Magical powers, spirits in turmoil, conjured beasts that fight along side a rugged band of heroes; we've seen it all before. Summon Night: Twin Age is not the first role-playing game for the DS to draw from the big book of RPG clichés, and at first glance, it looks like another conventional grind fest. Yet, lurking behind the sickly sweet anime exterior and derivative storyline is one of the better portable Japanese RPGs to come stateside.

Summon Night is not without its defects as you'll find yourself rapidly tapping your way through the lengthy deliberations that bookend each mission, but it's the dungeon crawling sessions that will keep you glued to the screen. Employing a simple point-and-click interface, you guide either Reiha or Aldo through one battlefield after another. Attacking enemies is a matter of tapping them, and you possess a host of upgradeable spells, powers and special attacks. The skill tree is surprisingly robust, and we found ourselves investing a lot of time making sure we were suiting up with the best abilities.

Once in combat, things get intense. Besides the two main characters, several others will jump in and out of your party as the story progresses, providing you with plenty of offensive and defensive aid. At times, both allies and enemies will litter the screen, with magical spells and character movement abounding in a flurry of on-screen activity, creating an impressive combat experience. You can predefine the actions of your computer-controlled partner (to use or not use items, spells or what have you), and with World of Warcraft-style hotbars flanking either side of the screen, you have easy access to all of your abilities, making the flow of combat extremely manageable.

The only oddity is the major increase in difficulty when facing bosses. You usually won't die on the battlefield (even if one character dies, they will return to the fight after a few minutes). But boss battles are a different story, these encounters will force you to quickly learn how to master the game, because you switch between characters, buff your stats and pull off cool maneuvers. Thankfully, the game gives you many opportunities to save your progress, so you'll never backtrack more than a few meters.

Summon Night's story is lackluster, especially when it gets bogged down in banal dialogue that confuses exposition of the world's history with insightful conversation. Nevertheless, some innovative features kept us engaged. For one, Reiha or Aldo provide their own commentary on the events occurring in their midst, and sometimes this provides different locations to explore. Furthermore, you'll regularly have dialogue choices that affect how others view you; it's more cosmetic than providing tangible story differences, but it does break the monotony. Also, at the end of each chapter, you'll get to choose an ally to discuss the events of the day. Depending on your choice, you'll learn more about that character and perhaps gain a differing perspective. All of this adds replay value, if you're keen on revisiting the already protracted quest.

A handful of gameplay quirks, however, keep this RPG from greatness. Using the stylus to move is great, but party members can't keep up. They get snagged on walls or walk into sand or swamp traps even if you carefully avoid them. They can also react slowly in battle. Enemies will pummel you to death and your healer just stands there. Most of the time, these are forgivable grievances, but there will be moments where life and death are at stake, and if they don't react, you die.

Summon Night: Twin Age is a pleasant surprise. You won't come for the story, but you'll stay for the gameplay. Being one of the finest examples of how to successfully implement touch controls in an RPG, battles are intuitive, easy and a blast to play. Whether you love collecting loot, building up your characters or fighting hordes of enemies, Summon Night has what you're looking for.

Our Final ScoreGood

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