Game Reviews

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is a very story driven game. I don't want to spoil any of it because this is a game worth checking out. Here are the basics: The game takes place 30 years after it's predecessors. Players start as the son of Isaac, the main protagonist from the previous series. Turns out that Alchemy, the same stuff that was threatening the world back in the day is happening again, and it's up to the kids to stop it before the world is literally torn apart. So on top of having to save the entire planet, the characters are trying to live up to their parent's legacy.  The story is pretty interesting if not a little tedious. Sadly, the characters don't seem to know when to shut up. The dialogue sections of the game go on forever. The characters will talk way more than they need to for the story to progress. The cut scenes are so long that I was spending most of my time reading dialogue, which makes the game hard to play as a handheld game. The battle system for Dark Dawn is pretty similar to the previous Golden Sun games. It's the classic turn based battle system. Each turn players can select to attack or defend. Attacks are broken up into a physical weapon based attack, or a magic spell, called Psynergy. Throughout the game, players find and collect these little creatures, called Djinn (which will be familiar to Golden Sun fans). These Djinn each have an ability that players can use like a spell in battles. They also serve as the building blocks to the class system. Depending on which types of Djinn are attached to character, their class and spells will change. By mixing and matching the Djinn, players can customize the strengths of their party. Unlike their GBA counterparts the Djinn in Dark Dawn each have their own unique appearances which are purely there for aesthetic purposes. The Djinn are also used for summons, which is the best-looking part of the game. Players can call up huge giants or monsters to help out with the battle, and each one gets a big flourishing cut scene. They're all very cool. The Djinn system works pretty well, and it makes the game feel more original. It takes a while before players can earn enough of them to really customize their party. So for a major part of the game the parties stay pretty similar, and the game feels very standard and unoriginal. There are a lot of puzzles in Dark Dawn, which is great. Much more of the game is devoted to figuring out how to get through tricky temples and caves than it is about leveling up to fight a boss. Most of the puzzles are pretty basic though, making the game feel more like its geared towards a younger audience. Nearly every puzzle simply requires using the magic spell you most recently acquired.  In conclusion Golden Sun Dark Dawn is a very good game with very few drawbacks, the battles are standard, the djinn spice it up a bit and the summons are incredibly fun to watch. The story is interesting, but drags on a bit. It's a nice addition to the golden sun family.