As we all know, the GameCube has gotten the short end of the stick as far as the amount of games produced for this generation of consoles. More specifically, the Cube has only received a handful of RPG's, although the majority of them (Tales of Symphonia, Paper Mario, Skies of Arcadia Legends, etc.) are very good titles. Well, now you can add to this list Namco's latest: Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean.

BK takes you on a journey as the guardian spirit of an angst-filled young lad by the name of Kalas. Kalas and his band of companions are on a journey to avenge his family's death and to prevent the resurrection of the evil god, Malpercio. While it isn't exactly original, Namco does pretty well making the story unique and adding some very good plot twists to keep you interested.

BK displays some of the best looking visuals you will find on the GameCube. The pre-rendered backgrounds are absolutely beautiful, although some (village made out of construction paper anyone?) are extremely odd. The character models as well as the environments show a good amount of detail. The menus are easy on the eyes and are very easy to navigate. Spells used in combat have some dazzling particle effects, but you will most likely be too focused on the combo system to really enjoy them. The biggest gripe I have is that all the cutscenes are done with the in-game graphics. I think it would've been a very nice touch to see some FMV goodness at least a few times throughout the game.

BK is a traditional turn-based RPG at heart, but it does have a bit of a spin to it. Rather than using weapons and armor, you use magnus cards. Magnus cards are used to trap the ‘essence' of items which may then be used to attack, defend and heal. Magnus also serve other purposes outside of combat. You can use blank magnus to trap the essence of various things throughout the world which will be needed for quests. You can also combine certain magnus to create new ones (i.e. sculpting knife + chunk of ice = ice shavings). On top of all this, some magnus will evolve as time passes, which can be quite annoying.

As you progress, you will find save flowers which, of course, allow you to save your game. These come in two versions: red and blue. The red flowers only allow you to save your game, while the blue ones have a second option of ‘going to church.' As you collect experience from battles, you will need to go to church in order to gain levels and classes. Experience points help you level up which increases your amount of hit points. In order to class up, however, you will need to find specific items. When you class up, you will be able to add more cards to your combat deck, as well as use more cards per turn in battle. (Please note that while the magnus cards are a big part of this game, this is NOT a card-battle game. I loathe card-battle games, and I assure you, this is no such thing.)

The audio in BK is a mixed bag of sorts. The voices themselves are well done, but apparently they were recorded in a bathroom made completely out of tin. It's hard to enjoy the voices with this annoying, tinny, hollow sound they are accompanied by. During combat, every card you use is paired with some phrase that the character will say. These phrases will get very redundant, particularly towards the end of the game where a boss fight may take anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours. The music is fitting to each individual situation and is extremely catchy-some of the best I've heard in a while.

BK is a good example of the fact that you don't need to revolutionize a genre in order to make a good game. Although it starts out rather slow, after about the first 20 hours, things really start to pick up and you'll find it hard to put your controller down. Since BK does start out so slowly, you may not want to play through it a second time, but at 45-plus hours of gameplay, this game is certainly worth the money.

Jan 10, 2006 | 7 comments
Kris VanHaaren