"Great RPG thats highly under rated in my opinion."

Introduction
A few years back I went on a spree of RPGs. I was highly hooked to them and could not get enough. I was blowing through them in no time at all as I waited for some bigger titles to come out. Well this happened to be one of the games I found in the used section at a Gamestop. It was only four dollars and I was trying to expand my small DC library so I said 'What the heck I will get it'.

I didn't expect much, a simple story, simple game engine, and simple characters. But I was wrong... To a point. The game was much more then that. It turned out to be highly under rated yet great in my opinion.

Gameplay - 8/10
The gameplay is fun and fast. Battles are fairly simple and take place on a small grid where you fight your opponents, 3 characters on your side and however many enemies there are. You fight in a menu based system that has been overused but is still fun to many RPG fans to date.

A vast part of the game is dungeon crawling. Seeing as there is no real world map so to speak, a large portion of the game takes place in the various worlds that get thrown into this place. You go through a long dungeon fighting monsters along the way, then at the end the story progresses somewhat.

You start the game as a character named Sword(not very original I realize) and obtain other characters to use as the game goes on. Now the twist here is that you can only use one of these characters at a time. So who accompanies you in the world!!!?? Simple. The game uses a straight rip from Pokemon really. Monsters you see in dungeons you can capture and have them fight for you. They are stored in the town and can be used to fight. Thats about it really. Its not a highly in depth system.

The outside world resembles a platform world more then an RPG, but it works with the game well. Basically you have a house in a small town that seems to be stuck in the middle of no where. From this town you can shop, sell, talk to NPCs, and select which dungeon you go to.

Story - 9/10
This is where the game truly shines. Its rather simple, but its something that you really do not see a lot. Its hard to not spoil it without flat out saying it. But to get you started, you play as a man named Sword whose world was pulled into this one for a reason he does not know, the entire game is him, and others like him trying to discover why their world has been brought to this place.

This story is great, and quite original in the RPG world so it gets a big thumbs up from me. My sole complaint is the game is rather short due to the storyline being short.

Graphics and Sound - 6/10
I don't have a lot to say about these so I condensed it into one section. The music is nothing special. This long after playing the game I have nothing from it stuck in my head and can't recall most of the tunes anyway. As for the Graphics, they are nice and pleasant to look at. A small complaint would be the fact dungeons can start to blend after spending a while in one, so its nothing spectacular. The characters are well done, and in proportion and nice to look at for a DC game. Thumbs up for that.

Conclusion
In the end I highly suggest buying this game if your looking for a short RPG to wait out the release of another game. The characters are nice, the gameplay is tuned well, and the story is a great 'popcorn' story. It is a great RPG for people that are new to the RPG world and long time RPG players alike. I found my copy for four dollars at a Gamestop, I am sure you can find it cheap somewhere.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/10/07