Jeanne d'Arc [PSP]

''Similarly, characters that happen to have the holy amulets slowly acquire spirit points which can be used to unlock the power of the mystical devices, transforming them into holy warriors with special powers. These changing states, which are dictated by sacred gems placed into the various amulets, provide your characters with unique skills that allow them to land heavy damage at a high skill point cost. There is one bonus to transforming your characters, however; any enemy that is defeated by a changed party member provides you with a free turn to move that character into position to attack a different opponent. This means that if your party sufficiently weakens enough monsters around them, a transformed character can mow down multiple enemies in the same battle sequence. Even though the amount of time that a character can be transformed is limited to two or three battle turns, this is perhaps the one facet of the game that is radically unbalanced. A character can potentially smash through every enemy by themselves in certain stages, seriously weakening some of the challenge that you might face on a battlefield.

Once you've cleared a battlefield and received that stage's rewards, you have the option to return to that area to take part in free battles. Unrelated to advancing the story, characters can take these fights to level up weaker characters or use them as a practice arena to try out new arrangements of skill stones for parties. For the most part, your parties should be able to walk through these areas rather easily, although there are some exclusive free battle areas that are designed to seriously challenge even the strongest party. While these fields come stocked with high-level monsters, there's a definite bonus to fighting your way through each space, as you can earn rare items and stones by successfully completing them (if you manage to survive, that is). The same can be said of the coliseum that you unlock midway through the game, which throws you into ten consecutively harder battles. While it's a challenge to survive these optional fights, the rewards are definitely worth it.

Regardless of whether you embark on these optional battles or follow the engaging storyline from start to finish, you'll experience a visually striking anime-influenced world. Characters are eye-catching and distinctive, from their character models to their attack animations, including some special moves that project large shards of energy from the ground or propel characters into the air. The same can be said of the enemies that you face off against, with everything from obese dark elves and pig-faced orcs to massive dragons and towering golems. The game features a number of animated cutscenes that transition between in-game story elements, and while the cutscenes are incredibly crisp, some of the in-game visuals can sometimes appear pixilated, which throws off the beauty of the title. Most of this pops up when you're zoomed in tight on a character or during an animated attack that is hidden behind an environmental object, but since you can easily readjust the responsive camera, this isn't a serious issue.

The voice acting also manages to back up the gameplay quite nicely, with a balanced performance from all of the characters. The actors manage to deliver their lines with a French accent that isn't too subdued or over-exaggerated. Since it's spread out between cutscenes, it's a nice addition to the gameplay. The sound effects are quite nice as well, with resounding clangs, crackles and other effects representing successful hits or spells being cast. If there were a fault with the sound portion of the game, it would have to come with the music, which can get a bit repetitive. The battle theme, in particular, you may find yourself becoming bored with after you've heard it fifteen or twenty times in a row.

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