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Screens & Info Updated: 9/8/2006

To make a long story short, all is not well in country of Slimenia. The slimes over in Boingburg, the capital city, were just minding their own business when their town was ransacked by the Plob, who just so happened to have a monstrous tank. And when the Plob couldn't find what they were looking for, they laid siege to the town with their tank and slimenapped everyone.

Well, almost everyone. Through a series of undeniably hilarious events, one slime managed to escape the Plob's wrath, and now it's up to you to rescue everyone, restore Boingburg to its former glory, and get the Plob out of Slimenia.

And already, I've touched on one of Rocket Slime's more endearing traits. Look at the last sentence of the first paragraph. Notice how I used slimenapped instead of kidnapped? The entire game is filled with lighthearted humor that follows along these lines. At the end of a long day's slurp, you goo straight to bed. At another point, a fellow character remarks, "Thanks Squishy, you're solid." It's something I'm hesitant to give too many examples of, but so far, the game has one of the most endearing and entertaining scripts to come out of Square Enix in some time.

As far as gameplay goes, the game is split into two distinct chunks: Dungeons and Monster Tank Battles. The dungeon sections are rather reminiscent of a 2D Zelda, exploring from a top-down perspective, solving puzzles, fighting enemies with a basic combat system. The only major difference is that, at least initially, the player-named main character doesn't have a sword. Instead, he uses an attack called the Elasto Blast, in which he catapults himself across the screen and into enemies, which doesn't kill them, but certainly sends 'em flying.

Given our hero's ability to carry up to three items at any given time on top of his, uh, head, he can then take the stunned enemies and tote them around the dungeon. This comes in handy for several puzzles, which often require a certain number of items stacked in a specific order.

Enemies aren't the only thing that'll end up on our hero's head. As he comes across residents of Boingburg, many of them will ask to be escorted back to town. Also, other items, such as the exploding rocks, also have their uses, both in the dungeons and once sent back to town. Luckily, sending things back to town is rather simple, a railroad appears every couple rooms in dungeons, so this process isn't nearly as frustrating or annoying as it could have been.

Then there's the Monster Tank Battles, which pit two Monster Tanks against one another. These are something special, and it's where collecting items and sending them back to town pays off. Each tank has two major cannons that will fire anything thrown into them, yourself included, and ammunition periodically emerges from chutes scattered throughout the tank. One cannon, aimed upwards, sends items in an arc-like trajectory, while the other fires items straight ahead. Once fired, an item's slow transition to the other tank can be tracked on the top screen. And if two items from opposing tanks should happen to collide mid-air, they'll cancel each other out, regardless of their respective strengths.

This paves the way for multiple strategies, especially further in the game as different types of ammunition and other crew members start to arrive. Will you just fire haphazardly, using whatever's on hand? Will you stagger the items so weaker items go out first, shielding the more damaging weapons? Will you play it defensively, firing only to protect yourself until you've amassed a massive stockpile, resulting in an unblockable barrage? Or will you play dirty, infiltrating an opponent's tank and attacking the crew to prevent them from launching any offensive or defensive measures? Personally, I'm a fan of the sabotage method, but to each their own.

Oh, and did I mention that the game supports multiplayer? I haven't been able to test it out yet, but I'm eager to play against a human opponent, especially given how devious some of the AI foes I've faced have been.

Currently, my only concern is that Rocket Slime may end up a little short. At little more than five hours in, I've already rescued a little over half of town's populace. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I'd rather have a short enjoyable game over a long tedious one, but when you've got a game like Rocket Slime, you don't really want it to end.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime is due out September 19th, so check back with us then for our review. And though it's too early to make a final judgment, I will say this much: If the game can retain this level of quality to its conclusion, it's bound to be an essential part of the DS gaming diet.

Square Enix shows off a bit more of their Slimey DQ spinoff for the DS.

Bounce, Stretch, and Carry
The adventure stages consist of our hero bouncing and stretching, as well as carrying various objects on his head, while solving the mysteries behind each area, and rescuing his captured slime friends along the way. Simple, streamlined controls allow players of all ages and skill levels to take part in the action with ease.

Fierce Tank Battles
Each adventure stage culminates in Rocket hopping aboard a colossal slime-shaped war machine called the Schleiman Tank and battling it out with the enemy’s Monster Tanks. Customize tanks by collecting a vast array of weapons and items. Call upon allies, each with their own individual personality and abilities, to aid in the heated tank battles. Even shoot your fellow slimes so they can infiltrate and sabotage the enemy’s Monster Tank! Pit tanks against a friend’s in exciting player-vs.-player action, using the Nintendo DS wireless multiplayer game feature!

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