Moon Review (Nintendo DS)

When we think of First Person Shooters (FPS), games like Wolfenstein, Doom, Halo and Call of Duty all come to mind. You’re a lone fighter with a varied arsenal of guns tasked with the job of killing countless enemies. Sounds like fun? It should. As the death count rises past “Robocop” and “Total Recall” levels, in mock “Hot Shots Part Deux” fashion, you will slowly come to think that you are indeed invincible – and maybe even think you’re Jack Bauer on 24.

Mastiff’s latest title, “Moon,” isn’t the kind of First Person Shooter you’re used to. Moon is a blast ‘em up adventure, with blazing guns and razor sharp technicals that just happens to be delivered in a first person package. If you keep that in mind, Moon is a DS game that pushes the limit on this platform and will easily set the pace for 2009.

Moon has a simple story that tries to be complex. You are Major Kane and you’ve been separated from your lunar team. After discovering a mysterious hatch on the Moon, you’re thrust into adventure full of aliens, human experimentation, and military lies. The journey underground will bring you in contact with several computer terminals, each offering you a clue to understanding the game’s sordid back-story. Occasionally, your General will make a quick appearance via comm.-link and you’ll get the feeling that the military has a dark secret their hiding from you. A few swaps between comm.-link and computer terminal, and you’ll wish that the story were offered up in a more dynamic fashion.

Major Kane has several weapons at his disposal, which helps boost the games shooter value. Like all FPS games you’ll quickly come to loathe your automatic and switch to a more refined gun. Once you get used to the games stylus/D-pad control system, you will have no problem executing precise kills, without being overly cautious with your ammo. Moon’s engine is especially responsive to quick movements, allowing the stylus to give you excellent fluid control of your firing without any frame delay.

Each level is a maze that you’ll have to work through in order to find special artifacts and eventually fight a level boss. The more aliens you encounter the more you feel like you’re trapped in an endless loop. After the first three boards you get the sense that everything is a floating orb. If it’s not a floating orb, it’s a boss with orbs attached as weak points. Shoot the little spheres on the boss, to take down its shields, and your home free. There are the occasional robot dogs and robot sentries, but hardly enough to be considered a variety. That having been said, I felt like this world was more Transformers Cybertron than aliens on the Moon. This is probably the biggest caveat of the game. As a shooter, you’d expect a large variety of enemies, both in appearance and in arsenal, but even their weapons shoot spheres of energy at you – they’re just red, green or yellow.

The landscape of Moon is very cool, with good sharp-crisp textures that offer depth to each level. You’ll come across a variety of lights mapped to the walls, different obstructions in the terrain, and several different factory machines moving on their own. But, after a while even the landscapes will become monotonous as you dive further into this adventure.

To break up the monotony, you’ll be able to switch between Major Kane and his Remote Access Droid (RAD). This is a nice addition to the game, breaking up shoot ‘em up feel, with a touch of puzzle solving. Every level has different barriers that will block Major Kane from proceeding. You’ll have to use your RAD, armed with only a freeze gun, to get around these obstacles. Using the RAD also helps you find secret items to unlock additional missions. It’s hardly impossible to find these secret items, as you’ll have a map available the whole time outlining the doors you’re able to go through.

There’s a vehicle in this game, that’s very free moving. You get to use it on certain “beat the clock” style races, and also just to get around on the Moon’s surface. Dodging landmines can be a bit tricky, but it’s definitely a nice addition.

The music score in this game is great, and helps to give Moon a nice eerie feel. But again, with the repetitive underground complexes and enemies, even this could use a little more variety.

Moon is a technically supreme game that will have you wondering why more publishers don’t release well-designed FPS/Adventure games for the DS. The sci-fi story is lackluster, but you’ll still have fun just blasting away at orb after repetitive orb.