The battle system in Blue Dragon Plus is based on a real time tactical scheme where party members and enemies fight it out on isometric stages. When a Shadow attacks, it'll wallop foes in fluid animated motion. The life bars of troops are positioned directly over each grunt so that its level of health is easily discerned as a campaign progresses. Magic attacks light up the screen with whirling effects and pulsating streamers. Occasionally, two opposing Shadows will face off against each other and that's your cue to "rub" the touch pen across the touch screen in a back and forth motion to attack and overcome the enemy Shadow.

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» Players start the game with Shu, Zola, Marumaro, and a robot named Zabo. In case you're wondering, Zabo is now a good guy who gets along with the gang although he can be seen restraining and shoving Marumaro in the beginning of the game.

» To move a character, simply tap on him and then tap a target location. He'll begin moving automatically. If an enemy is in the local vicinity of the target location, your character will begin attacking automatically without any instruction from you. A convenient "ALL" button may be tapped to select everyone in the party and marshal them like a cohesive gang which moves and attacks together.

» In the first mission, Shu and crew face off against six rotund enemy grunts who give way to a large mechanical bruiser armed with a sword who's seemingly invincible. Shu and friends can spend an hour hitting it from all sides to no avail. To break the robot's defenses, send Zabo to the west and open the treasure chest. Next, move the rest of the party north towards the control console and position them near the "pipe" which will unleash an electrical charge once Zabo gets to the console and activates it. You'll have to make sure that the enemy robot is positioned properly so that the electricity hits it and renders its shields useless. You can tell that it's been damaged by the visible shock that it takes and the dialogue between Shu and Zabo afterwards. Send all four party members against it and the big robot will be defeated within a minute or two. Before it falls, it'll send a Red Dragon shadow against whoever's standing in front of it.

» To use a character's shadow during battle, tap on the character and then tap on the purple icon that's next to the "heal" icon that's located on the right.

» After the first battle, you'll be prompted to save your progress. The game card contains two save slots.

» The second battle pits the party against four imposing robots and their henchmen who they'll call into battle group by group. Although the robots are imposing in appearance, they're easy to defeat with conventional attacks. A surprising development occurs after you've defeated them. Let's just say one of your party members gets taken away in a big and unusual way...

» After the conclusion of the second battle, all three remaining party members will level up.

» The third battle starts off with a bang where Zola's Bat Shadow performs a cinematic beat down before the action starts. Similar to the first two battles, the third one is very easy. We're beginning to wonder if Blue Dragon Plus will be a walk in the park rather than a struggle through the gauntlet... which we would have preferred.

» Blue Dragon Plus features relatively impressive CG-rendered sequences that help to move the story along. There's no voice acting to accompany the dialogue.

Region-Free
Japanese NDS games may be played on North American and European NDS handhelds. There is no region-coding on Nintendo DS game cards.

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