Heading to the Nintendo DS later this month from Atlus USA, (and a little later in Europe), Contact is an imaginative new action-RPG from Grasshopper Manufacture and Marvelous Interactive that, in a captivating twist, stars you, the player, as the true hero of the game, as you make "contact" and interact with the virtual characters in the game's world and help them through a time of need. Based upon some early playtime with a final build of the game, Contact is thus far showing itself to be an ingenious piece of RPG gaming and in anticipation of its release in just a few short weeks we would like to briefly share our hands-on impressions and let you know why Contact needs to be at the top of your most wanted list.

Contact opens with a crazy old professor typing at a computer aboard his spaceship. After watching the professor clack away at the keyboard for a minute or two, you realize that he has no idea of your presence, but with a tap on his head using the stylus he finally takes notice and begins conversing with you, asking various questions about where you come from and the like. Through the DS, you are able to connect with the professor and his world, and you are none to late as you will find out, should you decide to partake in this adventure when it comes out, because the professor is being hastily pursued by another spaceship and needs your help.

Shortly after acquainting yourself with the professor and witnessing his distress, you meet the main character, a boy named Terry, who awakes from his relaxation on a bench in the park as a green crystal falls from the sky and the professor lands his ship and hurries him onboard. After ascending into the sky once more, the ship is shot down by its hostile pursuer, after which the professor asks you to watch over and guide Terry on an adventure around the game's world to collect power cells needed repair the ship - but your presence must be kept hidden from Terry, for reasons the professor has not explained to us as of yet.

As you bridge the gap between the real world and the game's world, you use the stylus (or D-pad) to walk Terry around the monster-laden environments on the bottom screen in search of said power cells and battle any creatures that stand in your way in action-RPG form - this is no hack-n-slash, though, as you merely engage an enemy by pressing the B button and watch the battle unfold in what you could call real-time turn-based combat, if that makes any sense. But don't think you can just hit B and sit back and twiddle your thumbs, as that won't get you very far. After attacking there are a number of subtle strategies that are needed to ensure Terry's survival. While attacking you can continue to move Terry around locked onto the target creature until you press B a second time to disengage from combat, effectively enabling you to evade damage in between your own attacks, and as Terry's abilities grow through experience he learns special Tech attacks that you can activate by pressing the Y button during a fight as long as you have enough points in your Tech meter.

Character advancement is slightly different in Contact compared to other RPGs, actually resembling the progression system of an MMORPG. Terry has over twenty stats and attributes to build up and each stat only increases based upon your actions and how you decide to control him. Partaking in combat on a frequent basis is the quickest way to improve stats like strength and defense, while simply doing a lot of traveling increases Terry's speed attribute. Equipping different weapons and advancing Terry's skill with each type is also the way in which he learns new Tech attacks. Over the course of the game you can find various outfits for Terry as well, and by changing between different outfits he gains new abilities and stat modifiers.

In between exploration and combat it's a good idea to frequently return Terry to the professor's ship, which the professor has merged with a pirate ship after the spaceship crashed (yes, this game is way out there). At the ship Terry has a bed to sleep in, which saves the game, a bath for relaxing and healing up after battle, a globe navigation system for traveling to new locations, a closet to change outfits in and a kitchen for cooking meals (which you need the chef outfit in order to do).

During play, the in-game action with Terry takes place on the bottom screen, while a view of the professor working back at his ship is displayed on the top screen. Each of these two views also showcase two completely different graphical styles, with the professor's top-screen world brought to life in a colourful 8-bit art style while Terry's world on the bottom screen uses detailed pre-rendered backdrops and 2D character models that are more modern in presentation. Although neither style pushes the envelope of what the DS hardware can do, the game has a wonderful charm about it that really looks beautiful.

I could go on and on about the many other clever ideas that Contact has to offer, including a cool decal system that lets you perform special actions by peeling off and placing stickers onto the screen using the stylus or even the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support that enables you to connect with friends online and have an NPC character based on their information added to your game world, but you'll just have to wait to find out more about these elements and how the entire game comes together when it makes contact with store shelves later this month - we'll be back then with our full review.

Previewed by Matt Litten for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).