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Look to the heavens with Magical Starsign on DS

We foresee a pretty RPG where magic and dungeons meets rocketships and planetary motions

Look to the heavens with Magical Starsign on DS
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DS
| Magical Starsign

OK, we're still fuming about Nintendo moving the release of Star Fox Command back two months, but after rereading the press release a couple of times, we've found a silver lining – a new game.

It's currently labouring under that favourite token of Nintendo uncertainty – a temporary working title – but nevertheless: welcome to Magical Starsign.

The sequel to Japanese-only GBA game Magical Vacation, Magical Starsign is a role-playing game based in outer space, but with the usual RPG elements such as magic, dungeons and groups of adventurers on a difficult quest.

In this particular case, the lost soul in question is Madeleine, your teacher at Will O' Wisp magical academy. She's gone missing so it's up to you and your classmates to go and save her by blasting off in your rocketships to her last known location. In the process, however, all the rockets land on different planets. Your first task is to collect together your classmates before trying to work out where Madeleine is.

Progress in the game occurs as you fight your way through numerous dungeons – building up experience points, and getting the cash to buy weapons, armour and items – with your growing group of friends.

You'll have to be careful who you choose to be in your gang though, as each character in the game, including the monsters and enemies, is influenced by one of a series of magical planetary sign, which determines the type of magic they use. That's the reason the game's called Magical Starsign, we surmise.

As the planets change their position, the effectiveness of each signs' magic also changes. Luckily, an astrolog is provided so you can check their positions before making your decision.

The dungeon-based combat works through you tapping your stylus on the attack you want to use and then tapping on an enemy to fire it off. Most of the game interactions will use the stylus and touchscreen.

You'll also have to think carefully about how close to position your characters with respect to the action. Front rank characters will be able to attack individual enemies physically or with magic, while back rank characters can attack groups of enemies with magic. They can't use physical attacks though.

Another cool part of the game are the multiplayer options. The combat mode will enable up to six players to enter a unique 'amigo' dungeon, providing the opportunity to collect special items. There's also a tag mode, where you exchange data with your friends about the creatures you've seen in the game. This is used to grow what Nintendo is calling special Egg characters that will slowly hatch over time.

Already out in Japan, the European version of Magical Starsign is still orbiting around the outer planets, but it's due for release in Spring 2007.

Jon Jordan
Jon Jordan
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon can turn his hand to anything except hand turning. He is editor-at-large at PG.biz which means he can arrive anywhere in the world, acting like a slightly confused uncle looking for the way out. He likes letters, cameras, imaginary numbers and legumes.