Hideo Kojima is back, but this time, it's not a Metal Gear Solid game. Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand is Hideo Kojima's first non-MGS title game. You play as the Solar Boy, a Vampire Hunter and the heir to the Solar Gun, the "Gun Del Sol." You also "inherit" the annoying little messenger of the sun named "Otenko". More like a flying tutorial than anything, Otenko's job is to guide you on your mission to avenge your father who fell in the battle of San Miguel against a vampire known as The Count. With only a floating flower, a sun gun and your father's crimson scarf, you must crawl through a number of dungeons to fish out the boss vampire and use the Solar Pile Driver to drive him from this world. It's a bit like your normal vampire killing, dungeon crawler game, but it has it's high points that make it a tad more unique.

Maybe it's the kid in me that first made me interested in this game. When something new comes out, I'm usually on line to get it. When there's a video game or computer involved, my efforts increase tenfold. The new camera phones, N64's rumble pack and the E-Reader are just some examples. When I heard of the new chip inside of Boktai, I had to see it for myself. Boktai is designed to make use of nature's resource: The Sun. There is a small chip in the clear casing that can tell the difference between the sun's light and light from a lamp. It's a wonderful idea, if you live in California that is. Being a resident of the East coast, and being in the season of fall, this made playing the game a tad difficult. I found myself debating on buying a sun lamp. I figured I could buy an iguana afterwards and everyone could live happily ever after. Not a chance. Instead, I sat outside in the little sun there was, and pressed myself against the windows of my car while being driven to work in the morning. Persuading my ride to switch lanes in the middle of heavy traffic was not a success.

It is not impossible to play the game without sunlight. You, in fact, only need the sun to charge your gun and to defeat the end boss of major dungeons. If you have enough light stored in the Sun Generators, you can make it through the dungeons. However, you cannot progress through the game until the big boss is defeated. Some people might find this annoying, while other find that it makes the game last longer, it being a short game as it is.

Controls are fairly simple. With an overhead view and the ability to change the control settings, you can customize Boktai to your own liking. Being able to scroll along the board to see the monsters before making your move is key in this game. Lack of sun forces you to avoid hand-to-hand combat and go for the puzzle route of the game. Find where the monster is coming from, hide in the shadows, only to peck him in the back of the head and run away while he's stunned. Although some people don't like this form of attack, sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Like Brave Sir Robin: run away!

The graphics, like any GBA title, make you nostalgic for 16 bit games. They are nice, crisp and well detailed. You don't play a GBA game for the graphics, but it's nice when something is easy on the eyes. Boktai is a pleasure to look at, but not quite so much as to listen to. The music is a bit repetitive, and tends to make your eyebrows twitch when you're trying to figure out certain puzzles.

You don't have to sit around in the sun on your own. Hook up your GBA to a friend's and crawl through a dungeon together. Compete for coins and win a prize or solar energy if you win. A nice feature, but angling for the sun often tugs your buddy along with you. I suggest you whip out your normal GBA and put the GBA SP on the shelf. It's a bit easier to get sunlight with the sensor on the top then it is on the bottom.

Over all, Boktai is a decent way to pass the time when waiting for a different game to come out. I wouldn't put a reserve on it if my local EB was out of stock, but I would probably check the other store down the block for it. As far as replay value goes, unless you live in a constant sunny area, you might not pick this baby up again until you're out walking your dog in the summer time.