Nostalgia is aptly named, for a few reasons. The idea of the game has existed for over a decade, though development of it on the DS did not begin until much more recently. As you play through the game, you will see a varied set of influences from an expansive and rich period of gaming in the genre–you may have played many of the games Nostalgia’s developers got their muse from, but you’ve probably never played them all together in one place. At times, this makes Nostalgia a special RPG, as it pays tribute to the past while using its own ideas to craft a memorable and long-lasting experience, but at other times, it makes the game feel like Dƒ©jƒ  Vu was a more appropriate title than the one on the box.

You play as Eddie Brown, the son of world-famous adventurer Gilbert Brown. You’re in search of your father, who has gone missing–the opening to the game finds you in control of Gilbert, so while Eddie isn’t aware of what has occurred, you, the gamer, are. You decide, using the same character traits that make Gilbert who he is, that you will go out on your own to find out what’s happened to dear old dad, and make a name for yourself as an advennturer while you’re at it. Your first task as an adventures involves clearing rats out of London’s sewers–the game uses real-life locales in the 19th century (with a steampunk twist)–and you meet your second party member there, Pad. From there you get your airship, find out a little more info about what happened to your father, and then spend the rest of the game exploring caves, dungeons, towers, ruins, jungles and the skies in search of your father and eventually, as the force capable of defeating an evil organization bent on world domination.

The characters are generally likable, though there are some issues. While there’s no groan-worthy character in your main party, none of them are particularly endearing either–this may have more to do with the dialogue than the characters themselves, as there isn’t that much talking in Nostalgia, or a least, not that much exposition to expand on the character’s personalities. This causes the story to have less of an impact on you, since you don’t have as much of a connection to the characters.

One thing I do enjoy is the fact that a fifth member of the party often joins, and it rotates among many of the game’s important NPCs. While you can’t control them, it’s just one more layer of strategy for your battles, as they either heal you (freeing up your healer for attacking) or are very powerful attackers, which helps you finish battles more quickly. There are stretches in the game where you will always have a fifth person, even if it’s a bunch of different people filling that role.

The story, while predictable at times given its obvious hat-tips to the genre, stands on its own two legs and succeeds, in spite of the lack of particularly interesting characters. Whether you like the characters or not, the game does push you to what to find out more about what is going on in the main story. You also get the chance to flesh out the main characters through side stories: Fiona has memories of a past life, Pad doesn’t know who his mother is, and Melody was an orphan in a village full of wizards–it’s up to you to learn more about them. These side stories open up brand new locations not available to you in the main story, and they also give you chances to take on some difficult bosses and earn loads of experience and money. What’s also nice is that you don’t have to do any of that before beating the last boss–the endgame allows you to continue with your save so you can complete Nostalgia at 100%, regardless of whether you’ve saved the world or not yet.

Setting is a strong point of Nostalgia. The use of real-world locations gives the developers more freedom than you would expect, as they can give their own steampunk version of London, St. Petersburg, or New York. While the cities themselves are not affected much by the steampunk elements, the locations near them–high-tech, secret bases, airships, magic and the like–make the surrounding areas that much cooler to explore. The developers also did a wonderful job with the music in this title. The soundtrack is great, from each city’s respective music that fits the setting–eastern-influenced tracks for Japan and India, fitting jungle tunes and desert songs for South America and Africa–to the battle, boss and dungeon music. It’s one of the highlights of the game, and one of the better RPG soundtracks I’ve heard in awhile.

Graphically, Nostalgia looks much like of Matrix Software’s other DS efforts (Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV) though sometimes it looks better or worse depending on your location. The 3D models are nice to look at though, and the art direction for the game–including enemy, dungeon and town design–works well. Some areas can be a little more boring or graphically behind than other parts of the game, but they don’t detract from the experience too much overall.

Nostalgia is one of the new titles hitting the DS this October, so it’s interesting to delve into the game a bit before the release. Set in an alternate 19th century, gamers get to travel the world in a hot air balloon, looking for treasure while fighting the forces of evil. It sounds like an interesting take on RPGs and will allow players to travel to Cairo, St. Petersburg, Tokyo, Easter Island and New York.

Nostalgia is one of the new titles hitting the DS this October, so it’s interesting to delve into the game a bit before the release. Set in an alternate 19th century, gamers get to travel the world in a hot air balloon, looking for treasure while fighting the forces of evil. It sounds like an interesting take on RPGs and will allow players to travel to Cairo, St. Petersburg, Tokyo, Easter Island and New York. ‚ Now, I can go on and try to describe the game to you, but that would be pointless since we have screencaps and a trailer for you! Check them out below.

Nostalgia will be released October 27th. For more information, visit the website. Comment below with your thoughts on the trailer.

Ignition Entertainment today finally pegged a release date for their upcoming worldwide adventure role-playing-game Nostlagia for the Nintendo DS.

Set your watches, cell-phones and grab a red pen for your calendar. The game hits shelves four days before Halloween or October 27 for those who prefer an exact date.

The game itself is packed with dungeon combat, airship battles, and elusive treasure hunts and was built by developers who brought Final Fantasy III and IV to the DS.

We previewed the game at PAX in Seattle this year. Missed our thoughts? Have a look right over here.

In Igntion’s “Nostalgia” project for the Nintendo DS you’ll travel the world, solve puzzles, fight bad-guys, treasure-hunt, all the while doing so from the comfort of the utimate hot-air balloon.

Air-combat on the DS is a greatly untapped game-mechanic, and if Ignition can pull it off, the way this trailer shows, might just make a name for itself.

In Nostalgia you play in an alternate 19th century as Eddie, the son a legendary English adventurer, and with a cast of fellow enthusiasts, you’ll travel the world, to locations well known, including London, Tokyo, New York and Cairo, all the while seeking a land undiscovered.

Too mysterious for you? Watch this trailer and see if it helps.

SEATTLE — The Penny Arcade Expo gave me my second taste of Nostalgia, Matrix Software and Ignition’s latest Nintendo DS RPG. After a hands-on go with it at Comic-Con in San Diego and a hands-off demo at PAX, I feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on what the game is offering, and I like what I know.

You play as Eddie, who is searching for his father in a semi-real, semi-fantasy world. You will visit real world locations such as Cairo and London, but with that embellished, fantasy vibe to them–for example, when you’re in the pyramids in Cairo, you will be attacked by mummies and monsters, and you will fight them off with magic, guns and swords. +1 for going the 19th century, alternate reality‚  steampunk route.

While there are four main characters in your group, there will be other characters you can use at different times in the game, so you get to switch things up a bit as you play. In addition to your standard turn-based battle system (attack, magic, skills, etc.) there are also airship battles. Enemies attack you from all directions while in your airship, and you have to fight back using cannons and weapons attached to the front of your ship. Depending on the placement of the enemy, certain characters will perform better against them–you will want to use a cannon on the side to attack an enemy on your left, for instance, while one directly in front of you is a perfect target for the sword jutting out of your hull.You are graded for your skill in battles, so you will want to figure out the best strategy for tackling opponents in order to secure the best grade.

The airship is used to travel long distances–in the demo, you had to set out from London to Cairo, and since both were in the proximity of their real-world location, finding your destination is not a difficult process (unless you failed geography, of course). The airship is also fully customizable as well, and there are more than one of them to fly around–later airships bring you higher and higher, but the higher you fly, the more difficult your opponents will be. Not only do you have to contend with monsters, but other airship owners–many of them sky pirates–will give chase as well.

It’s tough to gauge how entertaining an RPG can be from just 15-20 minutes of gameplay, but what we do know about Nostalgia looks promising. The game is slated for an October release, and you will want to clear some time off your schedule to play it–without even tackling sidequests, the story is upward of 30-40 hours, which is very long for a DS RPG. We’ll have more info for you as the game nears release, and also a review for you once it hits retail.

Ignition Entertainment and Tecmo today announced NOSTALGIA, a brand new IP due out in September of this year for the very popular DS portable gaming system.

How can a new game be nostalgic you ask?‚  Well, I don’t really know, but the ambitious project aims to show us.

Nostalgia is set in an alternate-reality 19^th-century Earth where you’ll play as Eddie, a man from London who corrals a slew of companions onto his Zeppelin to traverse a world full of thrilling danger.

More specifically, you’ll explore mysterious locations; slay a myriad of uniquely interesting creatures, complete tons of quests, and save the world from an “unfathomable evil.”

Unfathomable evil?‚  I have a pretty imaginative mind capable of fathoming some very sinister and precarious situations, but hey, we’ll leave it up to Tecmo to truly frighten me.

Nostalgia is first and foremost an expansive RPG spanning the regions of London, New York, Cairo, Russia, and Africa via your high-flying zeppelin.‚  Nostalgia also offers two methods of combat.‚  The first is the close-combat turn-based style RPG fans are undoubtedly familiar with. ‚ However, the other takes place aboard your vessel and simulates large-scale skirmishes between you and enemy airships.

Most interestingly, Nostalgia is being developed by a think-tank of famed Japanese RPG visionaries with the intent of returning to the glory days of such Japanese titles.

Maybe now the name Eddie can lose its idiotic connotations primarily propagated as a result of hyena character in The Lion King.