Lost Kingdoms II

"The Card Slinging RRG"

I go to Blockbuster looking for something good to play this weekend. I go down the isle thinking, ''No Timesplitters 2, shoot! They don't even have Mario Party 4 in! What kind of Blockbuster is this anyway!'' I glance at the Gamecube section and Lost Kingdoms II catches my eye. I think, ''Eh, why not?'' So I pick it up, check out, and go home, and ever since then I can't seem to get away from it for too long.

I'm a big fan of RPGs and this one does the genre well by changing the formula a wee bit. In this RPG, you wield no sword, staff, or shield, but a deck of cards. That's right you use cards to fight people. Now, lets not confuse this with Yu-gi-oh! Duelist of the Roses or that Dungeon Dice crap. You use your cards like you would use an item in a Zelda game, but you have to use strategy. You have to think... Do you want to play an Independent card that runs around on the field and hits enemies? Or do you want to run up to an enemy and use that nice Attack card, which is where a monster pops out of thin air, attacks, and vanishes again.

You play the role of Tara Grimface. Who was separated from her family when she was little during a siege and was given a magical runestone by her mother that allows her to control monsters from her little cards. She lives part of her childhood life alone in a small town, until a band of thieves sees her, a starving young girl, and takes her under their wing. The plot then ultimately thickens from there to... Nope not saving the princess (most likely because you are a female character), but saving the world!

Gameplay is simplistic with a very small learning curve. You construct a deck, and then start a mission. To play you simply look at the bottom right of the screen at the card layout icon, each card with it's own button assigned to it kind of like how the C buttons had items assigned to them in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This can cause a problem as the A button has a card assigned to it as well as it has it's most common role as the action button, which can mean lots of ''Shoot! I didn't want to use that card!'' Not good in my book... Anyways, as you use the card, the color will burn off of the card making a lifespan meter, that when it depletes the card goes into the ''Unusable State'' which is where the card goes bye-bye but can come back by using a card that can restore other cards to the ''Useable State'' or by finding nice little blue fairies that will do a random effect on you (all of which are good). Cards in the ''Unusable State'' will come back after you complete, abort, or fail a mission. Okay so it doesn't sound too simple, but the game will slowly ease you into complicatedness of it, but not so slowly that you'll grow bored quickly.

Like any other RPG, Lost Kingdoms II carries the classic boss fight. You're running through the level and all of a sudden... BAM! This freakishly huge creature appears out of nowhere, and you have to you your sword, excuse me, deck of cards to beat it. This isn't Final Fantasy, however, where you just have to look for a save point just before the boss and if you die no big deal just go load your game and try again. Nope, if you die in Lost Kingdoms II, you go all the way back to the world map. This wouldn't be so frustrating if you didn't get bonus cards for your performance at the end of the mission, and every time you die, all those monsters you slaughtered were slaughtered for nothing. Bosses will also often require a certain type of card to beat them. If you don't have that card in your deck, you don't even stand a fighting chance. I do want to point out a very good thing though. When you die in Lost Kingdoms II, you never get that stupid Game Over screen that always makes you frustrated as you have to load your frickin' game all over again and... Nope none of that here. You simply go back to the world map, and any gold or experience you obtained before you died stays there.

Now back on a bad note... The camera will quickly get in your way. I hope you become best friends with that L trigger and C stick because they're your only means of moving that pesky camera. Sorry folks no automatic here. I often found myself pressing the L trigger every three seconds to get the camera behind me. Trying to fight that boss? If you run up to it and attempt to use a weapon card, prepare to fight the camera too. You can get surrounded and you'll be there slamming the L trigger to get that perfect view and watching your life points die down, and then you'll see that lovely world map again.

I must say the music is okay. There's nothing about it that will make you want to import the soundtrack or even download it from Kazaa for that matter, but it's not icky screechy beepy crap either. It will set the mood and tone for your gaming experience, but not rock your world like some of Final Fantasy's musical numbers. It also tends to get a little repetitive at times, and if you ever leave your game unattended at the world map screen you'll quickly know what I'm talking about.

All in all, Lost Kingdoms II is a fair game. There's certainly a lack of RPGs on the Gamecube and Lost Kingdoms II will satisfy any Gamecuber who was a lust for an RPG. It's not another Zelda and it's not Final Fantasy, but it's originality and creative gameplay makes it a worthy weekend rental or used game sale. That's why I give Lost Kingdoms II for the Nintendo Gamecube a seven out of ten.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/11/03, Updated 06/11/03