Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, Nintendo GameCube

The constellation of Cetus, or the Whale, was considered by the ancients to be a huge sea monster, about to devour Andromeda as Perseus raced to the rescue. Baten Kaitos, or Zeta Ceti, forms the belly of the whale in the constellation, and is the faintest of its four named stars. Baten Kaitos is a dying star of 2.5 solar masses. It is also the title of a new game from Namco, out on Nintendo Gamecube, subtitled Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. The game takes place on a continent floating in the sky and inhabited by a winged race. But an evil plot threatens to undermine the peaceful society. The hero of the piece is Kalas, a young man with a bad attitude searching for the killers of his grandfather and younger brother. Kalas was born with one wing and so has a prosthetic 'winglet' on one side. Xelha is his female counterpart, and is determined to stop the evil plot she knows is afoot. Kalas has become one with a mysterious guardian spirit that can at times possess him. The wishes of this spirit are of course determined by you, the player. The game is an RPG, with an intricate plot unfolding over 60 hours. The main meat of the gameplay is the battle mode, which uses a card system but is more akin to poker than conventional card battling RPGs. The card-determined outcomes of battles are rendered on screen in colourful 3D with spectacular spell effects, and the selection of more than 1000 cards ensure that there is plenty of tactical longevity. Enriching the visual feast is character design by renowned Japanese artist Nakaba Higurashi (never before involved in video game development), and the accompanying sound is the work of famed composer Motoi Sakuraba, who worked on Namco's Tales of Phantasia series. Eagerly awaited by RPG fans, Baten Kaitos promises to be a cerebral adventure made all the richer by its high production values.

Buy Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean for 19.99 GBP

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