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By Contributing Writer Rob Pecknold Rating: Awesome I can easily say without hesitation that Xenogears is one of the greatest role-play-games of all time. The story is so engrossing and awe- inspiring that you can't help but feel sorry for the characters or cheer them on at various points in the game. It's easy to get lost when playing, and I don't mean lost in the sense that you don't know where you're going, I mean lost in the sense that nothing else in the world matters but playing the game. One time, I played the game from 5:00 PM to 3:00 AM and didn't even realize I had been playing for ten hours until I looked at the clock. Xenogears is the story of a young boy, Fei, who has no memory of his past. He lives in a small village on the border of Kislev and Aveh, two countries who have been at war for years. This village, Lahan, is very remote, and has very little contact with the outside world. A famous doctor named Citan Uzuki lives in a home at the top of a mountain near Lahan. After Fei goes to Citan's home for some accessories, a large group of giant robots invade the town, and this is where the story begins... Before I go any further, let me just say that if you're a sucker for anime and giant robots, you should go out buy Xenogears right now without even thinking twice. The anime scenes are extremely impressive, and very similar in style to Ghost in the Shell. The animation is strict anime fare, which gives the game an all-around good feel, but also results in some fairly jerky movements. But any problems with the game's animation are overshadowed by the "Gears," which are really amazing and are some of the best, most majestic mech designs I've ever seen. In his quest for his past, Fei meets up with a number of humorous and colorful characters who really make the story believable. The characters are made up of 2D sprites, but the environments they interact with are fully polygonal, and the two styles blend together fairly well. But while the graphics try very hard to be impressive, some slowdown is noticeable, and there is some obvious polygon breaking at times. It's been a while since Xenogears was released in Japan, and the game shows its age in its graphics. One really amzing thing about this game is the music. The soundtrack, composed by Chrono Trigger veteran Yosunori Mitsuda, stands out as one of the greatest soundtracks ever. All the themes are stirring and epic, and convey senses of emotion you never thought you had. An amazing effort by Square after the fairly bad soundtracks of Parasite Eve and to a lesser extent, Final Fantasy 7 (which I believe had weak music compared to some other Square games). Another thing fairly refreshing in Xenogears is the battles. You truly get the feeling of opening a can of whup-@$$ when you use some of the stronger attacks, which are very much like the attacks found in many fighting games. Square has gone back to the basics with this monumental RPG. If you own a PlayStation and have any interest in RPGs, then by all means buy Xenogears, my pick for RPG of the year. You won't regret it.
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