25 Cent Time Machine Reviews: Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django

Boktai 2 was a game I actually heard about from playing Mega Man Battle Network 5, so when I saw it at Gamestop, I decided to buy it. People nowadays are always harping on games for not innovating, but this game really does innovate.

I don't usually do this, but I feel that I need to in order to do a proper review. here's a picture of the cartridge:

Already, you notice that something's different about the game just by looking at the cartridge. For one thing, it's clear. Why do you think that might be? Also, it sticks out a bit more than other Game Boy Advance games. Here's why: the game cartridge has a small solar panel in it. The panel itself is the closest black square to the top of the cartridge. This solar panel affects some things in-game. Depending on how much sunlight the panel is getting, your energy meter will recharge at different rates, and you can also do a "Solar Charge" to recharge your energy faster. Having sunlight hitting the panel also charges up energy at Solar Stations, which can be exchanged at the Solar Bank for money. There are also certain spells that require you to have at least a certain level of sunlight to cast, and there's a thing called Solar Forging that you can only do if you have sunlight.

Anyway, enough about the Solar Sensor, let's actually play the game. You play as a vampire hunter named Django who, having just bested Hel, the queen of shadows, is on his way back to the City of the Sun. Now, already, this sounds like Castlevania (they're even by the same company, Konami, which seems to have an undead fetish) but there are a few interesting twists. For one, Django's weapon isn't a whip or a cross or holy water. It's a gun. A gun that shoots bolts of sunlight. Now, don't think that you get to keep this awesome weapon for very long. At the end of the intro stage, it's stolen from him by a mysterious vampire, and by the time you get it back and get it repaired, it's not nearly as fuel-efficient anymore.

After getting your first new weapon, the Gradius(which, oddly enough, is also the name of another Konami game), a short sword, you're given one of the lenses of the Solar Gun, which allows you to enchant your sword with light magic. This drains your energy every time you swing your sword, regardless of whether you're actually attacking something, so I usually leave it off. Anyway, the first actual stage is learning how to use weapons and other dungeon-traversing skills that you'll direly need later in the game. After fighting the first boss(who looks like a giant moth, complete with light fetish), you lock her in a coffin and take her back to a magic circle called the Piledriver to "Purify" her. You do this by using a magic attack to set up all four of the Piledriver machines, and then get some sunlight, which you'll really need for this fight. The sunlight constantly drains the boss's health, and you're supposed to keep the four machines running. Every so often , a shadowy hand will come out of the coffin and turn off one of the machines. When it does, use a magic attack to reset the machine. This continues throughout the game.

One thing, though, is that about halfway through, Django gets bitten by a vampire, so his counterpart Sabata takes him back to purify him. At this point, Django regains his sanity but is stuck in vampire form. In order to complete the next dungeon, you have to master a whole new set of skills. Vampire Django can turn into a rat, bat, or werewolf(who has an attack that can sap your enemies' health) as well as the ability to sleep in his coffin to recover his energy. Water and sunlight hurt Vampire Django. you can use Sunblock(cheesy, I know) to eliminate the sunlight threat, and you can hid in the coffin to avoid rain. The three forms are highly useful throughout the level.

After regaining human form(and being able to switch between forms) and going through the other dungeons, you come upon the final boss. Rather than spoil that fight for you, I'll go on to the aftergame mission. After returning from the final level, you get news of another vampire. After going to the plaza of the level where you get the Solar Gun back, you come upon... Shademan, the vampire-like Navi from Megaman Battle Network 4 and 5. After killing and Purifying Shademan, you get a new gun called the Megabuster, which does more damage and consumes less energy than the wasteful Solar Gun.

Since Gamestop doesn't buy/sell Game Boy Advance games anymore, your best bet to get Boktai 2 is Amazon.com.

Next time we will go back in time and review Kirby Super Star.