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 ([i]Tales of Symphonia[/i], [i]Paper Mario[/i], [i]Skies of Arcadia Legends[/i], etc.) are very good titles. Well, now you can add to this list Namco’s latest: [i]Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean[/i].

[i]BK[/i] 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.

[i]BK[/i] 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.

[i]BK[/i] 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 A