In a year of very few RPGs, The Dark Spire stands out above the rest.
Knowing this, Success has released a truely old-school RPG that not only harkens back to the dark ages of video gaming, but is also very challenging. Enter The Dark Spire, which was released in North American shores by Atlus.
Graphicswise, the game bridges the generational gap between the old-school role-players and today's causal gamers. While there is no animations, the graphics use a comic book-like artstyle that us very reminisent of a Frank Miller-drawn graphic novel such as 300 or Sin City, as opposed to the anime artstyle that has been prevailent since Final Fantasy VII. Interesting enough, there's also a classic mode that gives the dungeon walls a wireframe look and shows the game's various NPCs and monsters in the form of 8-bit sprites.
Regarding the sounds of the game, it is really top-notch. The sound effects are somewhat typical of a role-playing game, given that it is on the Nintendo DS. However, the music is what makes the sound department stand out above the rest, with an elegant mix of techno sounds and opera singing. Surprisingly enough, there is a male soprano involved in the game's soundtrack, which makes it even better than most of the RPGs currently available on the DS.
As far as controls are concerned, they're very typical, and them some. Given that the game is in a first-person perspective, just like in the old school RPGs such as Wizardry and MIght & Magic, you can move forward, backwards and turn left or right. An interesting feature, especially if you're buying a used copy of the game, is that pressing the X button while on a certain command, item and/or magic spell will bring up more details on said feature. If you're actually wondering if casting Fulmen Cellar is better than casting Extinctio, you have that information readly available to you. An interesing note is that the game makes no use of the DS's touch screen, which is actually a non-factor, given that the old PC RPGs of yore didn't have touchscreens available at the time.
Gameplaywise, The Dark Spire is proving to be one of the best RPGs of 2009. While the game only has 7 regular dungeon floors, gameplay is thankfully extended by the inclusion of roughly 30 quests that can net you some extra experience and gold if taken part of and completed. Speaking of experience, the game's experience system allows you to spend your XP on more than just levels. You can actually use that experience to boost one of your PC's stats by one point and learn secondary skills, which comes very handy on the adventure you're about to take. And just like the old-school RPGs, the game is extremely challengeing.
Overall, this is one of the best RPGs of 2009, if not outright role-playing game of the year, because of it's challenging gameplay and the abiltiy to bridge the genetational gap of role-playing games.