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The xbox 360 doesn't have all that many Japanese Role Playing Games, or JRPG`s as they are known, only the 3 disc epic that id Blue Dragon springs to mind. So when Namco Bandai released Eternal Sonata. Fans of the JPRG genre (me included) got very excited. If you had been following it's journey to release from its early import days (when it was known as Chopin's Trusty Bell?or something equally odd!), than all you would have heard was good things!

it most certainly is one of the most graphically impressive games I've ever seen

Since its out on these shores, is it worth the wait, and more importantly, your dosh! Well, it most certainly is one of the most graphically impressive games I've ever seen. The cell shaded anime style graphics look absolutely stunning. Hell, the game is worth buying even if you aint a fan of JRPG`s, just to show your mates how impressive the colour range & depth is on that new HDTV that Father Christmas kindly brought for you. It looks even better than Blue Dragon, and that was a visual feast.

As is the way with this kinda game, the story is usually about either Space Pirates or Thieves (all good deep down, a bit like Robin Hood, with green spiky hair!).
For Eternal Sonata, the story is actually madder than its peers! Basically, this story is based around the 19th Century Composer, Chopin, who is lying on his deathbed in Paris, and while he drifts from this world to the next, he enters a dreamlike fantasy world, where he meets a terminally ill young girl called Polka, who has powerful magic, a young thief (I told you!) called Allegretto and a young boy with a camera fixation called Beat.

The actual gameplay is yer normal RPG fare- comprising of Towns, world maps and dungeons (which include boss battles of course). Now the thing that sets this apart is the battle dynamics. You can see your enemies on your travels, and chose to ignore them if you wish (but this just means you will not be levelled up enough to defeat the next dungeon boss). Once a battle is triggered you can actually run about the battle ground during your turn, before attacking with a physical or magical attack. Initially this seems a bit quirky, but it all falls into place when you realise that different attacks, magic and defences have differing effects depending on weather you are in the light or shadow parts of the battle field-Genius!

Now I know a few of my mates are big RPG fans, but after about 20-25 hours they kinda lose interest (apart from FFVII of course!). Well this is the game for them, coz its kinda short for this kind of game-clocking in at around 24 hours to complete (still longer than most games I know-did someone say COD4?). So just enough fun to be had, and its deffo worth finishing,, as the ending is so insane its ace.

Since Chopin is the main character, you would think the music would be an integral part of the story, and the score is in fact awesome, making this the best JRPG on the system to date.