While the visual tone of developer Renegade Kid’s DS games skewed a bit dark (the Dementium games; Moon), its recent 3DS projects (Face Racers: Photo Finish; Mutant Mudds) sit on the breezier end of the spectrum.

Planet Crashers 3D, the handheld adaption of an upcoming mobile and browser-based RPG, would appear to fit snugly into that pattern. Described by Creative Director Jools Watsham as a “light role-playing game," Planet Crashers incorporates numerous base-level RPG designs and elements. Players begin the game by crafting a generic hero—a freshly graduated cadet of the Planet Crashers Academy—through the game’s creation system, with the option of customization this hero or heroine later through purchased items and modifications.

Planet Crashers follows an uncomplicated quest/completion model. Players accrue assignments from characters or quest boards on the surfaces of various planets in the galaxy, and finish them to progress and eventually take down the malevolent entity bent on destroying the sun. Aside from conversing with characters on each planet, players can frequent shops to spend gold on new items and weapons, and take to multi-floored underground dungeon-like areas.

Combat in Planet Crashers is carried out in a simple, turn-based system. The 3DS’ top screen displays the character’s health and current level, and the bottom screen offers touch-based access to weapons, items, skills, and quests, while also providing descriptions of the character’s current location, experience, and gold amount, as well as level indicators for strength, defense, and speed.

Visually, Planet Crashers is comparable to two quite different games. The spherical shape and spinning surfaces of its spacial bodies are much like those of Super Mario Galaxy, while the landscapes, character, and object designs sport cartoon lines and geometry similar to those in the Animal Crossing series. Each planet in the game’s galaxy bears a unique aesthetic (e.g., a lush, grassy planet; a dark, spooky planet).