Don't you wish horoscopes could be more useful? Instead of telling us what house Mars is currently in, wouldn't you prefer your stars to tell you this week's lottery numbers, or if you should watch out for that bus outside the post office at four o'clock?

Or, better still, summon up a stupendous meteor shower of fiery, earth-shattering destruction upon your enemies, like the heroes and heroines of Magical Starsign - the new Nintendo DS role-playing game from the makers of Sword of Mana.

Back to school

Magical Starsign takes place, uniquely for an RPG, in space; or, more precisely, across a number of planets occupying the Baklava solar system. The story begins on Kovomaka, on the outer rim of the system, at the Will-o'-Wisp magic academy where young apprentices are schooled in the astrological arts.

There, students learn to harness the power of the heavens; magic that draws its power from the planets. Orbiting the Baklavian sun are five core planets: the water world Cassia, fiery planet Razen, wind-ravaged Puffoon, leafy Gren and rocky Erd.

Each of these worlds embodies a particular element - water, fire, wind, wood and earth - in which each student specialises. There's the hot-headed fire expert Pico, for instance, water-wielder Sorbet, or earth magic master Mokka.

The character you play is a little different, though, because you draw your power not from the planets but from light or darkness. As the game begins you choose to play as a male or female and choose to follow the path of light or dark magic. Light magic gives you the ability to cast healing spells while dark magic allows you to steal life energy from enemies.

As the game opens, the pupils learn that their favourite teacher Miss Madeleine has gone missing; last seen heading to planet Puffoon on a mysterious mission. Therefore Pico, Sorbet, Mokka, Chai and Lassi, plus your own self-named character, set off on a hastily-assembled rescue mission. However, the plan goes awry and each student becomes stranded on a different planet across the solar system.

A kind of magic

You find yourself on earth planet Erd with only scatterbrained fellow student Lassi for company. It's here that you'll get your first taste of using magic in battle. For RPG veterans the set-up is familiar: your party takes turns attacking enemies with physical or magical attacks, using items or running away if the battle becomes too much. But it's in the magic-casting that Magical Starsign takes a different approach.

Each enemy has an elemental sign belonging to it; fire, earth, wind, etc. In order to make a more powerful attack you must use the kind of magic that the enemy is weak against; such as using water magic on fire enemies or fire magic on wood enemies. Light and dark magic can be used equally against one another.

A further level of complexity comes into play with planetary alignments. Time passes as you play, so each planet has a period in which it is aligned with the sun; making its associated magic even stronger. In the case of your character, a light or dark magic wielder, your powers are enhanced depending on whether it's day or night. Time is always ticking onward, even in combat; in fact, the onset of darkness or the dawn of a new day can often give you that extra boost you need to turn the tide of battle.

The DS stylus also becomes your 'magic wand' to make spells even more powerful. While a character is powering up a spell, tap them at the right time and their spell power will be boosted. You can also defend yourself in this way, too. At the moment an enemy attacks, tap your character to block the attack and absorb some of the damage.

Planetary bodies

As you progress from planet to planet in search of your missing teacher, you'll find more classmates to add to your party, enabling you to tackle all kinds of elemental enemies that come your way.

There are also brand new characters that can join your group that hatch from eggs, which can only be discovered by taking part in multiplayer Tag Mode; similar to Nintendogs' Bark Mode. Also, if you connect wirelessly with up to five friends (known in the game as Amigos) you can exchange items and battle through dungeons together.

You can find out more about Amigos, eggs and Tag Mode in our upcoming Magical Starsign multiplayer article. In the meantime, we're going to ignore today's horoscope advice and just hide in the closet until the week's over, playing DS