You're never sure how much fire-power they have up their sleeve, and it's either suicide or a total massacre.

The Bad
Left- or right-handed exclusive stylus use is what Luminous Arc boasts. You never have to hit a button - (or so the theory goes). The missions are a played-out on mini game-board areas, divided into squares and presented isometrically. Your team pretty much start at one end, your enemies at the other. And you can make your move, attack, and spell-cast all with menu navigating and mini-map touching. It works well most of the time, but fails when the game-board is crowded. Picking out your man, never mind your target(s) can be like a pixel-hunt. Often, I've had to rapid-fire tap the screen just so that the software might detect that I've hit the right area, even if it was a millimetre square. Of course, you can flip to D-pad control and manually select, but this really isn't in the spirit of the games design or the hardware.

There are loads of different attacks, skills and what they call "Flash Drives". These are represent a sort of special move, only playable when the individual team-mate has gathered enough experience in the current battle. These are pretty creative and very useful, but, you have to make sure you're aware of when they're ready, as the game makes no alarm or mention that your moves are now ready. Once I got in the habit of using these "Flash Drives", this wasn't really a problem.

The game is decorated with beautifully painted backgrounds. These are overlaid with the nicely drawn characters. All of the dialog scenes are presented in this way, and I have to say that it does become tiresome. All of the character art is recycled throughout the entire story, and their facial expressions are fairly under-stated. So this means that a lot of opportunity for enriching the story and characterisations was passed up. All in all, you get sick of the same pictures presented in this story-book fashion (and I'm not talking "Paper Mario" style either).

The Bottom Line
This game seems to draw criticisms for it's varying difficulties and the unusual leveling system. While these criticisms may be true, they are only a minor point, and would only upset the most traditional and serious strategy players. Those who like a little bit of story balanced with a little bit of action should have no real complaints with this title. It's surely isn't the last word for this genre, but in the meantime, it is a respectable and quality title that deserves a play-through.