When someone drops the sacred name of Kojima and his studio, Kojima Productions, your first thought is probably the popular Metal Gear solid series, but the studio continues to prove that it is capable of creating all kinds of great original game concepts. For proof, simply pick up a copy of Lunar Knights, the latest vampire hunting role-playing game for the DS.

Lunar Knights is “kind of” the latest game in the Boktai series, a pretty unique role-playing experience where you used light to vanquish your enemies While there's no solar sensor in the DS cart and the game is based on Boktai 4 (the game has been changed so much in the localization process that it’s hard to tell), Lunar Knights still features a dark and light theme that lets the key protagonists in the game use special elemental powers to take on all kinds of bad guys in dungeons and even in space.

Lunar Knights tells the tale of a world where vampires have taken control, blocked out the sun and relegated the human race to livestock status to create a virtual hell on earth. These evil rulers of the planet have further tightened their grip by removing the one thing that can hurt them - the sun. Launching a device called paraSOL, the vampires have turned the earth dark and have also armed themselves with powerful battle suits called casket armor. These things, along with their natural nightstalker abilities, make for an uphill battle for the human race. But there is hope in the form the Guild, a group of humans who have formed a resistance group that are plotting to find a way to defeat the vampires.

The game lets you don the roles of two heroes - Lucien, a vampire slayer with a shrouded past on the hunt for the Duke, the leader of the vampires; and Aaron, a member of the Guild, who is called to action after the group is infiltrated by vampires. Both characters plotlines run parallel to each other, occasionally crossing to create a pretty interesting and creative story arc. Lunar Knights uses a nifty day and night cycle that each character is affected by: Araon uses sunlight, while Lucien uses moonlight to power their respective weapons. While it's easy to recharge in the overworld, when you head into the dungeons you are blocked off by both sources of power, save the occasional skylight that gives you a point to recharge at.

No matter who you use, you'll plow through dungeons, kill a myriad of baddies and use your companions (called terrenials) to invoke powerful attacks. These creatures give your characters powerful magics that are elemental in nature but consume energy. These attacks range from earth and frost to flame and cloud, and both characters have access to all of them. In addition to normal attacks and Terrenials, Lucien and Aaron have a trance meter that builds as you fight. Filling it up allows you to activate super powerful attacks for a limited time that can do heaps of damage.

Boss battles are n integral and interesting part of the game because they are not exclusively about fighting the boss. After you defeat these vampire leaders you have to get them into Lucien's ship outside paraSOL, and finish them off with a powerful dose of pure solar radiation. It is at this point that players have to endure perhaps the worst part of the game - arcade space combat.

My biggest problem with this otherwise great game are these arcade ship battle stages where you are forced to control a ship and fire using only the stylus. In these sequences, which take place on your way to purifying the body of fallen Vampire bosses, you'll have to fend off a myriad of small ships that are attacking you, along with a number of mid-bosses and big boss ship battles. The biggest problem with these sequences is that you must simultaneously move to avoid incoming fire while at the same time using the stylus to tap the screen and fire back. It's a very awkward way to handle your ship and makes these moments more frustrating the actually should be. If you could use some of the systems other buttons to fire your weapons then these mini space battles would almost perfect. Still the game is better having this mechanic than not having it all, we just wish it was a little easier to handle.

The end result of these space battles is that you put the proverbial stake through the heart of these vampire bosses and gain a small bit of control over paraSOL. This allows you to take control of the weather, which will affect the actual dungeons you'll be jumping in to and often opens up access to new dungeons. This also allows you to wear gear that is meant for certain types of weather, which in turn gives you a bonus and a leg up on your enemy.

Lunar Knights is a wonderful 3D dungeon crawl with light role-playing elements, lots of items to collect and two different wonderful characters to play and enjoy. The gameplay is multilayered, the storyline is deep and the overall presentation is the most polished we've seen in a long while. The game even offers a nice multiplayer duel mode to play around with when you're done with the single player mode, which is a light but nice addition to an already well-rounded package. In the end it's hard to not highly recommend this game to anyone that likes role-playing games with a lot of action. Buy it or rent it, you won't go wrong with Lunar Knights.