Perhaps the most intriguing-looking in the latest RPGs for the Nintendo DS is Contact. Initially grabbing people's attention due to it being created in part by Grasshopper (they of Killer7 fame), those whose interest hadn't been pricked by its pedigree will certainly have been caught by its visual styling. Contact uses the dual screen for a mix of modern 3D sprites and backgrounds on one, and old-school, flat-shaded pixel characters on the other. It's an attractive mixture and an appealing one that works quite well, giving the game an old but initially charming retro feel.

Contact's plot, like pretty much everything else about it, is more than slightly eccentric and involves a young boy called Terry. Whilst bunking off school one day Terry witnesses what he thinks is a shooting star, but which turns out to be an interstellar spacecraft belonging to the enigmatic Professor and his pet dog Mochi. Well, when we say dog, that's not technically true. The mutt has a bit of a complex and thinks it's a cat (you can’t say we did warn you it was a bit off the wall). The Professor crashlands near the errant schoolboy and it quickly unfolds that he's being chased by a group known as the CosmoNOTs who are after the powerful (and equally mysterious) Cell crystals.

Rather than playing as Terry directly you actually play as yourself, complete with inputting your own name and divulging a few interesting facts about yourself to the Professor when initially introduced. You are able to interact with Terry and control his actions and this presents an odd story twist that, while no different than your usual level of interaction with any other game, results in lots of breaking of the fourth wall and the Professor talking directly to the player. All the while Terry remains blissfully unaware that he is being manipulated by an unseen person.

Controlling Terry and bringing up the various actions and menus can be done with the D-pad and buttons or using the stylus. However in practice the stylus control is far too fiddly to get to grips with, resulting in issuing the wrong commands or Terry simply not going where you want him to. Ultimately this means many will not bother and simply revert to the traditional method of D-pad controls. This is not the most convenient solution however as some interactions can only be performed with the stylus. For example during the game Terry will be given or find Decals. Some of these stickers can be added to his person to boost various stats, while others perform actions such as capturing Cell Crystals, restoring Hit Points or even calling on Mochi to tackle enemies. These decals need to be pealed off and placed on the play area/Terry using the stylus and this means that the player is usually tasked with trying to juggle the stylus and the D-pad controls, adding to that fiddly feeling.

Being an RPG, Contact has plenty of stats for players to pore over. In fact, it has more than most other games of a similar ilk. Everything is covered from strength to karma to proficiency with the varying types of weapons and everything in between. Similarly there is an extensive and unusual range of weapons, items and food types to discover and hoard ranging from magical staffs to spicy kebabs. With such a wide range of items and skills there is plenty for players to discover adding an almost collector sub-element to the game.

Skills can also be enhanced by the discovery of special suits that give Terry certain abilities when worn. These include a chef's outfit which allows him to combine and cook ingredients into special dishes and meals, a fisherman's outfit which allows him to use rods to play fishing mini-games, a thief's outfit for picking locks and various other combat-orientated suits along the themes of the four elements. The inclusion of these suit specific skills effectively act as side missions with players collecting ingredients, fish etc and increasing the longevity of the game by allowing the player to uncover new items and areas or just go exploring as much as possible.

Rather than levelling up in set blocks, the game employs a system that is not dissimilar to the one found in The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, so that using each skill improves Terry's capabilities in that particular field. This means that the game features very little in the way of level grinding making it more approachable than most RPGs. Combat is also fully automated and simply a case of putting Terry into attack mode and then positioning him next to an enemy. While this lack of control may be a little too simplistic for purists who will miss having full tactical input over skirmishes, it’s clearly designed to be in keeping with the player's level of control over Terry.

The game can be completed in roughly 10 hours, a desperately short period of time for a modern RPG. This is helped in no small part by the inability to die (Terry simply gets returned to the Professor’s ship rather than it being Game Over) and the abundance of beds and baths used to restore health and save your game. So those expecting a long and fulfilling experience may be left wanting unless they manage to preoccupy themselves with the rather restricted mini-quests and skills. Things aren't helped by the main plot not actually being all that interesting, feeling very half baked, wholly unfinished and more than a little formulaic. The game is split between several islands, which although varied in appearance and enemies, soon becomes very predictable in progression of moving from the initial landing area with a few NPC's, through to areas filled with enemies, and finally a boss fight. Once defeated you move on to the next island and repeat until done.

A cliché it may be but Contact really is a case of style over substance although it does have lots of little nice touches which will captivate the player during its short lifespan. The quirky almost post-modern tone of the game is echoed in the translation, which thanks to some sterling work by Atlus is more than enough to raise a chuckle. There are up to date references to Sony's now infamous E3 2K6 presentation, the 'All Your Base' phenomenon, other games such as Metal Gear and even some deliberate Engrish translation thrown in for good measure.

What's perhaps most disappointing is that the ideas within the game are all sound, but sadly they never feel rounded off enough or expanded upon to any great degree. The very limited touch screen interaction with Mochi and the Professor while Terry is sleeping is a perfect example of this.

WiFi capability is included and this allows players to swap friends codes. Once done and contact is made the friend appears as an NPC on a specific island within the game and can be used to obtain stat boosts and otherwise unobtainable items. While a nice feature it is hampered a little by the friends code system but more so by the fact there's very little point to it all in the grand scheme of things.

It’s clear that the developers set out to create anything but your usual RPG adventure. While they’re to be commended for trying something different, any longlasting praise for Contact is tempered by the fact that it doesn't quite manage to pull things off and the end product feels like a bundle of half finished ideas. However, those looking for an RPG-lite experience to ease them into or even help them return the world of RPGs, or looking for a chunk of throwaway fun, will no doubt enjoy Contact as an easygoing romp.