Years and years ago, I played the original in what is now a long lasting series: Golden Sun, for the Gameboy Advance. After beating this, I impatiently waited for what seemed like millennia for the second in the series: Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Then, the joke was on me....

The third one, titled Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, was released about seven years after the second one! After seven years of whining and complaining, I patiently waited for the price to go from $34.99 to $19.99 at the local Game Stop and purchased it. On a side note, that $15 difference is quite a bit of Taco Bell food!

Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age were both very story intensive and very fun to play! Of course, with the third one still holding the title of "Golden Sun", it is a continuation of the story from the previous two.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn takes place around 30 years after the first two titles. The main heroes from the first two are still around, but their kids become the heroes in this one.

Magic, called "Psynergy" in the Golden Sun series, is a major part of the whole storyline. Psynergy can be used inside and outside of battle. In battle, you can unleash the wrath of the elements upon unsuspecting critters. Out of battle, you can catch stuff on fire, melt stuff, move stuff, and do other stuffs.

There are Pokemon-looking animals you can catch called "Djinn". These magical beasts boost the stats of your heroes and can be used and summoned for special abilities. If you mix and match the Djinn on your heroes, it can change what spells they know and what "class" they are considered. Djinn: Gotta catch 'em all!

The battle system is amazingly graphical. It is done on a 2D platform, but has a 3D feel to it. Full animation is included in all combat moves, whether you are swinging an axe at a zombie or causing an earthquake. Camelot made sure to use the most it could of both screens during the summoning portions of battle.

This being a continuation of older versions would normally pose a problem with die-hard Golden Sun fanatics that haven't touched the previous ones for a long time, non-fanatics that have never touched a previous Golden Sun game, and even for slackers like me that don't even have a Gameboy Advance anymore (Cashed it in at Game Stop to help pre-order Ocarina of Time for the 3DS). Luckly, though, good old Camelot had Skunkman on their minds for this one! For those weird people that enjoy reading, there is an in-game encyclopedia that gets opened up while chatting with NPCs. If there is a person, place, thing, idea, or Skunkmanisawesome, you can click on it if it's underlined and learn all about it. This can help in getting caught up with the lore of the previous two games. For those non-weird people that don't like to read, you can set stuff on fire!!!

I will not and cannot give away the full storyline. Not just because it would ruin it for everyone, but also because I have not had the game long enough to beat it.

Make sure you have a lot of time to invest if you want to pick up any of the Golden Sun games. I know I was pretty tired at work after getting only three hours of sleep the night I got Dark Dawn.

With what little I have gotten through with Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, I can say this: If you are looking for a story-driven game with awesome graphics, definitely give this a shot. If you like mindless games with bad graphics, this is not a game for you.

One of the best parts of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: The back of the box says, "Basic reading ability is needed to fully enjoy this game."