Are you rebels excited about the upcoming The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian movie and games attack that’s about to be unleashed upon us vagabonds in the Western World?

I’ve had the DS version of the game for about a week now and so far, it’s an absolute blast. It’s a stylus-controlled action/RPG that has you taking on the role of Prince Caspian, the Pevensie children, and even a few villains where the plot allows. There’s a ton of items and power-ups that can be used in battle, and the battles themselves are fast-paced and frenetic and take place in 3D while the rest of the game is mainly 2D with a somewhat oil-painted feel.

The battles aren’t your typical turn-based fare. In fact, they’re not turn-based at all. Prince Caspian for the DS utilizes a cool dynamic where you tap on the character you want to attack with, and then on the character you want to attack. If you time the attack correctly, you can even fight perfect battles, in which all enemy attacks are intercepted and countered.

Once you’ve selected your attacker and target, the game switches momentarily to an attack interface (which overlays the now-paused battle underneath). If you’re attacking with a sword, you will have to use the stylus to swipe across several guide lines (one for each sword stroke). If you’re attacking with a bow, you’ll have to aim a little bow around and shoot at moving targets. Dagger attacks have you executing timed stabs at the screen (think Elite Beat Agents) while magic attacks are pulled off by drawing different patterns to connect various orbs on screen. The attack is then finished by executing several quick spins on the touch screen by rapidly drawing circles around the wheel of orbs.

If you miss an attack by not following the guide lines properly or quickly enough, your character’s attack will be compromise and he or she may even drop his or her weapon. It takes a lot of explain it in words, but once you’re playing, intuition takes over.

Despite all this, there’s still something more to it than just the Narnian adventure. Along with the game, Fall Line Studio (the company behind the game) is also launching DGamer with Disney Interactive Studios. When you start up the Prince Caspian cart, you get to choose whether to play the game or enter DGamer, which is Disney’s own social networking application that will allow DS users to use the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection like never before.

From Toronto Thumbs:

DGamer has been compared to Xbox LIVE because games that include DGamer functionality have “honors” that can be unlocked by completing various tasks in-game, much like LIVE has its infamous achievements. But in a way, the social aspect of DGamer is arguably more social than the comparison might imply.

Players can use the service to chat with friends and check leaderboards, but also to send virtual gifts, participate in polls, and show off their customized avatars. In fact, DGamer marks the first time gamers will be able to use their Nintendo DS to communicate with PCs and other DS systems over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection in a family-friendly manner.

Source: Toronto Thumbs