It all started in my free gaming days during college, that I happened upon a very simple little game called Angband. Based of the Tolkien universe, the game had very, very basic graphics ¿ you're character was the "@" symbol ¿ and there wasn't much story. Basically, go though the dungeons beneath the town and get to the lowest level to kill the evil Morgoth. Attacking enemies was based off statistics, as you would just "run" into an enemy (represented by a letter of the alphabet) and how successful you're attack depended on your equipment, experience, and skills. Yeah, I was really bored back in those college days, but what really hooked me in this game was the awesome number of weapons you found, and the amount of customization you could achieve when building up certain stats and skills with your character. Though Record of Lodoss War is on the other end of the visual spectrum, both games share the addictive gameplay features: the relentless quest of finding better items and the awesome level of customization you can perform on you character. And in Record of Lodoss War 's case, it's backed by a very good story, making this title a excellent choice for action/RPG fans, especially those who thought PSO was very light on plot.

Based off the cult anime classic, the Dreamcast game takes place a bit after the events of the anime, Record of Lodoss War. You play a resurrected hero that has no memory of his past, and you have one mission: to prevent the resurrection of the evil Goddess Cardice. With the Record of Lodoss War setting, you'll encounter many of the colorful characters from the anime and you'll eventually find out who you really are. Fans of the anime series will take great delight in this aspect of the game, cuz it's a pretty big surprise as to who your character really is. No, I'm not going to give it away, but I'll will say the main hero is found in the anime series and was quite the badass during his time.

However, your character has been dead for quite many moons so it'll take a lot of experience and re-learning of skills to become the awesome warrior you once were. And this is where one of the strongest parts of the game reveals itself: there's a whole array of different weapons and items to find, and you'll begin to wonder if PSO has this many. Your hero can equip different weapons and items through the Diablo-like menu and when you equip new items, it actually changes the appearance of your character. But you won't always have to find new magic weapons - you can actually make them! Once you past a certain portion of the game (like an hour into the game), you'll be able to change the normal weapons into magic ones through the use of mithril. Mithril is the bluish crystal-like stuff that appears after you kill enemies. With enough mithril, you'll be able to engrave certain magic inscriptions (called Ancients) on your weapons and equipment that'll increase damage, up defense, and add other magical properties. Of course, you don't remember any magic inscriptions, so you must find them throughout the world. What's great about these magic inscriptions is once you find them, you can use them over and over again. For example, let's say you have magic inscription that increases weapon damage by +2 and it takes 200 mithril to engrave onto you sword. If you have 1000 mithril handy, you can keep engraving your sword five times, thereby increasing the damage to +10! Of course, as you weapon gets more powerful, it becomes costlier to engrave over and over again. But if gets too expensive to engrave the same inscription, carve a new one! And when you carve a new inscription, you still keep the magic properties of the old inscription; it's possible to have a sword that does +10 damage, +10 to critical hits, +10 to undead enemies, and be able to cast fireballs! This is a wonderful customization mode and I've spent countless hours searching for more mithril to increase the abilities of my equipment... rather than concentrating on the real quest.

Gameplay is nothing extraordinary; if you've played Diablo or any similar action/RPG - the play mechanics are similar. Viewed from an isometric camera angle, you character has a simple "slash-slash-slash" combo, and that's about it. Of course, if your weapon has special attack abilities, you can launch attacks by holding down the attack button. And very similar to Diablo (again), there's a vertical "belt" onscreen that displays items you can quick select by using the D-pad. Most of the time, the spaces will be filled with heal potions a la Diablo style, though you can equip antidotes, magic refilling potions, and keys to the "quick select belt" as well. If this sounds like a Diablo rip-off there is one big difference. Casting spells is a bit more different from other action/RPG games. First off, you have to find a spell and once you get it, don't be thinking you can cast it right away. In order to cast a spell, you first have to bring up the spell listing, where each spell has a button command ¿ some are as simple as "A, A, A" while others are can be a combination of different button commands. Once you input the buttons commands for a spell, it's prepped and ready to cast (as indicated by the spell icon at the top of your "quick select belt"). This is pretty cool spell-casting mechanic though most of the time you'll be doing the slashing and hacking. Fear not... you'll get teammates that have better spell-casting abilities than your own. And this gets fun ¿ having buddies back you up with spell attacks as you take on a roomful of enemies. And trust me, sometimes the screen fills up with almost 30 enemies onscreen at a time. And when that happens, the biggest visual problem rears its ugly head ¿ slow down. Released last year in Japan, Record of Lodoss War won't impress on the visual side of things. Sure there are a few nice special effects and some of the FMV movies are pretty cool, but overall the game does look a bit dated. Low polygon count character and enemy models are the style here, though the game does offer huge levels to explore. But the biggest visual problem in the game is the slowdown. It doesn't happen until you have about 20-30 enemies onscreen, but when it does, it's almost as if the game went through some weird space travel warp. Timing of your combo attack (as simple as it is) becomes rather quite difficult during this time. Thankfully, this doesn't happen frequently and besides a few minor collision bugs and polygons getting obstructing your view (both of which can be alleviated with the camera shift button), this isn't unpleasant to look at... just a bit simple. Sounds are quite good in this game, and although speech doesn't occur often, when CPU characters do speak, it's surprisingly good.

Like I said above, Record of Lodoss War shares much with Angband; both are pretty simple visually, but both offer addicting gameplay. Not to say Record of Lodoss War and Angband are equally as good. With its excellent customization features, a huge assortment of items to find, and a good story to keep things interesting, fans looking for some meaty story for their PSO action will find Record of Lodoss War a very refreshing gameplay experience... and yes, there is actual closure to the ending as well, though you might have to play through it again.

--Anthony Chau, IGNDC