Lock’s Quest turned out to be extremely addictive in the few minutes I played it at E3, and I’ve been looking forward to its release since then.
Our hero is Lock, an aspiring Archineer. Archineers use Source, the world’s natural resource, to build and repair defensive structures such as walls, traps and turrets. Lock is an orphan and lives with his sister Emi and their grandfather in the peaceful Seaside Village. Until one day, the village is attacked by Clockwork soldiers, something that hasn’t been seen since the great Battle of Dark Ridge, which took place many years ago. Clockworks were thought extinct, but now, wave after wave, they keep coming.
The gameplay in Lock’s Quest is divided into two major components, preparation and combat. In the prep phase, you have a time limit to repair and build your defenses by using Source. If you have new scrap parts, you can also build new defensive items by placing the right pieces together, according to the model. You will discover a range of traps, turrets and more by picking up scrap parts from defeated enemies. Enemies also drop Source, but you must run close to the crystals to pick them up.
During the combat phase, you attack the incoming Clockworks and try to keep your structures operational. To repair a damaged structure, simply tap it and do the ratchet movement as many times as it shows on the screen. To attack, you tap an enemy and do the mini-game that appears on the screen: tap the numbers in the right order, from lower to highest to perform a more powerful attack. The more you attack the same enemy, the longer the list of numbers will be for the next attack. You don’t have to do this (tapping an enemy will have Lock constantly attack that enemy), but you do more damage if you do.
Your health bar is displayed on the top left corner of the touch screen, and you must keep an eye on it, since it’s easy to find yourself surrounded by Clockworks. Retreating and running around for a few seconds in range of your turrets is many times a good strategy. The top screen shows you an area map overview, turrets, traps and enemy locations, plus the countdown to the end of the round.
Later on, Lock will receive a special AE attack, which charges up as he deals damage. Once the meter is full, you tap it and then do the mini-game at the bottom of the touch screen: tap repeatedly as fast as you can to do the most possible damage while the meter depletes. But as you progress, you get other special attacks with different mini-games.
Each attack round lasts two minutes, during which you must survive and defend any allies, your fort and most importantly, the Soul Well. After each round, you have a break to rebuild, a process similar to Rampart, where you place the pieces around to build the walls, but you don’t actually have to enclose the area. You can rotate pieces, place turrets between two pieces of walls to increase their defense, add gates to allow you to pass through and place traps strategically at the enemy entry points.
You will come across a different type of mini-game called Siege, where you take over a single turret and must protect the city. Enemies will enter from the left and move towards you, on the right. You begin by having one shot only, and earning Source by defeating enemies. At the end of each day (round) you can access the upgrades menu and use the Source to purchase more HP, extra shots, some troops, special attacks or to heal up. Rounds get progressively harder, and if you lose (meaning your turret’s HP reach zero), you must start from day 1 all over again.
If you want to play against a friend, the local multiplayer might be for you. In this mode, players are given a limited amount of Source to distribute among Clockwork soldiers and defenses. It’s a shame there is no Wi-Fi support for this feature.
On a more technical approach, Lock’s Quest is a visually attractive game. Although the character sprites are very cute, the anime-like artwork for the character portraits has a more mature look, and the different expressions add that bit of emotion to match the dialogs. The cutscenes are done much like in a storybook, with still images and wonderful drawings. And what’s most impressive is that even when your battlefield is packed with enemies, turrets shooting everywhere, arrows flying and Lock’s special attacks, you won’t experience any slowdowns at all.
The sound effects are appropriate, be it in battle or when repairing something. And as for the music, it fits well with the theme of the game, and even if a bit repetitive, it adds to the epic feel throughout.
To sum it up, Lock’s Quest in a fun and addictive strategy game that will offer a good deal of challenges and keep you entertained through the entire 100 rounds of the storyline. It’s a unique experience that everyone should get their hands on.
Special thanks to Kristina Kirk and THQ for providing a copy of this game.