Grasshopper, the people that created the cult hit Killer 7, are an interesting development studio. If you are one of the few people who manage to give Killer 7 a go, then you'll understand just how unconventional the game was. It also probably won't come to a surprise for you then that their next game, Contact for the DS, doesn't follow any rules as well. Instead Grasshopper has offered to make a role playing game with a difference. As an alternative of actually being the hero of the game, the player takes a role as a middle man between the game's two main characters. One is the Professor, who knows about your existence because you communicate with him through the DS. The other main character is Terry, a lost boy who manages to stumble onto the professor's ship. Published by Atlus in the USA, Contact aims to bring a fresh perspective to the RPG genre.

The story begins with the Professor fleeing from the CosmoNots. Successfully evading the enemy he ends up crash landing on an unknown planet and to show just how unlucky he is, the Professor's power cells for his ship are scattered all over the place. His high tech space shuttle can now only be used as a typical run of the mill boat to travel the planet's oceans, and visit towns and places. As Terry is also not from this planet, the Professor asks him for his help and also looks to you to watch over him. Working together as a team you have to help the Professor and command Terry at the same time to help find the lost power cells.

While the story might sound pretty generic, the main inspiration behind Contact is just what the game's title means. The player isn't actually in the game; he's just a player looking into the world of Contact. His job is to help the people who are in the game accomplish what they need to do. The game is a role playing game, but not one of your traditional Japanese RPGs. It's true that you do control what Terry does through the stylus, or you can directly control him with the D-Pad, so if you lack the imagination you might think this game is just trying to flaunt off a gimmick idea.

The game, however, manages to make sure that you are coming across as the correspondent between to two. This is done by the professor, who lives on the top screen of the DS, speaking directly to you. With the advice taken from him you then pass on the information to Terry by telling him where to go. The battle system however is automatic. The enemies appear on the map and when you are near them you can tell Terry to enter battle mode, in this mode Terry is in a battle stance and is ready to attack if need be. When he comes close to an enemy he will start to attack it automatically. It's like real time but without you actually doing the tapping of the buttons. You just sit back and watch as your companion is doing all the dirty work you tell him to. It feels like you are playing God.

As you would expect from a RPG, the character gains experience as you progress. Rather than accumulating experience points at the end of a battle, you get it on the spot. It's pretty similar to the likes of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion where by everything you do is building up experience in some way. Terry will randomly get symbols appearing above his head to tell you that he has levelled up in that selected category. If little Terry is getting beaten up a lot (then you should help the poor guy) he will level up defence. Attack loads and he will become stronger and walking obviously makes you start to walk faster. A good thing that helps the game is that when you die and you certainly will at some point as Contact can be harshly challenging in some places. The game sends you back to the Professor's bed with all increase stats intact. It means that you can keep dying and dying and yet you will still be stronger the next time round. It really helps that you don't have to keep saving when levelling up, just because some inconvenient git thought it would be nice to slay you and laugh at all your hard work that just went out of the window.

Terry knows more than just to hit things repeatedly. He will learn a lot of different tech skills on his journey, as well as building up a collection of huge amounts of weapons and items. The ability to wear clothes adds to what Terry learns: it adds specific skills for that type of clothing. If you, say, have thief clothes then you can unlock doors, water suit and you can cast water spells. Some of the clothes like Chef and Fisherman have a deeper usage through that selected jobs mini games.

The game also features a unique element called the "Trick Decals." This lets the player slap a stamp onto the desired enemy coursing something to happen. It's a simple use of the stylus to touch the screen to peel off the sticker and then rub it back on the desired location. There's no first class stamps featured in the game, so you don't have the power to post enemies to people you hate or to draw a moustache on the Queens face for a joke. The system for battles makes it feel like you are really helping Terry. The whole contact concept might only work for a few gamers who have the mind to believe in the idea, but with all of this you do feel like you are in between the two.

Contact has a unique visual style that is used to separate the two views you see. The top screen, the Professor view, has a very retro style look to it. It's reminiscent of the 8bit days. It's also very close to the style of Nintendo's own EarthBound series that appeared on the NES and SNES. The bottom screen is where most of the graphics are showing off. The backgrounds in the bottom screen are pre-rendered artworks that look quite attractive. It's certainly not pushing the DS hardware though, but it is pleasant to look at in some of the game's areas. Audio wise Contact is very basic. It includes the standard affair for sound effects, but it's really the musical score that suffers. At some points in the game it sounds solid, but most of the tunes are forgettable and you don't really get the "feel" from them. The game doesn't feature any voiceovers for the characters, but the Professor does have an interesting sound effect for when he speaks. It sounds like he is putting all his effect into humping something.

In terms of length, the game is pretty short for an RPG. An average gamer can probably get through the game's quest in around fourteen hours. That's for finishing the game without finding every item and costume that is available. It's also quite linear: the story doesn't really go anywhere. It's a simple principle of get to place, get to end of dungeon, kill the boss and then repeat. Contact comes across more of as a dungeon crawler than a full blown story driven game. That said, it has some great dialogue. While nothing to do with the story, the Professor will randomly say lines that are reasonably comical. Remember the big joke about Sony's E3 press conference with the giant crab? Well get to the first boss and the Professor will tell you to "hit its weak point for massive damage." There are other references to games, pop culture and movies as well. Snakes on a Boat anyone?

Contact is like nothing that has come before. It might not be an extraordinary title; it is, however, a good game that feels like a lot of love has been put into creating it. It's full of charm and personality that is only made better by how by trying to be different from typical RPGs. It features simple usage of the Nintendo WiFi system, enabling players to share data with each other (it makes an AI version of the player's character and he then stays and lives on WiFi island). People who are looking for a RPG that isn't just a clone of the others out there should try out Contact for a one of a kind experience. Be warned though, as it's an experience that isn't for everyone.