Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Contact introduces a refreshingly different approach to the traditional RPG formula by placing you in the role of an unseen “operator” who communicates with a professor stranded on an island. Rather than controlling your hero directly, you guide his assistant Terry via the Nintendo DS touchscreen, issuing commands and setting waypoints to navigate the terrain. This indirect-control system creates a unique bond between player and character, as you’re constantly observing Terry’s reactions and adapting your guidance to suit his skills and personality.

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The game’s RPG mechanics revolve around usage-based stat progression. Every action Terry performs corresponds to a specific attribute: sprinting boosts speed, healing items raise stamina by taking a hit, and even petty theft enhances thievery skills. This organic leveling up encourages experimentation—if you find yourself running out of healing items, you can intentionally take damage to bolster Terry’s endurance, adding a strategic twist to resource management.

Beyond the island tutorial, Contact expands into a world full of towns, dungeons, and side quests. As you subtly steer Terry through puzzles, boss battles, and hidden mini-games, the complexity ramps up. You’ll need to time commands carefully during combat, switch between offense and defense, and occasionally juggle multiple objectives. The game strikes a fine balance between hands-on involvement and hands-off oversight, ensuring that you always feel needed without overwhelming you with micromanagement.

Contact also supports Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, allowing you to swap Friend Codes and send an NPC version of Terry into a friend’s game. This feature not only lets you exchange items and data but also provides an asynchronous co-op feel, as you see how another player has developed and equipped their Terry. These social elements add replay value, encouraging you to return after the main story to discover new interactions and gear trades.

Graphics

On the Nintendo DS hardware, Contact manages to deliver charming and colorful visuals that belie the system’s age. Character models are rendered in a smooth 3D style, with expressive faces and quirky animations that bring Terry’s personality to life. The professor’s silhouette and occasional on-screen prompts maintain a playful fourth-wall dynamic between you, the stranded duo, and your handheld console.

Environmental design is equally imaginative. The initial island setting features lush jungles, rocky caverns, and sunny beaches, each with distinct color palettes and ambient soundtracks. As the game world opens up, you’ll explore bustling villages, eerie ruins, and floating continents, all of which showcase creative level layouts and hidden secrets tucked into every nook and cranny.

While the DS’s limited polygon count means textures can sometimes look blocky up close, the art direction and clever use of lighting mask these technical constraints. Day/night cycles glow warmly on the horizon, and dynamic weather effects—like rainstorms or swirling sand—add atmosphere to exploration and combat alike. Occasional frame-rate dips during hectic boss encounters are a minor quirk in an otherwise polished presentation.

Story

Contact’s narrative hook is delightfully meta: a professor seeking intelligent life ends up communicating with you, the player, through the DS itself. This premise sets the tone for a lighthearted yet engaging adventure, as you assist the erudite professor and his oblivious assistant Terry. The contrast between the professor’s omniscient guidance and Terry’s bemused reactions generates both humor and warmth throughout the journey.

As you help repair the professor’s ship and unravel the island’s mysteries, a deeper plot emerges involving ancient ruins, cryptic messages, and the fate of a vanished civilization. Side characters—ranging from eccentric inventors to mischievous island natives—bring additional flavor, each offering optional quests that expand on the world’s lore. Dialogue is often witty, with the professor breaking the fourth wall to critique your decisions or tease Terry’s foibles.

The pacing strikes a comfortable rhythm, alternating between moments of light exploration and high-stakes challenges. Emotional beats land effectively when the stakes rise—be it saving an NPC from a monstrous guardian or uncovering a long-lost secret. By the time the story culminates in a globe-spanning finale, you feel a genuine connection to both Terry’s courageous spirit and the professor’s relentless curiosity.

Overall Experience

Contact offers one of the most inventive handheld RPG experiences on the DS, blending indirect control, usage-based leveling, and a self-aware narrative into a cohesive whole. The game consistently rewards curiosity, encouraging you to stray off the beaten path in search of hidden puzzles, collectible trinkets, and stat-boosting challenges. For players tired of cookie-cutter RPGs, Contact’s fresh mechanics and playful story make it a standout.

The Wi-Fi integration enhances replayability by enabling community-driven item exchanges and asynchronous co-op runs, giving you reasons to revisit the islands even after the main quest is complete. Whether you’re optimizing Terry’s build for speed, defense, or stealth, there’s always a new way to approach situations. Fans of character-driven tales will appreciate how Contact weaves humor and heartfelt moments into what might otherwise be a straightforward rescue mission.

Ultimately, Contact is more than just an RPG—it’s an interactive dialogue between game and player, wrapped in charming visuals and memorable characters. If you own a Nintendo DS and crave an adventure that respects your intelligence, rewards creativity, and breaks the fourth wall in delightful fashion, Contact deserves a spot in your collection.

Retro Replay Score

7/10