Taking place a nicely rounded 1000 years after the original “saga” (to highlight my sarcasm), Lunar 2:EB depicts the adventure of the hero Hiro, a young adventurous youth (what else), and his flying buddy Ruby, who pretends to be the offspring of a dragon. Regardless of his grandfather’s warnings, Hiro goes on to explore the mystical Blue Spire tower. The fact that the tower had been acting up recently wasn’t a mere coincidence, as Hiro encounters an advent of the Goddess Althena named Lucia at the top of the building. Lucia tells Hiro about the world’s impending doom, and the two of them, along with Ruby, set off on a huge adventure into the magical world of Lunar.

The battle system in Lunar 2:EB is an exact replica of its successor’s. I would be tempted to merely refer you to my Lunar:SSSC review, as nothing more can be added upon what I previously stated. To sum things up, your party of four, aided by Lucia and Ruby who cannot be controlled, will be placed on a rectangular battlefield against several enemies. Lunar 2:EB follows the exact standard of every other RPG in terms of commands, and HP and MP are used to determine your characters’ stamina. You can arrange your battle formation outside of battles, and spells are simply gained at set levels. No customizations to choose from, no decisions to make, no fun to be had.

Like I already stated in my Lunar:SSSC review, the only thing that makes those thousands of battles bearable is the nifty character A.I. Select your attacks in order to annihilate each group of foes using a minimum of MP and pound on bosses with your best attacks while the healers do their job. Repetitive, pointless, infuriating to death. You can always zip past enemies pressing the O button for a short dash, but doing so too often will get you stuck on a boss very quickly, bosses who are pretty hard.

Again, the interface is a model of simplicity. It’s now possible to equip your new gear before purchasing it to see the item’s true value. It’s a nice, simple, and very appreciated feature which should be implemented in every RPG. Spells and items are very well organized and simple to locate within the menu, going as far as providing a little quirky comment for each of them. There are many more spells to be learned this time around, and a useful “power indicator” which shows enemies as red, yellow, or green clearly indicates the potency of the chosen spell. What this does is make it easier for you to find the right A.I. combinations to get out of those abominable dungeons faster, dungeons that are unfortunately omnipresent.

The soundtrack featured in Lunar 2:EB is good one. Packed with many character themes, uplifting town music, nice piano solos and a few vocal songs, the soundtrack is successful and engaging throughout. While the dungeons’ background music and the recurrent battle composition aren’t very impressive, most of the game’s story events are accompanied with competent tracks.

Lunar 2:EB came out with the biggest assortment of goodies ever seen in America, including character standees, a “Making of Lunar 2″ CD, and a paper map of the overworld. The biggest gift of all, however, is the excellent music CD included. All the tracks have been re-mastered for better sound quality and more harmonious arrangements. The two vocal tracks are acceptable, but they are very uninspired and unoriginal.

The game boasts some solid voice-acting too. Almost every character has been well cast, with the exception of Lucia and Ruby who sound much too sleepy and much too irritating, respectively. It’s a worthy job throughout, and I especially enjoyed listening to Ronfar bragging and tormenting the party. Just like the original, sound effects are sub-par. Dating back to the Sega CD, not much could be expected, but it still lowers the general quality of the production.

After wearing off the first game’s excessively joyful and cheesy plot, my hopes for Lunar 2:EB’s weren’t very high. I felt a little more involved, but not enough to warrant a second playthrough or to brag about how touching it was. It wasn’t touching; it was again disturbingly cheesy (love that word). I must have heard “Lucia” and “Hiro” shouted in that shoody lovy-dovy kind of way about a hundred times. A woman who wants to learn the meaning of love, from a guy dressed in ragged clothes with no thighs to boot? It’s not what I’d like to see.

Again, the characters themselves save the plot from mediocre status, bringing a lot of personality to the table. The party’s chemistry is a little different this time around. Instead of having three couples bickering all game long, you get contrasting personalities who all have their share of problems. On that aspect, things changed for the better, albeit not by much.

I felt more purpose in the party’s actions this time. Instead of going off in hope of adventures, at least your party has a legitimate purpose for traveling across the globe. A few characters from the original will make a return, some in cameos and some more involved in the plot, but it doesn’t help the game’s story to go beyond Game Arts’ self-imposed limitations. Mix in an evil power, a cheesy love story, some brainwashed high powers and you get Game Arts’ usual scheme for plots. Honestly, I don’t remember much about the important events at all, and if a story doesn’t surpass the challenge of time it’s usually not a good sign. Once you complete the game you may play through the epilogue in order to acquire most bromides (which are just artworks with music) and to get the “real” ending. The bromides are worthwhile, but even the “real” ending doesn’t do much to wrap up the game’s un-memorable storyline.

Working Designs worked hard yet again on the dialogues. The interaction between characters, and even the NPC’s involvement with the events surrounding them is very well translated. No typos, no weird sentences, and no unintelligible wording. A couple laughs are thrown here and there, and talking to the various locals will always prove to be worth your time. Regardless, just like its predecessor, Lunar 2:EB doesn’t try very hard to include mysteries, dilemmas, or mind-bending declarations in its script. Too much conservatism all the way.

Replay value is close to none. If you’ve completed the epilogue the first time around, there are no incentives whatsoever to go through those traitorous dungeons a second time. The only thing that would ever make be go back to Lunar 2:EB is the 50 minutes of stunning anime sequences. That, or if all my other games ever get stolen.

Time has not been kind to Lunar:SSSC nor Lunar 2:EB. The same graphic engine was obviously reused for Lunar 2:EB, and the improvements made to the graphics are very hard to tell. The surroundings are a little more colorful, and characters do same somewhat bigger than their counter-parts. However, the anime cut-scenes are a little grainy compared to the first one’s. Character portraits are as amazing as ever, and spell animations are as blend as could be.

My Lunar 2:EB excursion was a little less infuriating than I would’ve thought, but it’s nothing to warrant my 103$ CAN dollars. I should’ve held on to that cash as it would’ve been better spent elsewhere. As all other Game Arts games, Lunar 2:EB provides a very authentic, though much to conservative and unoriginal experience. It’s really Lunar:SSSC all over again.

Battles are a huge part of Lunar. The game follows a consistent pattern throughout its entirety: after some quirky dialogues and a few laughs (or tears) in a town, your party of adventurers will quickly be thrown in yet another dungeon. In battle, your four characters have the usual arsenal to choose from. You can either attack, use items which you’ve assigned to each character previously, defend, cast magic, run for their life or follow an A.I. pattern. When attacking, characters must first cover the ground distance between them and their adversary. If an enemy is out of reach for an attack, you’ve just lost your turn. Magic consumes MP and is gained at set levels for set characters.

I usually talk about the battle/magic system for a few paragraphs, but Lunar’s is so basic, so unoriginal and linear that I have no choice but to cut things short. I’ll add a few things right away though. One, if you do not fight every enemy you encounter (in non-random encounters), boss battles will quickly become impossible to win. As so, having the option to see and evade confrontation as you please is… not an option. That’s really the best way for developers to set the difficulty: fight everything we throw at you, or else you’re screwed. I don’t like that. I’m supposed to have a choice, not this. After every encounter, I would already anticipate in disgust the next one coming, as I knew all too well what I had to do, yet again.

Second, battles wouldn’t be so annoying were they more action-oriented or strategic in any way. What they are, are puzzles. Fighting in Lunar consists of finding the best way to clear a group of enemy using the least MP possible. In every dungeon, there are about 30 encounters consisting of at most three different groups of enemies. Once you find a good attack pattern for each three, simply set your character A.I.s and let all the non-existing fun be sapped out of dungeon exploration. It’s boring, repetitive, and a torture in itself to go through that process dungeon-in and dungeon-out.

And thank God for that sweet character A.I. system. You can assign each character up to three different commands, anything from normal attacks to a specific spell. Then simply choose one of the three patterns and let the battles play out for themselves. Outside of battles, equipping armor and items, checking your status or re-arranging your formation is done without breaking a sweet. Shop menus are also very simple and efficient. With the colorful layouts and huge white letters, even a mole could find its way through the interface. It’s the least they could do to prepare you for the nauseating upcoming cave exploration.

Lunar features some very gorgeous anime cut-scenes; nearly an hour of it, in fact. Those cut-scenes are accompanied by good English voice-acting, something of a rare breed. Everything from expression to lip-synch is done impressively well, although the script keeps the whole package from attaining greater heights of accomplishment. But more on that in the respective paragraph.

The music in Lunar is appropriate. Songs range from mediocre to splendid, with most falling in-between. Once again, composer Noriyuki Iwadare returns to his mixing table and comes out with what you’d expect for a game like this: light-hearted and sappy tracks. It’s still some very nice music for what it tries to accomplish. The atmosphere of the game restrains Iwadare greatly from diversifying his repertoire, as a punk-techno or dance remix track would have been severely unappropriate. A music CD is also including in the game set, and makes a great listen as the tracks have all been re-arranged for the better.

Sound effects are extremely dated. That footstep sounds in battle is beyond annoying and is anything but appropriate. Even spells aren’t very intimidating, mostly due to the sounds that accompany them. Not much effort was put on that aspect, and it’s just too cartoony all-around.

Plot = cheese. That’s the short way of phrasing it, but I know you demand more details after such an unthoughtful assessment. Yes, I recognize that Game Arts games always have good, well-defined characters. But then again, would you watch Tony Hawk sit around in his underwear watching TV? Why not? He’s clearly a cool guy. Maybe you’d just prefer seeing him do board tricks or something interesting instead, right?

That’s exactly how I feel about the Grandia and Lunar series. No matter how “cool” the characters are, they just aren’t part of something very interesting! The plot in Lunar is the most basic and unimaginative thing this side of FFI and DWI. Aside from one or two plot twists, you know or can already predict exactly what’s going to happen. If that wasn’t bad enough, you’re subjected to some very cheesy sequences and dialogues more often than not. It’s just too cutesy! I was actually embarrassed to play at times. This type of game is exactly what gave RPGs their reputation of childish love story, evil bad guy vanquishing crap to the eyes of the population. Game Arts certainly doesn’t do its part to change things for the better, and for that reason, they’ll always have a hard time getting my personal vote of approval.

Besides the bromides and the two bath scenes, there’s nothing that makes Lunar:SSSC original or even worth playing twice. After fighting through all those dungeons, sticking with the so-called “plot”, and hiding myself under the blankets during many cut-scenes, it will be a new age altogether before I replay Lunar. I even got so bored of those puzzle-like battle strategies, that near the end I simply set all of my most powerful attacks and watched my guys trounce the enemies while I kept feeding them millions of Star Lights (MP restorative items). If I got bored during my first playthrough, I don’t even want to imagine what it would be like during my second. I’d prefer seeing a high re-sale value for my game, but apparently that is not to happen.

The dialogues are good. They are perfect grammar-wise, funny when they need to be and expressive at will. But again, there is just so much a guy can do with such a game. A script doesn’t have to contain curses, sex words, or obscenities to be “mature”. It’s not forbidden though to include some deeper thoughts, psychologic tidbits or profound ideas when writing something. It’s very good anyway, and I realize that it’s unfair of me to compare everything to Vagrant Story, Xenogears or Metal Gear Solid. I simply could never recuperate from the story in Lunar, which left some unfavorable scars in my subconscious. Great translation job… relatively speaking.

Since it dates back to 1993, nothing can be expected from the graphic engine. As far as 2D graphics go, it’s acceptable, sharp and colorful enough to let you know what the hell’s going on. The main dish once again resides in the beautiful anime scenes and the always engaging character portraits.

I do not like Game Arts’ style, and I probably never will. The dungeons are much too frequent, the battles much too aggravating, and the plot is, once again, much too cheesy for my health. Many people disagree with my feelings however, and if lactose is your bag then jump on the bandwagon baby. As for me, after 30 hours of Lunar, I had more than my cup filled … which begs the question of why I bought the second one anyway. More on that later.

You’ll assume the role of Lan Hikari and his digital friend Megaman.EXE as they attempt to stop the evil WWW – a group of extremely powerful Internet criminals – as they corrupt the various network areas of the peaceful DenCity. Megaman will be your main hero in this cause and will act as the protector of every digital and computerized object found in the city. Fight old Megaman villains, obtain more powerful “battle chips”, and put a stop to the infamies caused by the WWW.

The battle system in MMBN is by far the game’s high note and its main attraction at the same time. You’ll be using no one but Megaman during your adventure, since Megaman is Lan’s only “Net Navi”, a digital organism with a life of its own living in the cyber-world. Encounters happen randomly in the cyber-world, and every battle takes place on a 3×6 battlefield. The field is divided among yours and the enemies’ area, allowing nine squares of movement for both, unless somebody uses special chips to alter the terrain. Megaman can move at will across his nine squares while using his infinitely-loaded buster cannon, which can be upgraded along the course of the game, to attack foes. The big strategy comes from preparing your folder of 30 “battle chips” among all your possessions to provide a suitable arsenal of attack, curative, and terrain altering chips for Megaman’s use. Each chip possesses a predefined damage rating and a code of one letter. You can also combine similar chips in combat to discover various highly powerful advance chip combos.

At the start of combat, you’ll have five randomly selected chips from your folder to choose from. You can select as many chips as you can during a turn, as long as their letter code remains the same. Or, you can select the “add” command to add five more chips to your arsenal. The fights are separated by imaginary rounds that stop once the custom gauge fills-up to allow access to more battle chips. There are a total of 175 different battle chips, each with several different codes, available by buying, finding, trading, or acquiring them after combat. Given their volatile and strategic nature, battles in MMBN are always different and exciting. Part of the fun comes from making the best use of your chips and managing your folder carefully. Even after fighting a dozen times against the same group of foes, you’re never guaranteed success since your chips literally define who you are. Decimating enemies with your trusty buster cannon is also a lot of fun once you obtain more upgrades for it. The only hick-up is that Megaman’s HP is completely restored after every battle, making fights less challenging by default. A “run” option would have been nice, although there is an “escape” chip provided at the game’s beginning.

Your enemies HP is always displayed under them and there are no defense parameters per se. There are various elemental properties for your chips however, and you’ll also be able to equip Megaman with some damage-halving armor later on. The “real” world in MMBN, the one Lan wanders in, is very small. The entire game is comprised of only three or four areas with plenty of people to trade chips with and digital objects to “jack-into”. Once you jack-in somewhere, it’s up to Megaman to explore the area. The Net is a huge cyber-area filled with monsters and linked to different terminals across DenCity. Arranging your chips and wandering around poses no problems in MMBN, while the battle controls are simple and intuitive. Once your chip library gets really big, you’ll appreciate the many sorting options available to you. There could’ve been more information for discovering battle chips however, because completing your entire collection will prove to be very difficult.

Music seems to have been relegated to a lower rank during the game’s development because most melodies sound very dated and simplistic. The compositions don’t make good use of the GBA’s sound card at all. That is not to say that the tracks are absolutely annoying, but there aren’t really any strong compositions along the soundtrack. The music is serviceable, but might get tiresome if listened to for a long period of time. Sound effects in battle are better, as they provide more enthusiasm than the battle theme itself. Most every chip has a different sound to characterize it, and the battle atmosphere is pretty electric.

For the most part, the plot serves as little more than an excuse to push Megaman into various digital appliances and Net areas. You’ll soon learn about a formidable group of criminals called the WWW who plan to take over the entire Net. Lan and Megaman will encounter many singular characters along their adventure, most of them scheming with the WWW. Your heroes will also make good use of their many friends’ abilities to help them stop the digital plagues set by the WWW. The plot wanders from light-hearted adventures to more serious matters, but it’s still cohesive and appealing enough to force you along Lan’s adventure. There are a few twists here and there, and since it’s rare to see a game centered around the cyber-world, the plot feels quite unique and enjoyable to me, though somewhat childish at times.

Capcom did an excellent job with the localization. Since the game is very light-hearted, the casualness of the dialogues and the more colloquial vocabulary of certain characters fit the picture perfectly. There are absolutely no typos either, so the script feels very natural and well taken care of. Nothing extravagant, but solid nonetheless.

MMBN doesn’t offer much for those ready to go for a second playthrough. There are no side quests so to speak, no extra plot elements, and no escaping from the plot’s linearity. The only incentive would be to acquire every single battle chip, which would be quite an arduous task, but also very feasible the first time around if one desires to do so. The game is also reasonably short, taking anywhere around 20-30 hours to complete on a normal run, depending on how obsessed you are with chip acquisition. Another big reason for the lack of replay appeal is the fact that MMBN2 is also out and proposes more or less the exact game with a few twists. Of course, that wasn’t the case when the game first came out, but there is nevertheless not much to be seen on a second run.

The game looks absolutely wonderful. Be it in battle or in town, the vibrant colors and the excellent character animations always shine through. However, the net looks very empty and devoid of atmosphere, and since that’s where you’ll be spending most of your time much more work could’ve been done to make the cyber-areas more attractive. Special effects are very well displayed during combat, while the slightly animated character portraits add more personality to the cast of friends and foes.

MMBN is a very unique game that still caters to a wide audience. Hardened RPG veterans will appreciate the battle system’s depth and the generous amounts of chips while strict Megaman adepts will also discover a new spin of one of the most renowned franchises. The plot and soundtrack lack depth, but the focus clearly wasn’t placed on those elements either. MMBN provides an enjoyable experience for everyone and proves that a great battle system and enough originality can compensate for various shortcomings.

Bat. Sys: 9
Interface: 8
Music/Sound: 5
Originality: 9
Plot: 5
Localization: 8
Replay Value: 4
Visuals: 7

Time to Complete: 20-30 hours
Difficulty: Medium
Overall: 7

Three months have passed since the evil WWW group threatened to annihilate both the real world and the cyber-world. People expected that calm would last for a while, but already a new threat has risen – the Net Mafia Gospel. Now that school has ended, Lan and Megaman have all the time they need to rise among the ranks of the Net Battler Guild, fighting hard to ensure the safety of all citizens. The Net is an immense and dangerous place, but only by uncovering its darkest secrets will Lan and Megaman succeed in their quest.

The battle system in MMBN2, as well as the gameplay in general, is extremely similar to what was seen in the first game. Lan can wander around the real world, looking for people to talk to and places to jack into, while Megaman gets busy in the digital world, the only place where battles occur. Basically, you can move Megaman at will around your section of the 3 x 6 grid while shooting enemies using your trusty buster cannon. Every ten seconds, you get another opportunity to utilize a few of your 30 battle chips. The battles are very fun and always diversified. There are a couple of upgrades here and there, but you’ll quickly feel like you are essentially just playing MMBN all over again.

As for the changes in the gameplay department, the major ones would be the fact that Megaman does not heal to full health after each battle and the increase in total battle chips from 175 to 250. You can now purchase sub-chips, which are simply items to be used on the field to heal Megaman or unlock certain data. In battle, the maximum number of chips available has been reduced from 15 to 10, while the method of adding new chips has changed slightly. Megaman will acquire different styles, such as HeatGuts or AquaShield, which have various specialties and weaknesses. This is a good addition since it completely changes your fighting mentality depending on what style Megaman is employing, but personally I have never been able to get away from the overpowering nature of the HeatGuts style once I acquired it. Also noteworthy is the ability to escape from any battle without using an “escape” chip.

The Net also sports a couple of new features in this sequel. It is now possible to explore the Net areas of several cities, which in turn makes the Net much bigger. A fun part of the cyber-world are the various Net Squares where you can purchase items, talk to people, and read messages from the BBS (message boards) to obtain hints and tips from other fictional people. The controls are almost exactly the same as the first game. Wandering around with either Lan or Megaman is easy, battle commands are very simply to master, and your battle chips can be sorted easily. It’s all very easy to get used to.

Much akin to the first game, the sound department does not exhibit anything particularly exciting. The music is of a very low-quality, while the tunes themselves are very redundant and forgettable. There isn’t much to delight your ears here, so don’t worry about missing out on something if you ever have to turn the sound off. Again, the battles steal the show with help from the great array of different sound effects accompanying every enemy and battle chips. The sound sampling job is notable. Outside of battles, sound effects are almost totally inexistent.

In its grand scheme, the story is almost a total replica of the first game. A group of terrorist are disturbing the world and the Net and you have to stop them. However, in the smaller scope of things, Lan’s actions will be very different this time around. Lan will now strive to become a stronger Net Battler in order to “officially” eliminate this new menace, while the locations you will be exploring are completely different from the first game, as are most of the people you will encounter. Nevertheless, the story is not very appealing, though the various little missions are somewhat enjoyable.

Much like in the first game, the localization has received ample attention from Capcom’s part. Dialogues are usually very simplistic as they appear to be aimed to the younger audiences. The tone is very casual, and the amount of colloquialism from certain characters fits the bill surprisingly well. In the BBS, the sentences are kept very short to facilitate your perusal. Short and sweet.

MMBN2 is a harder game than its predecessor because of the changes made to the battle system. It is still not that hard to play through, but considering all the factors that come into play (chip strategies, reflexes), MMBN2 definitely offers a bigger challenge than most regular RPGs. Replay value is where the game takes a blow. The plot is absolutely linear, and the game presents no secrets to speak of. Much as in the first game, the only “side quest” so to speak is to collect every one of the 250 battle chips. However, not only is that incredibly difficult and time consuming, it is also completely irrelevant given that there are no special dungeons or enemies that require Megaman to be exceptionally strong. Also, if you feel like toying with the MMBN battle system again, you could just as well replay the first game.

The game presents a small step up visually from the first game. Lan’s hometown of ACDC Town would be rather hard to differentiate from the first game’s rendition, but the areas you’ll explore this time around are slightly more detailed and colorful. The biggest improvements are seen on the Net where the environments are much richer. The Net sections affiliated with the various towns are all very dissimilar which makes it easy to know where you are standing. The battle animations have also been enriched somewhat.

In the end, MMBN2 only offers the strict minimum to differ itself from the first game. The plots of both games are very unappealing and rather disconnected, which doesn’t provide a big incentive to playing through the games. If you own the first game and didn’t enjoy enormously, chances are the second game won’t convince you any further. If you haven’t played either of those games, any of the two will most probably provide an interesting diversion. After playing through more or less the same game twice, I am certainly not enticed to pick up the third game, especially since the series is taking a bad turn in a Pokemon-esque direction. I’ve had my fill of MMBN.

Bat. Sys.: 9
Interface: 8
Music & Sound: 4
Originality: 8
Story: 3
Localization: 7
Replay value: 2
Visuals: 8

Time to complete: 25-30 hours
Difficulty: Hard
Overall: 6

About five years ago Bioware announced a RPG game that would take all Dungeons & Dragon computer games to a whole new level. This game would set the standards for every hack and slash game to grace a PC from here on out. This game is Neverwinter Nights. D&D fans will really enjoy this game, but if you are like me and know nothing about D&D or its rules, you will still have lots of fun with this game for a very long time.

The story of Neverwinter Nights begins with your character (which you create from scratch or use the preset options) in a training school. When you take control of your character you are told to go to the combat room to finish up your training. Once in the combat room you are taught the controls of the game, how to use items and most important, how to fight. Once you complete the training, you are told to go meet a woman in the main hall. She explains to you about a plague that is taking over the town of Neverwinter Nights. The plague is called the Wailing Death. Your job is to find out the cause of the plague, and find the cure for it. This sounds easier than it really is because there is a lot of other things to do in the game. There is also a tool set to add more to the story and the game.

The gameplay in most hack and slash games is really simple, you find a enemy click on it, and then hack and slash it to death. This is not so in Neverwinter Nights. In Neverwinter Nights, you will have to use more strategy. You will have to read a lot of books to get info, you will have to sleep to regain energy, and have to pause so your character can remember spells.

At the beginning of the game you will create a character. You can use the preset options for making a character or you can do it yourself. The key to this is making sure you make a well-balanced character. Just like when you create a player on a Madden football game, you do not want a quarterback who can read the field but can’t throw. In Neverwinter Nights you have the option to make your character strong with weapons, or strong with magic. If you choose one character class they might be able to do things that other classes can’t. Bioware also included a recommendation button. The recommendation button is there to help you put together the best combinations of attributes. This is good for beginners like myself who know nothing about D&D rules, and in this game they use the 3rd Edition rules. Once your player is ready you can check your journal for the latest quest, and information. Talking to NPC’s (non-playable characters) is a must in Neverwinter Nights. They will help you get new quest and lots of information.

A lot of people try to compare this game to games like Dungeon Siege, Diablo 1 and 2, and Baldur’s Gate. This game is a lot different. In the games I named, you create a party of characters that you can control throughout the game. In this game there is no party creation. You have henchmen for hire. You can go to various places and hire henchmen to come along with you on your quests. You are probably saying that it still sounds like the games above. That’s where you are mistaken. The henchmen are NPC’s. You cannot control them. This might turnoff some people from playing this game if they are used to control all of the characters in there party. You can issue commands to your henchman like use a sword or use a bow. Also your henchman don’t gain levels like you. He/She will always be a level or two below your current level. You also need to be careful about what henchmen you choose. If you are going on a quest that will require a person who is good with theft skills then that will be the type of henchmen you will need. The henchmen also have no kind of inventory. All you can do is give them potions if their magic or health is getting low.

To make any progress in any RPG you must level up and in Neverwinter Nights it is not only important but also a lot of fun. As you level up, you will gain skills for your class. If you are a rogue, you will get skills in lock picking or disarming traps. If you decide that you are bored with being a rogue and you are now ready to be a wizard then go ahead and change. The cool thing is that you get to keep the rogue skills. This shows you how open ended the game is. Also, some options that are not available to most job classes is allowed in this game. Your fighters can identify magic, and wizards can wear armor. These new options can have their down falls too. A wizard with full metal armor will fail trying to cast magic a lot faster than a normal wizard in normal wizard armor. The armor and weapons is also another good feature in NWN. When you find or buy a new helmet or shield, you will see it on your character. You will see the different kinds of weapons in your characters hands.

The best feature in NWN is the Aurora Tool Set. This is the engine that Bioware used to create the wonderful world of NWN. This tool set comes with NWN and with the right amount of time spent on the tool sets you could be creating some of the best story lines or as Bioware calls them modules. The tool set comes with all kinds of trees, buildings, ships, and items to make any scene you can think of. All you have to do is select what size area, what type of item and then put it where you want it. The hardest part of the Aurora Tool Set is scripting events. You have to know a little about C++ to get this down on the first try, but is not too hard though if you do not know the programming language. Also, Bioware released two guides for this game. One of the guides is for the Tool Set. It teaches you how to do everything from A-Z. I strongly recommend this guide if you think you will be using the Tool Set a lot. Once you get the scripting events down, you can have a town being attacked by monsters or people walking and talking. You can create items and set traps. Your brain is your only enemy. As long as you can keep thinking up ideas, then you can make anything. Also, if you go to the official NWN website you can download new modules for the game. There are currently over 514 modules for the game available for you to download. This game will keep you busy for a long time or atleast until the next Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts is released.

Combat in NWN is not as easy as most games in its class. I do not know all about D&D rules but I do know that the rules have a lot to do with how many HP you take off someone and if you can even hit someone. If you don’t know the D&D rules you can learn a lot by just playing. When you see an enemy you can click on it and you are presented with the options to hit it with a weapon, use magic, throw a rock, etc. You can also pause the game and choose an option if its too hard for you to do it in real time. There are all kinds of magic in this game but if you are not a wizard or do not acquire the skills needed to pull the spell off, then you will most likely fail the spell. Leveling up is a major factor in NWN because if you do not have the right skills for the job or enough HP, you will not survive the major battles in this game. This is why this game should never be compared to Bauldur’s Gate or Dungeon Siege.

Graphics is one of the major things that can make or break PC game. If you do not have a PC that can handle the graphics or meet the minimum requirements, then you may not be able to play. NWN is a very beautiful game. The buildings, the water, and some of the other items look good. The lighting effects look great on NWN and so does the shadows. When have you ever seen a game where the shadow stretches as you move away from the light, or see the shadow wrap around certain objects? All of this is great but the flaw is the characters in the game. They all look blocky, but the best thing is what I said about the items and weapons. The fact that you can see them on your character is great. The game looks dark most of the time, mainly inside of buildings. Its not so bad once you get use to it. The camera work is also good in NWN. It never moves to places you do not want it to and it never gets stuck behind objects in the game, which is a common problem in most games these days.

The music in NWN is something to be heard. The world of NWN is medieval so that’s the kind of music you will hear throughout the game. The sounds used in NWN is also done very well. When a crate breaks into pieces, you can hear the wood falling apart. Sounds such as of people yelling and screaming in fear when prisoners escape and attack a nearby town are done very well. The sounds of swords clashing against each other during a battle is something to hear. The voice acting is also good. Important characters will tell you the most important informations and most characters will say “Hello” when they greet you. When you have all of these sounds going along with a game that is as good-looking as NWN, then how can you complain?.

Overall, NWN turns out to be a step in the right direction for all of the games in its class. The story is great with a lot of side quest and the Aurora Tool Set makes it even longer. If you have the PC that can handle the full settings of the game you are in for a treat. The sound is also good and the music is the best I have heard on a PC in a long time. The combat in the game is fun once you get use to it and with all of the different classes of characters, you will be trying new options for your hero all of the time. The whole package will keep you busy for a long time.

Orphen, a very gifted but ever so laid-back sorcerer, and his two apprentices, Magnus and Cleo, get suckered into a tragic boat trip that ends in disaster when the ship gets attacked by a horde of monsters. The adventurers get stranded on the aptly named Chaos Island, where they meet up with three other unfortunate souls. Each of those character have their own reasons for being on the island, reasons that you’ll be forced to uncover until the game culminates into an irrelevant and tacked-on boss fight. While it had some potential as a decent anime inspired game, Orphen was simply shipped to store shelves a good six months too early.

Battles are neither random nor player activated. Looking at the back of the game’s box will give you the exact number of fights you’ll have to deal with in Orphen: 51. As so, experience points have been dispensed of. There is no form of money either. In fact, I don’t think Orphen should even be categorized as an RPG. Regardless, battles can be either very pleasant of extremely annoying, mainly depending on the number of enemies you are facing. Orphen’s four combat options are linked to the controller’s face buttons.

You can form a magical shield which can block almost everything, attack using your sword, or use projectiles and spells, the later of which both possess different elemental properties. Projectiles and spells can be charged up by simply holding down the button, allowing you to unleash multiple attacks or powerful summons. The key to battles thus resides in blocking and counterattacking at the right time, because nobody ever moves during those 51 real time sequences.

In some instances, battling is very fun. During certain boss fights, you’ll have to analyze certain patterns in order to emerge victorious. However, when facing multiple foes you’ll just have to rely on your gut instincts because things get very messy. To display someone’s health, the game uses five crystals colored blue and red for allies and foes respectively. The problem is that you will have no idea who takes the damage and who deals it. There is no distinction between the different health gauges, and camera angles are more often than not located in the worst possible spots. In those fights, your best bet is to just keep throwing projectiles because you won’t have time to do anything else. With a little more work, battles could’ve been much more enjoyable.

Enemies have affinity charts next to them in battles, but you are never told whether those represent resistance or weakness to the various elements. You can either try very hard to find out, or do as I did and stick to the same projectile and spell almost all game long. You’ll have to navigate through traitorous (right…) dungeons for almost 3/4 of the game. There are no puzzles to speak of, just some easily avoidable lava pits, rolling boulders, and giant swinging blades.

One aspect of the game that is completely tacked-on are the items. You’ll find a multitude of treasure chests containing many items… which are unusable in battle. What? I’m supposed to need those while exploring? Yeah, right. Honestly, I’ve healed myself about two times the entire game. To actually heal in battle, you have to hit a healing target when one is provided in the fight. The only instance where you’ll use those items is during Mar’s quest, and that’s only for a brief five minutes. The designers released the game so quick they actually forgot to find a use for those items.

When it comes to music, Orphen’s is as forgettable as it gets. I don’t even think there is a soundtrack. When in your “headquarters”, you’ll get annoyed very rapidly by the boring background music, while the battle music gets swamped by the sound effects. Spells and projectiles sound somewhat intimidating, and the battle mood is thankfully not too boring. The biggest attraction as far as the sounds go is the above average voice acting. Every line of dialogue is spoken (there isn’t that much really), and most characters sound decent enough to convey a certain personality. Orphen’s voice actor, Quinton Flynn (who later played Raiden in MGS2), is particularly good in his role. While most dialogues sound casual, the quality of the work is pretty inconsistent.

The game is based on the anime series of the same name. During the course of your adventure you’ll witness some very good anime sequences, though there aren’t enough of those in my opinion. The plot is very shallow and incredibly not progressive. You’ll be thrown on a boat at the beginning for no apparent reason and drift on an island with no purpose. You’ll meet three characters whom you’ll have to help out with their petty problems.

The three “quests” are completely unconnected and only remotely interesting. You can meet with your group of six adventurers in a cozy little hideout where you’ll have to speak with people until something finally happens. At the end, a big plot twist is supposed to tie up the knots, but you probably won’t care. It’s farfetched and poorly constructed. The characters attempt to bring some charisma to the game, but much like the Lunar games, great characters don’t make up for a crappy plot.

Aside from a couple item descriptions, there is virtually no text in Orphen. The voice acting was completely redone in English, and as mentioned before the job is acceptable. The actors chosen are competent, but the director didn’t work very hard to try and get the most out of the actors. The dubbing was most probably done much too hastily, too. Again.

Once you’re done with the game, chances are you’ll be glad to put it back on the shelf. There are no side quests, nothing special to acquire, and just nothing to see aside from the 51 battles you’ll face. You may go through the three characters’ quests in a different order, but the outcome will remain the same. At least the game is very short.

A lot of effort was of course put into the visual department to display the console’s power. Even to this day, the graphics look pretty good. Character models are rather well animated, while the textures are very smooth throughout. Dungeons are engaging, and the spell effects are impressive. The anime sequences are very well done as well.

Orphen is just a shallow, mildly fun, and rushed-out game. The battle system can be amusing for a while, but the crummy interface and bad camera views make most battles unplayable. The production values just aren’t there either when it comes to the music, the plot, and the atmosphere. If you missed the game when it first came out, raise your arm up high and give yourself a good pat on the back, because you saved some hard earned money.

Survival horror games have had great success with many gaming fans, with the many titles on offer from Resident Evil through to Silent Hill. Capcom, being the main creators of this genre, with help from the Resident Evil and Dino Crisis games have made a big impact on games and gamers alike taking the herald of the throne and claiming themselves unbeatable in the world of survival horror. But now, Squaresoft have decided to take heed and challenge Capcom at what they’re best at – creating survival horror games in order to claim that extra place in the video games industry – with Squaresoft’s answer to Resident Evil.

An evil breed of Neo Mitochondrion creatures has spawned and taken over the Akropolis Tower in Los Angeles, eliminating all living creatures that stand in their way. The situation is breaching out of control and the Los Angeles Police Department desperately need the help of a top agent to infiltrate the tower. As special MIST (Mitochondrion Investigation and Suppression Team) agent Aya Brea, you have been assigned by the FBI to undertake an investigation that takes you from the heart of the Los Angeles Akropolis Tower to a deep and nerving underground test research facility in the Mojave Desert. Your job is to put an end to the lives of these mitochondrion creatures that threaten to eliminate the entire human race. Immerse yourself in the new world of survival horror that is Parasite Eve II.

The gameplay in PEII is very similar to that of the many Resident Evil titles available, as you have to run around collecting items, such as keys and pass codes to progress to the next area. This may sound simple, but Squaresoft have not made this an easy task, as many of the stages are swamped with grotesque and monotonous creatures out for blood. In order to slay these creatures you have a vast arsenal of weapons ranging from 9mm handguns to a grenade launchers allowing you blast the enemy away with great pleasure. Trademark to the Resident Evil series, where the style of combat is somewhat dull and action-less is what makes PEII so very different from any other survival horror game. Squaresoft just couldn’t resist a touch of RPG class and have added the various levelling up and experience point’s malarkey known to many RPGs, into PEII’s gameplay. The battle system used in PEII is very similar to that of Vagrant Story for the PSX, where the battles are in real-time and players are required to target an enemy and use a specific attack from a scroll down menu.

Attacks are minimal as you can only attack physically with a handheld weapon or use Aya’s special powers – Parasite Energy. This is a power that Aya sealed away in the first PE and at the beginning of PEII is only limited to one of these powers, but gain EXP and level up and you can access a whole range of different powers to unload unto your enemy at free will. But beware as this parasite energy is limited to a number of MP and as soon as you run out you’ll quickly need to restore those vital lost MP to be able to use the powers again. The weapons vary in the game and have different kinds of effects on different enemies depending on the weapons attributes. Weapons are not easily acquired either as they have to be purchased with the use of BP (Battle Points) which can be received after a battle is victorious. You can then spend the BP received at an arms store where various weapons and firearms are available for your needs. These BP also aid you in the purchasing of protective clothing and armour ranging from bulletproof vests and tactical armour suits that all have different strength and weaknesses. These all add to Aya’s defences capabilities and attributes.

Graphically PEII is of a very high standard as the character designs are in high resolution and what any gamer would expect from Squaresoft’s graphical work. To add, these high detailed characters wander around on pixel perfect pre-rendered backdrops giving PEII a real sense of atmosphere and diversity. In many games with pre-rendered backgrounds the player can often look too bold and maybe a bit lustrous on top of the backgrounds, but PEII has accomplished this perfectly and made the characters blend into the backdrops seamlessly and precisely. PEII, as with any Squaresoft game, is accompanied with crystal clear FMV sequences that outline major points in the story and help evolve the story line a lot more, be warned though as many of the cut scenes are very adult orientated revealing why PEII has hitched a 15 certificate age rating. Character movements and animation are extremely life-like as are the creature’s movements and attitudes when in battle make the game very realistic and graphically pleasing to the eye.

Music in PEII accompanies the games atmosphere well making the gameplay eerie and in some points rather spine chilling. The music is not fast paced, but instead slow and dramatic adding to the fear and surroundings of the game. Music plays a big part in PEII, as there is not much voice acting or other sound effects to give the game an overall atmosphere, so the music acts as the main fear factor. Without the music that features in PEII the game would not have the same atmosphere and eerie effect that it holds so well into the survival horror genre.

Parasite Eve II slots nicely into the survival horror genre perfectly and even slips in elements of an RPG to make the gameplay varied and exciting and almost different in each section of the game. This is the an extremely innovative game and makes a difference from the usual classic style of RPGs Squaresoft produce so well. PEII is well worth an investment if you’re looking for a little more from a RPG and want to be a little sacred this time round as well.

Out of all the rpgs based on the Dungeons & Dragons games, Planescape: Torment is my favorite. There are many reasons for this game to be my favorite. The first one is that its not like any of the other D&D games. Planescape: Torment seems to reside in its own level. It is based on the”Planescape” universe, while the other D&D games (Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale) are based on the “Forgotten Realms” universe. Planescape: Torment provides for a very unique experience in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.

The story is simple yet mysterious. You are simply called “The Nameless One”, you do not get to name your character in the game. The game starts with you waking up in a morgue, completely oblivious to your surroundings. After you wake up you are greeted by a skull who can talk, he tells you that he doesn’t know anything except that you were brought in my some men. After a short conversation you and the skull decide to break out from the morgue, and the adventure begins. I like Planescape the same reason I like Xenogears, you start out with knowing nothing about the main character or the world. The script is written in such a way that you find out your purpose in the game as you progress. As you progress through the game “The Nameless One” finds out about his past and regains his memory. You have no memory of your past or why you were there in the morgue. “The Nameless One” cannot die, he simply reappears in the morgue if you are killed. It is really enjoyable to go through the story and pick up pieces on your origin. Other rpgs could learn a thing or two from Planescape: Torment.

In Planescape, Class is determined by the choices you make. You begin as a Fighter but you can be a Wizard, Thief or Priest by choosing to train in other areas. If you like talking to people, this is the game for you. Conversations play a very important role in Planescape, more so than combat. You have to talk your way through quests, and it also important to talk with your own party members to gain more information about the quest. Once you engage in a dialogue with the NPC you can get access to more response choices. Sometimes to progress in the story you have to click on a specific response. You can even gain experience by clicking the right response. The right choice can change the story’s course quite dramatically.

The combat is pretty simple, you click on the click on the monster you want to attack. You can even pause the game to give advanced commands. You can use magic or other skills if you wish. If you are not the fighting type, you can avoid combat to focus more on the conversation type. The freedom of choice given to the player makes Planescape a very interesting game. You can also pick up items and weapons left by the monster after you kill it. Overall combat is very easy to learn, although it never becomes necessary.

The menus are clean and very accessible. You can equip weapons and items through the menus. I found equipping items a chore sometimes, but its not something that will ruin the game. You also get access to the Journal. The Journal is probably the most important item to have in your inventory. Your Journal automatically records your experiences in the world, if you are confused about the storyline or what you have to do next to progress, simply read the Journal. There is also a huge Encyclopedia in the game which you can use through the menu. The Encyclopedia contains valuable information about the monsters and NPCs you encounter. If you don’t like reading you won’t like these aspects of Planescape: Torment. The world of Planescape is a very dark one, you get access to such strange items such as Embalming Fluids and Needles. If you have fascination with the macabre, this is the game to get.

The darkness part also applies to the graphics. The graphics are very dark and moody, lighting is used brilliantly in the game. From the town of Sigil to the Inner Sanctum, the world of Planescape is very detailed, The backgrounds are pre-rendered, and the areas in the game make excellent use of colored lighting. Planescape: Torment is based on the Baldur’s Gate engine, but the camera (unlike in Baldur’s Gate) is zoomed quite a bit in the game, which makes your characters look bigger than most D&D rpgs. You don’t need a high end system or a GeForce video card to run Planescape. In my 333Mhz PC which is equipped with a 2MB ATI graphics card, Planescape ran very smoothly with few hiccups. Although the resolution is set to 640 x 800 the graphics look very good, but as I said before the world of Planescape will not suit the kind of people who like happy colors and trees, all of it is very dark.

The music and sound effects blew me away. Planescape takes advantage of the EAX positional audtio and makes good use of it. Fronm the orchestrated score to the groan of the zombies, it all sounds magnificent. The voice acting is also good and often it tells you the emotions of your character or NPCs. It is a shame that with so much conversation, voice acting is only offered in key dialogues. Music and sound add a lot to Planescape and it easily is one of the best aspects of the game.

Planescape: Torment is an intelligent rpg, it incorporates story with the huge realm of Planescape brilliantly. Interplay and Black Isle have surpassed what they achieved with Baldur’s Gate, and I believe that other rpgs will look up to Planescape for ideas in gameplay, characters and storylines. Planescape is a gem in every area, and surpasses some of the more popular PC and console rpgs. If you like good storylines, intelligent conversations and have a fascination with the dead, Planescape is the game to get. But if you enjoy the repetitive “explore dungeon and kill everything in sight” type of games then stay away for Planescape. This is probably the best thing I have bought for 10 dollars. Kudos to Black Isle for creating such an enjoyable rpgs.

The story of Shadow Hearts is set in the year 1913. The story starts in France, but moves on out to the far east as you progress. You play as a mysterious boy named Yuri Hyuga. Son of a Russian mother and a Japanese father. Both his Mother and Father died when he was 10. After the death of his parents, the power of fusion was born inside him. He had now recieved the power of an Harmonixer. This power was truly a rare power. He could now turn himself into horrifying beasts.

Ever since the day his parents died, Yuri has had a mysterious voice talking to him inside his mind, giving him directions of where to go and what to do. Yuri promises himself to find out whose voice this is. One day the Voice gives Yuri a difficult task. He must protect an english girl named Alice Elliot which is in grave danger. And so a new adventure is born…

Graphics : 7/10

Not at the same graphical level as it’s competitor Final Fantasy X, but it works out well, with pre-rendered backgrounds like in the Psx Final Fantasy games. The Graphics in the CG Sequences are one step above the ones in Final Fantasy IX. The spell effects are the most impressive graphical effects in the game. Overall the graphics are beautiful, but i have seen better…

Gameplay : 10/10

This is one the departments where Shadow Hearts truly shines. A great battle system that gives so much variation. The Judgement Ring serves nothing but enjoyment. The fusion summoning also helps in serving fun. Many hours of fun awaits you…

Music : 10/10

Composed by the two incredible composers, Yoshitaka Hirota and the well known Yasunori Mitsuda. Mitsuda, Known for his breathtaking scores from the Chrono Series, and the Xeno Series, Teamed up with Hirota to make a hell of a soundtrack… The final result is what the score above shows…Great!…

Story : 10/10

Dark, violent and mysterious. An exciting story with an ability to make the player not let go of the controller. A story that is so interesting that you probably will experience trouble with getting yourself to bed.

Final Words :

All in all Shadow Hearts stands as an outstanding RPG. It’s not difficult to see and experience that Sacnoth has put a lot of time into the making of this incredible game. Every RPG lover should have this in their collection.

If you happen to find Shadow Hearts and have the right amount of cash, buy it. You won’t regret you did. The game is now out of print, so the hunt can be difficult…

Final Score : 9/10

Shadowbane, unlike the other large-scale MMORPGs is largely based upon PvP (Player vs. Player) combat. The goal is to create large scale guilds with fellow players, build massive kingdoms, and conquer anyone in your way. Of course, in order to first become useful in any battles, one must first level their character up in PvE (Player vs. Environment) combat. This is the popular form of leveling in other RPGs, where you group with players and hunt down creatures for experience and loot. But no need to worry, while it may take many weeks or months to level your character up in other games, leveling in Shadowbane is actually pretty quick. The max level is 70, but there is not much point in going past 60 since you don’t get anymore trainer points. A person’s general level can be recognized easily by selecting them. Depending on how many “ranks” or symbols of their class they have, tells what level they are in quantities of 10. (Ex. If they have 4 symbols they would be between the levels 40-49.)

Character creation is a part of MMORPGs I always enjoy. Shadowbane’s character creation is somewhat simplistic, but it gets the job done. There are 10 races, 3 of which can be unlocked after a player has been subscribed for a certain amount of time, and over 20 classes. First a person must choose from either 4 base classes, which can then promote to the main classes at level 10. Each character receives a certain amount of attribute points that they can spend on strength, dexterity, spirit, or intelligence. These affect various stats like health, damage amount, stamina, and mana. In addition to spending attribute points on stats. players can also purchase runes. Runes give players various powers like faster running, better weapon skills, etc. But you only receive a certain number of rune slots, and these want to be saved for better runes you may acquire while in-game, or for disciplines. Disciplines are rare runes that grant extraordinary abilities. They can give characters pets, teleportation, and any abilities that only certain classes may have. To balance things out, people are only aloud to have 3 disciplines. Character look isn’t very diverse, but you can choose from hair, face, facial hair, colors, and starting clothes. One part I did like is that you can choose both your first and last name right away. The funny part is that the name filter isn’t very strict at all, and characters sometimes have rather peculiar names.

After entering the game, you are briefed with several tips on how to play the game. These can be very useful to newbies. Every character receives a certain amount of health, stamina, and mana. Stamina is used for various melee abilities, flying, running, etc. It can often times be a nuisance, since it runs out fairly quickly, causing you to not be able to operate in a battle. Mana is used for casting spells, and health is pretty obvious. Movement is handled by right clicking, which I find to be very useful. When running across long distances holding your finger down on an arrow key can get annoying. In the corner of everyone’s screen is a mini-map. It is even possible to right-click on a spot in the mini-map, and your character will run to there. The entire user-interface is very customizable. Any window can be moved around, resized, and an option to change the transparency and font is available. You can even change interface skins for a different look.

Combat is handled nicely as well. Players attack creatures or players by double-clicking on them. The damage you hit for, or are hit by, is displayed above the creature and in your chat box. During combat players can perform different types of special attack, which result in dealing more damage or putting an effect on the monster. These attacks or abilities are gained by training with your certain Class Trainer. Points for training are acquired by gaining levels. Additionally, players also get attribute points to spend on strength, dexterity, spirit, or intelligence.

The guild system is very extensive, allowing for true social and political maneuvering featuring 13 guild types, probationary member voting, guild ranks and titles, a deep guild allegiance/fealty system, a unique coat of arms creation tool, war declarations and assassinations for the ultimate experience in online political intrigue. Every guild has some sort of a goal. Some choose to stay neutral, and focus their cities on advancing with the economy. Others stay intent on military power, building fortresses of massive proportion. Alliances are very popular; groups of guilds that don’t like each other team up to help overcome foes. And even though you can attack anyone anytime, it’s not always very wise to. Attacking someone in a certain guild can create large guild conflicts, and random player killing is sometimes looked down upon. In my opinion, the best part of the game is the sieges. When two armies of mass proportion clash in the heat of battle, rarely can any other game match up to such an adrenaline-pump. Siege weapons can be controlled by players, and are useful in destroying buildings, walls, or clusters of players. Since every guild has their own customized guild symbol, it is very easy to identify a friend or foe since it floats above their head.

One of the downfalls that plagues many players is the graphics. The game was in production for a long time, and by the time it was released very promising graphics engines were being used by games such as Asheron’s Call 2. Particle effects are very lacking, and the same textures seem to be used throughout the landscape of Aerynth. Characters have limited detail, and can look rather plain. But one great feature in the game is the recorder. Players can record their experiences or battles in the game, and send them to anyone else to watch. Despite all these low-caliber graphics, players sometimes still have problems with lag and loading. Although, it does have better graphics than any of the low-scale MMORPGs that are out there.

Unfortunately, sound is somewhat lacking as well. Sound effects are a bit cheesy, and when an enemy hits me it sometimes sounds as if my character were in some erotic fantasy. Not to mention, there isn’t a very large variety of them. On the other hand, as you travel throughout the landscape, the background music can change from fast-paced beats to smooth feeling melodies.

All in all, Shadowbane is a decent game. I am currently playing it to fulfill my gaming needs, so say hi to Boladon if you play on the fear server. Politics are always changing, and warfare keeps me addicted. While the game does have some flaws, Wolfpack Studios has done a great job. It’s nice to play in an MMORPG that isn’t based on laborious item-camping and prolonged leveling like EverQuest. So if you’re looking for a game to take up your time until the next great MMORPG hits the shelves, you should definitely pick this one up.

Gameplay: 8.5
Fun Factor: 8.5
Graphics: 6.5
Sound: 7
Overall: 8

Minimum PC system requirements:

Pentium® III Processor 700 MHz. or higher
128 MB RAM
1 GB free hard drive space
Microsoft® Windows® 98SE/ME/2000/XP
CD-ROM drive
56 kbps modem + Internet connection
32 MB TNT2 (or better) OpenGL-compliant graphics accelerator
DirectX® 8.1 or higher

Minimum MAC system requirements:

G3 350 MHz. or higher
128 MB RAM
1 GB free hard drive space
OS X version 10.2
CD-ROM drive
56 kbps modem + Internet connection
ATI Rage 128 32 MB