At first glance, you wouldn't think a handheld system that gets four hours per battery charge would be a good place to put a ton of time-chomping RPGs. But that's not keeping a deluge of the classically crafted games from appearing on the system, and the sword-and-sorcery realm of Blade Dancer: Lineage of Light looks to offer more of the turn-based battling fantasy nuts crave.
The inner-workings of Blade Dancer are just like any other RPG - explore 3D towns, dungeons and the vast wilderness in search of clues, new items and reasons to keep killing slobbering monsters. Along the way, your party will grow in size, and, undoubtedly, you'll discover that you're descended from the gods or the chosen one or something else equally convenient.
But unlike other RPGs, this one doesn't even bother using magic points to cast spells and use special techniques. Most of the world in Blade Dancer seems to idolize the moon, so during each battle you build up Luna power for each piece of damage dealt or received. The more blows that are exchanged, the faster the meter fills up, and the sooner you can break out your biggest moves - trouble is, the enemies can use that same built-up power against you. Do you go for the screen-jarring mega-move or bust out quicker attacks before the monsters throw some heavy hits of their own? Your call; and that makes the battles a bit more interesting than the average back-and-forth slasher.
