Product Description

The story of Golden Sun: The Lost Age picks up right near the end of the first game. Golden Sun veterans will be surprised to learn that The Lost Age is played from the point of view of the party being chased as they try to light the remaining two lighthouses, which will unlock the power of alchemy for the world--or will it instead unlock the world's destruction?

Also, players who have finished the first game can transfer their party into the The Lost Age, either through the separately sold game link cable or through a password.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10988 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Nintendo
• Released on: 2003-09-19
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Game Boy Advance
• Original language: English

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Game Boy Advance's best original role-playing game is back in stunning form with Golden Sun: The Lost Age. The Japanese have their own peculiar take on role-playing games (RPGs), which adheres to a fairly strict series of features and clichés: young village outcast with mysterious powers, randomly occurring turn-based battles, lots of made-up words with not enough vowels in them. Golden Sun has got them all, and yet it's still incredible fun.

The Lost Age is less a sequel and more a second chapter to the first game, picking up right where it left off as Isaac and his buddies try to save the world after their failed attempt to stop the Venus lighthouse from being lit. You don't by any means need to have played the first game to enjoy or understand this one, but if you have, you can upload your team from before and carry on exactly where you left off. Either way there's still tons of new spells and Dijnn to find and use, the best of which create some truly stunning graphical effects when used in battle.

If you hate RPGs, you'll hate Golden Sun, but if you have even the smallest interest in the genre you can't go far wrong with this ace portable title. --David Jenkins

NGC Magazine
"A very pure, turn-based RPG... compulsively playable. 91%."

GamesMaster Magazine
"Repetitive, predictable, addictive and much the same as the first, but that doesn't stop it being pretty darn good. 85%."

Customer Reviews

Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Golden Sun: The Lost Age is the sequel to the popular aptly named RPG game, Golden Sun. The two games are both on the Gameboy Advance. Golden Sun was left on a cliffhanger, with Isaac and his cronies, setting sail to rescue their friends. These friends are Kraven and Jenna, and Felix and Sheba. I was so keen to play the game I got it on export.

Storyline
Much improved from the first. The party gets split in two with Felix, Jenna, Piers and Sheba on one team and Isaac, Mia, Ivan and Garret on the other. They are both working for opposite means so I guess it's going to get interesting...

Gameplay
This is where the game really outclasses its opponents. The battle are fun and relatively challenging. The puzzles are also fun. Djinn are still in the game, I think there are 72 of them this time. You can also get summons that mean you can combine two different djinn elements together to perform a move which is really cool. You can also now ride vehicles on the world map. As far as I am aware you can only ride a ship. There are also new characters. The previous antagonists died you may recall, so their little brother and sisters have taken over their role of being as menacing as possible.

Graphics
Amazing. The best I have seen on a GBA so far. I especially like the summons. They rock. But in general the game takes full advantage of the GBA's capabilities.

Music
Brilliant. To quote a review of Golden Sun, "it sounds like an orchestra has taken up residence in your GBA!"

Replayabiliy
I would definatley like to replay this once I have completed it. Especially if I hadn't gotten all the djinn, but in general this game is fun to play time and time again.

Longetivity
Great. This seems to go on forever. Getting all the djinn without a guide is lethal. But, even without getting all the djinn it will take several pairs of AA batteries before you complete this.

In conclusion this is a gaming classic and definately deserves a place on your shelf. So as not to sound too biased I will give as many cons as I can think of:

Some of the caves are hard and very long.

Riding the ship from the top of the continent and back again can become a little tedious if you're trying to discover how to progress.

Bigger, better, bolder
MEATY. I've just been playing this little fella to death on a 7 hour journey to and from Manchester. The journey was entirely painless due to the presence of this game and helped me avoid inhabitants of overcrowded main line services who smell of mildew. Ever since starting this game up after finishing the original I've been hooked. I've trawled round the shops of St Albans behind my fiancee with my face buried in my GBA SP, suffering occasional bouts of panic when I look up to find that I've lost my bearings in a shop, cannot find the exit or my fiancee and have become ensnared in the see through lingerie section. Nice.

Golden Sun 2 continues off from epic GBA RPG Golden Sun. Starting just before the final events of the first game, the perspective shifts from Isaac and his little crew to that of Felix, Isaac's childhood friend turned apparent 'baddie' for the duration of Golden Sun. A nice switch. I love the way this series has turned out. It could have been just another RPG but put a killer game engine in place and then back that up with a storyline spanning now two catridges and its a top RPG. Those of you who have played through the original will be right at home here. After initially porting across your end of game stats from the original game, you get flung into action as Felix, Jenna, Kraden and Sheba. Felix is attempting to light the remaining 2 lighthouses to unlock the power of Alchemy. As far as you've been concerned from the first game, this is a baaaaad thing to happen. You opinion begins to shift about Felix as you play with him. You discover that Jenna, Kraden and Sheba aren't quite the kidnapped crew that it seemed from the first game. They all seem to know about an alternative aspect to the power of Alchemy that will actually save the world, as opposed to destroying it. All your preconceptions about the orignal games bad guys are thrown into doubt. Thank to this nice little storyline aspect, you find yourself hooked on the game. Eagerly eating it up to try and unravel what the heck is actually going on. Once you get involved in the game you reach joy #2. The game is MASSIVE. All the challenges and wonderful puzzle solving gameplay traits have been ramped up. You don't feel like you're going back to basics by starting a new game, having to learn everything again. At the same time, the game isn't entirely baffling for those new to it. I have to say, it really does benefit you if you've played the first game through before tackling this one.

The Golden Sun series is now shaping up to be one of the most entertaining RPG jaunts I've had in ages, and its surfaced shining and sparkling amongst the big Xbox, Gamecube and PS2 giants in all its tiny GBA glory. Being a big Final Fantasy fan, I'd even go as far as giving it the accolade of being better than the recent Final Fantasy Tactics excursion on the GBA. And thats a big thing for me to say! I can't say enough good about this game, it plays well, it tells the story well, it looks good and GODDAMN its portable and I can play it anywhere. Man, I even nip off to the loo at work to get a quick bash on this thing in. Utterly brilliant.

Golden Sun is pure gold!!
Sheer magnificence. Utterly absorbing from the moment you turn on the GBA and hear the opening theme. One of the best games i've had the pleasure to play. I could go on with the over-exaggerated compliments..........but i won't.
This is an RPG game all the way so if you're not a fan of RPG's then this isn't for you....but if you're not a fan of RPG games then you need to get some good games.
Anyway if you've played the first game you'll know what you're in for, and i suppose if i had to say one bad thing about The Lost Age it would be that it doesn't differ greatly from the first game. There i've said it, now don't make me do it again, in fact it does have a few good differences from the previous adventure. Most notably the introduction of forgeable materials is brilliant and also there are more djinn, more cool artefacts and new enemies to battle. Oh and new bosses and new characters and new psynergy and new locations and new tunes. You get the point. If you've played the first game get this....if you haven't played the first game then get this anyway because it's bloody good.