Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean [GC]

In 2004, Namco has been among the best names in the GameCube business. Granted, two titles is hardly a powerhouse catalog for any console, but the company's pair of 'Cube projects fill Nintendo's scarce RPG library. First, Tales of Symphonia satisfied fans of old-school systems and lush graphics. Now, Baten Kaitos is poised to offer newer mechanics to those who can't get enough of effeminate heroes in exotic lands.

Baten Kaitos isn't a mere collection of four syllables. It's also a land comprised entirely of floating islands. The story would have us believe that people just "forgot" about things like land and sea. We know that really means that pollution and rent drove the middle class into the sky, and floating condos followed. Xelha and Kalas are inhabitants of this airborne existence. Xelha wants to save the world while Kalas, channeling Enigo Montoya, seeks vengeance for the deaths of his brother and grandfather.

The story may be up in the air, but from the main characters down, it's all standing on familiar ground. There's a budding romance between the angry, winged Kalas and the gorgeous, if awkwardly named Xelha. Just for good measure, patented ingredients like amnesia, implausible magic, and unwittingly awakened evil are thrown in the mix.

But really, it's all about the cards. Baten Kaitos, like the collectible games littering backpacks and sales counters, uses a deck of cards to represent combat. Actually, the game uses cards to represent just about everything. Any object or potential action in the game is carried in card form.

But the whole card thing isn't just a gimmick - it's a way of life. The game's interface is streamlined through use of the deck, because your hand of cards will always represent what can be done in a given turn. Combat is a matter of playing offensive and defensive trumps, with limits on the number of cards played per turn. Higher level characters can carry more cards, and play more during combat.

Of course, it's not quite that simple. A card representing any object has a number value, as well as an elemental affiliation. You'll find six basic elements, divided into three opposing pairs. The upshot is that cards of opposing element should be played against each other, not together. So countering a fire dagger with an ice shield is a good idea. Over the course of a fight, players will lay out many cards, with the goal being not only to match elements, but to build more powerful combos based on each card's number value.

So far we've got a deck of cards, which is largely divided between offensive and defensive items. But that doesn't leave much room for an economy, and that's where the camera comes in. This card takes pictures of enemies in combat which, when developed, can be sold for cash. The RPG paparazzi have arrived.

Cash is used to purchase -- what else? -- more cards. There's a joke in there somewhere about credit-based economies, but we're gamers, not accountants. Many of these new cards will be blank, however. Along the way to saving the world, there will be many things to pick up, and the best way to do so is by transferring "essence" to a card.

The catch here is that trapped essence can change over time, growing, aging, or decaying, depending on the object. Fruit will ripen, meat will spoil, and real estate will always become more valuable. But some cards tucked away in the darkness of the deck will yield interesting results; an edible bamboo shoot may become a dangerous bamboo staff, for example. Other cards can be combined to produce even wilder results.

Though much of the game revolves around cards, we're happy to report that the graphics engine hasn't been reduced to so simple a mechanic. Though many game areas will be familiar to long-time RPG players, the 3D character designs are sharp and interesting, and the active town and country areas look perfectly fine. A pre-rendered world map is detailed enough for large-scale navigation, and the close-up combat camera is better than anything at the World Series of Poker.

Baten Kaitos is looking like a pretty nifty little addition to the GameCube library. For people who don't lust over rare Magic The Gatheringcards from 1991, the card mechanic may seem a little contrived at first. But in play, the system offers not only a streamlined interface, but a unique spin on established RPG conventions. In combat, it's also fast and a lot of fun. That's enough to keep us practicing the Memphis shuffle until the game hits shelves in mid-November.