Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole for Nintendo DS is underrated. At least, if we compare its metacritic score to that of Garfield Gets Real. That being said, while I vastly prefer this title, I'm not saying it's actually a great time, in fact, I think it's one of the most average experiences I've had.
The game is basically a flight simulator with RPG elements. The game is almost entirely touch screen based. You fly around by moving your stylus in a third-person perspective. You can also press any button (except for Start, which is for pausing and skipping cutscenes) to do a 180 degree turn. Flying around does feel nice, although there are a few occasions of janky collision with the envoirement. There are occasional weather currents that act as a speed boost, and there are even especally weathery currents that can teleport you somewhere, used in place of backtracking. In these, you're required to hit the currents, and avoid lightning bolts. Pretty simple stuff. Of course, it can't be all about flying around.
Besides flying around, the game also features a fairly simple combat. When in an encounter, you're placed in a circular arena. You swipe through enemies and hold a button to block upcoming attacks. After succesful blocks and attacks, a special meter fills up, which can be used to release a more powerful attack, by swiping in a particular direction from the enemy. You can also do a circular move with the stylus, which creates an area of effect, but I didn't find it very useful when dealing with enemies. Unfortunately, the combat ends up being a repetitive process, as there's little enemy variety. The only interesting encounters I can name are small bats, which are easy to defeat, but they're also annoying, in that there are many of them, and instead of hurting (or at least, they don't hurt very much), they stun you until you break out, and rare boss battles. The only two noteworthy bosses are the twin owls (or not twin, but basically just two owls) that only can be attacked when they're done swooping in on you and spinning around. The boss utilizes something that isn't strictly required - moving around to avoid being hit. Unfortunately, once one of them is defeated, the fight degrades into the repetitive swipe fest. They didn't even try to fight back. The final boss is a little more interesting, and surprisingly, actually pretty easy. The most noteworthy thing about it, is sometimes it utilizes some machine that spawns projectiles in a circular pattern. At least it added an interesting phase of hazard avoidance, even if it doesn't evolve past that. I think the game should've leaned more into a bullet hell aspect, with careful play, or just... more interesting enemy patterns. There's definitely more potential here, I would've liked something similar to Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt. As is, the combat ends up being not very satisfying or engaging.
The levels themselves aren't just a string of combat however, you do have certain objectives, like bringing coal and somehow using it like a bomb and dropping giant gates through the textures, or burning stuff. There are missions where you have to assist an NPC or protect people, err, owls, which does involve everyone's beloved good fashioned brawling. Clawing? Anyway, there is one entire level which is a race against another NPC, just fly forward and dodge deforming terrain or other hazards, which reminds me of recent Donkey Kong Country titles with rocket barrels. Even then, I don't think these objectives are particularly interesting, it's still mostly just flying around, doing fighting and chores.
I haven't actually touched upon aformentioned RPG elements, have I? Well, after each level, you receive experience points, based on your performance. Wrecking enemies, collecting EXP spheres that are floating around and overall level rank. You can receive a gold medal for level complete if you complete it under a certain time threshold, kill enough enemies, collect enough orbs and don't die. I may actually be compelled to go after all gold medals. Getting a certain amount will unlock a bonus mission. The only one I unlocked was a timed race, just fly through rings. I'll be honest, I think it's kind of a lame reward, just flying around isn't my idea of fun. Anyway, when you get enough experience, your attributes will raise, like health, and you get one skill point to upgrade those special attacks. When progressing through the story, your gear will be upgraded for more damage and defense, as well as the ability to carry more items. Also, you unlock "Wingman", which is basically an assisting owl who gives you a passive effect, like allowing more items to be carried, heal when outside of battle or fill the special attack meter quicker. Speaking of items, they can be scattered about in levels, and can be useful in battles, like health pickups or a shield to take less damage. I must say, these elements add a bit more depth to the game, and I respect the ambition.
Graphically, I think the game looks pretty nice, with good looking environments. The color palette also changes depending on the location, for example it'll change to be more orange and red when in fiery areas, which adds a bit of a visual flare to the game. The framerate does occasionally stutter, mostly when there are moving hazards present or other loaded areas. The music on the other hand, is a bit more average.
Overall, the game does have some nice things about it, combining RPG mechanics and a flight sim sounds like a unique idea. Unfortunately, it doesn't really do anything special beyond having a little depth with said RPG mechanics, the flying is ok, and the combat doesn't have a lot going for it, which is a shame. It's just another licensed game, which isn't a bad time, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to everybody. It's just ok.
The game is basically a flight simulator with RPG elements. The game is almost entirely touch screen based. You fly around by moving your stylus in a third-person perspective. You can also press any button (except for Start, which is for pausing and skipping cutscenes) to do a 180 degree turn. Flying around does feel nice, although there are a few occasions of janky collision with the envoirement. There are occasional weather currents that act as a speed boost, and there are even especally weathery currents that can teleport you somewhere, used in place of backtracking. In these, you're required to hit the currents, and avoid lightning bolts. Pretty simple stuff. Of course, it can't be all about flying around.
Besides flying around, the game also features a fairly simple combat. When in an encounter, you're placed in a circular arena. You swipe through enemies and hold a button to block upcoming attacks. After succesful blocks and attacks, a special meter fills up, which can be used to release a more powerful attack, by swiping in a particular direction from the enemy. You can also do a circular move with the stylus, which creates an area of effect, but I didn't find it very useful when dealing with enemies. Unfortunately, the combat ends up being a repetitive process, as there's little enemy variety. The only interesting encounters I can name are small bats, which are easy to defeat, but they're also annoying, in that there are many of them, and instead of hurting (or at least, they don't hurt very much), they stun you until you break out, and rare boss battles. The only two noteworthy bosses are the twin owls (or not twin, but basically just two owls) that only can be attacked when they're done swooping in on you and spinning around. The boss utilizes something that isn't strictly required - moving around to avoid being hit. Unfortunately, once one of them is defeated, the fight degrades into the repetitive swipe fest. They didn't even try to fight back. The final boss is a little more interesting, and surprisingly, actually pretty easy. The most noteworthy thing about it, is sometimes it utilizes some machine that spawns projectiles in a circular pattern. At least it added an interesting phase of hazard avoidance, even if it doesn't evolve past that. I think the game should've leaned more into a bullet hell aspect, with careful play, or just... more interesting enemy patterns. There's definitely more potential here, I would've liked something similar to Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt. As is, the combat ends up being not very satisfying or engaging.
The levels themselves aren't just a string of combat however, you do have certain objectives, like bringing coal and somehow using it like a bomb and dropping giant gates through the textures, or burning stuff. There are missions where you have to assist an NPC or protect people, err, owls, which does involve everyone's beloved good fashioned brawling. Clawing? Anyway, there is one entire level which is a race against another NPC, just fly forward and dodge deforming terrain or other hazards, which reminds me of recent Donkey Kong Country titles with rocket barrels. Even then, I don't think these objectives are particularly interesting, it's still mostly just flying around, doing fighting and chores.
I haven't actually touched upon aformentioned RPG elements, have I? Well, after each level, you receive experience points, based on your performance. Wrecking enemies, collecting EXP spheres that are floating around and overall level rank. You can receive a gold medal for level complete if you complete it under a certain time threshold, kill enough enemies, collect enough orbs and don't die. I may actually be compelled to go after all gold medals. Getting a certain amount will unlock a bonus mission. The only one I unlocked was a timed race, just fly through rings. I'll be honest, I think it's kind of a lame reward, just flying around isn't my idea of fun. Anyway, when you get enough experience, your attributes will raise, like health, and you get one skill point to upgrade those special attacks. When progressing through the story, your gear will be upgraded for more damage and defense, as well as the ability to carry more items. Also, you unlock "Wingman", which is basically an assisting owl who gives you a passive effect, like allowing more items to be carried, heal when outside of battle or fill the special attack meter quicker. Speaking of items, they can be scattered about in levels, and can be useful in battles, like health pickups or a shield to take less damage. I must say, these elements add a bit more depth to the game, and I respect the ambition.
Graphically, I think the game looks pretty nice, with good looking environments. The color palette also changes depending on the location, for example it'll change to be more orange and red when in fiery areas, which adds a bit of a visual flare to the game. The framerate does occasionally stutter, mostly when there are moving hazards present or other loaded areas. The music on the other hand, is a bit more average.
Overall, the game does have some nice things about it, combining RPG mechanics and a flight sim sounds like a unique idea. Unfortunately, it doesn't really do anything special beyond having a little depth with said RPG mechanics, the flying is ok, and the combat doesn't have a lot going for it, which is a shame. It's just another licensed game, which isn't a bad time, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to everybody. It's just ok.