Metareview: Lock's Quest

by JC Fletcher { Sep 19th 2008 at 6:00PM }

We've been waiting since last week to pull together a collection of reviews for 5th Cell's Lock's Quest, but until roughly today, that collection would have consisted of IGN and nobody else. That is an insufficient amount of meta-ness for a Metareview! We're not just running "IGNreview" posts here!

Now that there are multiple reviews out there, we can scoop them up and present them to you as individual tiles in a mosaic titled "how good some different reviewers think Lock's Quest is." Preview: quite good.

It's really hard to pick out just one excerpt from this glowing 1UP (91%) writeup. It's pretty clear that Phillip Kollar likes the game, at least: "The game effectively straddles the line between traditional tower defense and full-on real-time strategy, requiring the more fast-paced, on-the-fly tactics of the latter without ditching the addictive, pick-up-and-play nature of the former."

WorthPlaying (90%) found it, well, worth playing: "Lock's Quest is the sort of game for which the DS was made. It's quick and easy to pick up and play, makes great use of the touch-screen, and is just an overall delightful game. It isn't perfect, and there are plenty of places for a sequel to improve on, but it's charming, fun and one of the best titles to hit the DS this year."

IGN (86%) completely fell for the game's charms: "Lock's Quest is by far one of the most original, inspired, and entertaining experiences we've had on DS this year. Everything from the unique build mode to the impressive audio/visual offering, the immersion found in cinematic intros and story-developing cut scenes throughout, and even the random tongue-in-cheek dialogue lines thrown in to remind players that this is a game, made by gamers, are very welcome."

Gallery: Lock's Quest

Tags: 5th-cell, locks-quest, strategy, thq

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Soo-Jin @ Sep 19th 2008 7:31PM

Excellent game.
PERIOD!
Go buy it!

josph @ Sep 19th 2008 7:48PM

Was kinda on the fence about this one but looking over the reviews gives me new found confidence to lay down some green this weekend.

Igor @ Sep 19th 2008 11:12PM

Been playing it since release, fantastic game, go out and buy it :D

BIGFAT @ Sep 20th 2008 1:00AM

can anyone tell me what you do in this game i hear tower defense game(which is great, my type of game) and then i hear real time stratagy(which is bad because i hate those type of games, i like to take my time and plot moves out cafeully) and then all i hear is a 100 day limit can someone explain more about that.

Dave @ Sep 20th 2008 6:15AM

Well, it's a mix, for most battles you're given two or three minutes to build your defenses, then the battle last two or three minutes. There are a few different types of battle (rescue hostages for example) but the above is by far the majority.

The 100 days isn't so much a time limit, each battle is a day in the game and there are 100 battles. I'd say it's more tower defnese than RTS, during the battle you control Lock and you can fight and repair as you see fit.

Zealot @ Sep 20th 2008 1:09PM

2-3 minutes preparation plus 2-3 minutes battle equals a 4-6 minute overall play session. Multiplied by 100 days/levels, that's 400-600 minutes in the game, or 6 2/3-10 hours playtime. Not counting dialogue, other gameplay modes, etc., it's a bit on the short side. I hate to say it, but I'm somewhat less inclined to get the game after hearing this.

BIGFAT @ Sep 20th 2008 2:25PM

thanks guys for clearing that up for me. i think i might try it out now since it seems you do get a reasonable amount of time to plot your strategy.

SephFinale @ Sep 20th 2008 1:01AM

Guuuuuh...Kirby Super Star Ultra...Chrono Trigger DS...Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia...Lock's Quest...TOO MANY GAMES!

RupeeClock @ Sep 20th 2008 8:30AM

And nintendo power only gave them 7.0. :\

BIGFAT @ Sep 20th 2008 2:20PM

idk why they do that, they rate good games low ( first thing comes to mind: Bomerman land touch got a 4) and it does often give 3rd pary developer lower scores for some reason. i remember i bought lost magic going off there review (rated much higher then anywhere else) and the game was terrible.i payed $30 for it and traded it in for $15, wost turn around i have ever had for a game.

gukid @ Sep 20th 2008 1:34PM

IGN: "Inspired and Original"?

Someone hasn't played Warcraft 3 or Starcraft. Tower defense was completed invented years and years ago. This game is just a good ripoff.

tim b. @ Sep 20th 2008 4:10PM

It's "one of the most original, inspired, and entertaining experiences we've had on DS this year", not of all time. Warcraft and Starcraft are not available on the DS.

Philip Kollar @ Sep 20th 2008 5:33PM

Thanks for pulling from my 1UP review, JC! Very cool to see. :)

And re: gukid, not to defend the competitor's review too much (especially since tim b. already did a good job of that), but although Lock's Quest borrows the basic premise of the tower defense genre, it definitely introduces some "original and inspired" ideas within that framework.