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Thinking. Usually a good thing, but not always. Recent RPG releases such as Unlimited Saga and Breath of Fire V have tied themselves in complicated knots trying to come up with a new approach to the format, yet have failed to tickle the public's fancy.

Now here comes Arc: Twilight of the Spirits, sauntering along the street, whistling, chillin', letting it all flow, and getting it spot-on. By distilling the pure essence of RPG gameplay, cutting it with some (occasionally) lush graphics, cool characters, a gripping plot and even some social commentary, you end up with a heartwarmingly retro yet surprisingly sophisticated RPG epic.

My Brother's A Deimos
The tale stars two brothers separated by tragedy, one human (Kharg) and one half-demon, or Deimos, (Darc). You experience their individual adventures in huge alternating chunks. At the start, the brothers are literally worlds apart, but fate draws them towards each other, despite each having sworn to annihilate the other's race. Darc's life seems relentlessly brutish. His fighting style is savage, and the people he talks to are more likely to be sarcastic, double-crossing fiends. Unsurprisingly, he often fights alone. Kharg has more friends, people happily chat to him and he usually has more allies in battle.

Deimos or human, if traditional role-playing games rock your world, Arc will draw you in and hold you spellbound. The gameplay basics may adhere unashamedly to the tried-and-trusted RPG formula of exploring, talking, levelling up and shopping, but if it works, why change it just to be clever? Why? WHY!!??