Reviewed on: PS4

It is uncommon to see remastered ports of Nintendo DS games. Lock’s Quest was released in 2008 and now, almost 10 years later, receives remasters for latest-generation consoles. The game is considered one of the forgotten gems of the old handheld, and with this port THQ Nordic gives a large audience the chance to discover the game.

Narrative: 7

Lock’s Quest tells the story of young Lock, who lives happily and peacefully with his sister in a coastal village… Until the place becomes the scene of an attack by a race of robots trying to wipe out human life and steal its energy sources.

The main narrative focuses are Lock’s journey to find his sister again, and helping the kingdom defend itself in the war against the cruel robotic race, the Clockwork. The story is quite simple and direct and there are no big twists, so the plot only helps give the protagonist motivation. Even so, the characters are charismatic and you will feel the same desire as Lock to end the robot invasion and find his little sister again.

Mechanics: 9

It is impressive to think that almost 10 years ago the original Lock’s Quest blended the Tower Defense and Real-Time Strategy genres so symbiotically and successfully, and yet we rarely see more games using this formula. Each level consists of a continuous switch between two game modes, Build and Defend, every few minutes.

In the Build moments, the player has a few (timed) minutes to use their resources and build walls, defense towers and traps around the scenery.
In the Defend moments, the player must keep invading forces from reaching a point on the map. To do so, they can attack the enemies in direct combat or rely on the cover of the structures prepared earlier, in the Build phase.
The horde of robots attacks for a few minutes and then stops, switching the game to a new Build phase and letting the player prepare and fortify more defenses for the next round.

The dynamic works surprisingly well, giving a great sense of tactical strategy without losing the chance to deliver thrilling combat moments. Lock’s Quest makes the best of both genres shine, and even uses the strengths of one to cover the weaknesses of the other. In a pure Tower Defense you just watch the invasion and hope your preparations were enough… But here you are in the thick of the action, and have the power to influence the enemies’ route, weaken them, defeat them in hand-to-hand combat or even repair towers that are under threat.

The game offers countless action options and strategies, which gives it immense depth and good replay value.

Audiovisual: 7

Lock’s Quest does a good job converting the DS’s low-resolution sprites into something that looks good on big, high-resolution screens. The music, although not memorable, manages to set the right atmosphere and reinforces the emotions the game tries to convey.

The work is competent, but you can’t help missing more variety. Being a remaster, we still see traces of the technical limitations the DS had.

Final thoughts

Lock’s Quest is an example of how to correctly cross two distinct genres. The strengths of each help cover the weaknesses of the other, and the result is a deep and tactical gameplay experience, but at the same time intense and exciting.

Although it inherits some limitations of the DS original, the game gives us the chance to discover the charm of its mechanics and thus expand its audience. Now, we can only hope the remake is a success and encourages THQ Nordic to grace us with a true successor!

SCORE

Narrative = 7
Mechanics = 9
Audiovisual = 7

OVERALL : 7.7

PlayStation 4 version