Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand

Assumption is a dangerous game. One could assume, for example, that vampire hunting is a profession that would never require a night shift. After all, there doesn't seem much logic in trying to fight a creature of the night during the hours in which it’s at its strongest. And yet, if cinematic treatments are anything to go by, the stake-wielder must always choose the most perilous time to face up to their adversary.

Equally unexpected is a game that you’re forced to play during daylight hours. But for Boktai, a role-playing adventure game that sees you embark on a mission to rid the world of demons, daylight is crucial. You see, the game cartridge includes a solar sensor which forms an integral part of the playing experience. This transforms the very landscape you travel across and essentially doubles up as your ammunition against the undead. In fact, certain segments, such as boss encounters, can only realistically be played in the daytime, when your enemies are at their weakest. During other sections a compromise can be reached, because when you're outside the game automatically recharges its 'light gauge', meaning you can carry on playing indoors by using up this reserve. Should you ever need to, the gauge can also be refilled during darkness for a (heavy) price.

Like more traditional role-playing titles, the game centres on a dungeon-based romp that features increasingly tricky puzzle elements; but the game's refreshingly simplistic approach, yet inherent sophistication, means it would be wrong to presume that you'll find all the tired clichés of the genre here - just as it would be easy to assume Boktai's solar gadget would prove a strong enough focal point to cast a sufficiently opaque shadow over a weak gaming experience. In fact, the light gauge simply brings an additional element to an already vastly accomplished game.

Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand

A memorable, elegant and imaginative game that's best played with the light on.
Score
Joao Diniz Sanches
Joao Diniz Sanches
With three boys under the age of 10, former Edge editor Joao has given up his dream of making it to F1 and instead spends his time being shot at with Nerf darts. When in work mode, he looks after editorial projects associated with the Pocket Gamer and Steel Media brands.