Lunar Knights is surprisingly good, given the track record for space vampires in other forms of media. I had never heard of the series until stumbling upon this one, and I am impressed enough that I think I'll go back and pick up the previous games in the series.
On the surface, the game is standard adventure fare with a high degree of polish. During the first dungeon, however, the game quickly adds more elements to the combat system and exploration, adding a few layers of complexity to the game which works out very well. The terrenial system allows you to change the element of your weapon at will at a cost of using energy with every attack. Time of day plays a big role in deciding which character you are using in combat, since one character can only recharge his energy with moonlight, the other with sunlight. Weather affects the environment, since you can only recharge your energy if the sun or moon is not behind the clouds, and being able to reterraform map locations to change the environment can change a level's layout as well. This all combines for a subtly deep playing experience which I find lacking in many other games of this genre.
The space battles were an interesting thing to add to the game, but I'm not entirely sure I like them. On one hand they are a great break from the standard action adventure in the game, and they don't come up very often. On the other hand, the action is a bit too simplistic (click on enemy to destroy it, change elements for some enemies, drag your ship to move), and aside from the bosses, nothing really poses that big of a danger to you...especially since the direction things attack you from are semi-predictable and not at all randomized. On the third hand, they did do a fantastic job making some of the battle sequences incredibly frenetic and chaotic. Those rare portions remind me of Ikaruga. As long as the space action continues in a similar fashion for the rest of the game, I think I'll be satisfied with it.
The game isn't without its flaws of course. Despite reviews to the contrary, I find the game to be a bit too forgiving. As long as you watch enemy patterns, time your defenses, and don't over extend yourself while attacking, you won't run into any problems with standard enemies. I'm not quite done with the game yet, but thus far I've only died in adventure mode once, and that's because a cannon shot me off of a platform...and I fell to my death. The continue system makes you pay a very small amount of money to start back from the same room you died in, and you may save at virtually any time during the game...so even if you have trouble with the combat there's really no way you can get completely stuck along the way.
Space combat has the same problem, except that you can only save before the beginning of the action. This is mildly irritating since nothing poses a challenge except the boss, so if you die at the boss you have to play through the entire sequence over again, which really doesn't involve any risk. I consider that a negative because I really only enjoy games which require you to concentrate and to do well, or suffer the consequences. I'll understand if anyone else has a different opinion on the matter.
Anywho. I completely missed the Supreme Commander release date because I bought Lunar Knights after a friend showed it to me. I'm just hoping it will have enough hours of gameplay to tide me over until the next pay day.
