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[3DS eShop] Mamotte Kishi 2 (Protect Me Knight 2)

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    [3DS eShop] Mamotte Kishi 2 (Protect Me Knight 2)

    From the X360 to the 3DS, Ancient brings a tower defence game to Nintendo's handhel, but forgets the use of 3D. Probably it wouldn't have great with the game, as Mamotte Kishi is styled to look and sound like a Famicom game, with only an handful of colours on screen and menus that looks like they've been lifted from the first Dragon Quest.
    Luckily there's no flickering and the game runs smoothly even when the screen is filled with enemies (and it will fill with enemies almost immediately), and the sound...well, BGMs are good, but Ancient has Yuzo Koshiro as a co-founder, "good" it's not enough, it must be great! Compared to some of Koshiro's previous works, Mamotte Kishi 2 sounds almost pedestrian, and not as varied.
    Graphics are completely in line with te idea of a Famicom game, and the bottom screen is used to display the manual, that too in perfect Famicom style...it even has the "Memo" page! You can't write on it as touch controls are only used to browse through the manual, but it's a cool addition.

    Your task is to defend a princess from hordes of monsters generated by statues located around the map. Your hero can attack and use three special actions; you start off with a shield, the ability of build/upgrade structures, and a special attack. Through training you can swap these actions for more special attacks, bursts of speed, or kicks to move enemies, structures, and princesses one tile away.

    You can choose between Fighter, Amazon (she looks like SNK's Athena...Famicom version), Ninja (only wears a mask and a string suit), Mage, Archer, and Don Quixote (can't read the gothic font...he's a knight "riding" a false horse shooting missiles), everyone with his/her own set of weapons, special skills, movement speed, attack powers, HPs and MPs.
    As the game progresses, a gym, a shop, and an "item creator" are unlocked. To use these facilities you have to use the various spoils left by the enemies during the various missions, and it soon becomes obvious thats better to focus on one hero rather than trying to keep everyone up to speed, as advanced skills and weapons take quite the number of (rare) items. Hero balacing isn't particularly good, as the archer takes at least twice the time to kill single enemy compared to everyone else, and having ranged weapons isn't particularly useful; classes like the Fighter, Amazon, and Ninja, that have both close and ranged attacks are far more versatile.

    Killing enemies will give you gold and spoils. Gold is used to build new barricades or upgrade existing ones, but also to increase your hero's level. Even 2nd tier barricades are quite sturdy, so it's often better to get levels; levels can be "purchased" at the castle, and the princess can be used to replenish your HPs; kill enough enemies and the princess will yell "ganbatte!" and you'll be able to perform a special attack.
    After a successful mission, you get extra spoils and more gold. Gold outside missions is used to improve the castle, shop, gym (to have a higher level cap, better items, or higher skill level caps) and princess (more HPs for her).
    Missions are presented in groups of 20, and at the last mission in a group, a boss will attack along other enemies; there's also a story, but the text is completely in Japanese, so don't ask what's going on. The only thing I know that when the princess no longer has HPs, game over will ensue, and she will cry of existence all living creatures on the map.

    Why am I defending her again?

    The game starts off easy, slowly introducing to various concepts, like coloured locks, turrets, structure improvement, and portals; enemies will be introduced gradually, and when minotaurs able to knock you to the other side of the map and teleporting grim reapers are introduced, problems start to surface.
    As said before, it's better to stick with one hero, or you won't be able to face later enemies; this kinda sucks, as heroes play differently and it would have been nice to change heroes once in a while. You can revisit past missions as you like, but spoils are random, so upgrades are not garaunteed.
    Missions always start on the defensive, and if you don't know where spawn statues are, it's hard to keep up with the ever-increasing enemy levels. Playing on the offensive is the best tactic but it's difficult to do so when you're seiged by armies of minotaurs and succubi that threaten your princess.
    And more often than not, the princess decides to stick to your hero, moving her around, often in harm's way! And when that way is laden with powerful enemies abel to knock you around, it's impossible to bring her back, so...game over. These moments can be incredibly infuriating, as you never wanted the princess to move, but you have to get close to her to have your HPs replenished or die and suffer a gold penalty.

    That doesn't make the game completely broken, fortunately. It's fun to play, and cutting hordes of enemies has its charm, although one wrong purchase can spell your doom in the long run. Some of the advanced missions must be played one or two times before completing them to have a good idea where spawn locations for strong enemies are, greatly reducing the game's spontaneity. But right know I can't put it down. I don't know if I'll be able to go through all 100 missions, but so far, it's been fun.
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