A familiar favorite, with extra content to boot.
NOTE:: (RUNES) are the pictures you draw to cast a spell.
Content:
Spells:
Firstly, there are 6 different classes of magic: Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Light, and Darkness. Each class has three levels of power. To use each spell , we need to hold either (L or R), and we draw a (RUNE), and let loose that spell. One thing i like about it is there is tons of room for customization. We can mix and match different RUNES, and we can create different spells, by mixing up to 3 different RUNES.
Armies:
Now, here is the mechanic that i like. In order to use specific units in your army, we need to "CATCH" them with RUNES. This mechanic reminds me of Pokemon, which is perfectly fine, because it gives a lot more content for the user to complete. The units that you capture level up with the hero, and may be customized to a degree. Each unit is given 1 slot in order to equip an item. These items can increase HP, Speed, etc, of that specific unit.
Story:
The story is fairly generic. There are these Sages scattered throughout the world that command each element, and they hold the power of magical staves. Now one of these Sages gets the bright idea of taking over the world. 0 ___ o And starts hunting down the other Sages, and taking their staves. One sage tries to stop this evil menace, however fails, and entrusts his son with his staff. It is up to our main character to save the day.
Gameplay:
General:
The game is a strategy RPG game, that plays quite like a watered down Warcraft III. You command your armies, and you cast spells from your character. However there is a major slowdown if there are too many units on the screen at the same time, which can be detrimental in late game, when there isn't much HP left, and you need to duke it out carefully. A lot of micromanagement, especially since your units do not have good path finding, so you must guide your units the entire way, otherwise expect a lot of Wall Crawling.
Multiplayer:
I haven't played around with the multiplayer yet, so i can't comment on this aspect yet.
Music:
The game has a decent soundtrack, however the music is very very repetitive, so bear that in mind. Also the sound effects of casting the spells will bother you at some point.
Graphics:
Ok, the graphics aren't the greatest aspect of this game, but it will do. The sprites remind me a bit of those from Square Enix's "Bahamut Lagoon", except shrunk down to the size of the DS.
Summary:
Pros:
Lost Magic is a very fun and addictive game, with plenty of content to go around. This game has enough content to allow us to customize our characters to our specific playing styles, which is a plus, and our ability to recruit (CATCH) enemy units to place in our armies adds a collection aspect very much like Pokemon for us to enjoy.
Cons:
If you are a graphics nut, this game is not for you. The music can get really repetitive, and there is slow down in areas of the game. The lack of proper path finding will cause an unnecessary extra amount of micromanaging. Other than that the game is still pretty good.
I recommend this game for those who enjoy playing Strategy games, and wants one on the go. Its system is very intuitive, and allows us to experiment, with a large collection aspect.