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East meets West, shakes hands, then sits down for a tasty bowl of sushi and shepherds pie. Steve Fenn checks it out

Revenant is a strange hybrid of an RPG: part Western old-schoolism (think Diablo\Baldur's Gate), part Eastern new wave style (Final Fantasy, Grandia, etc), and all most, most weird. There’s absolutely zilch in the way of character choice for instance. Nothing much in the way of character progression either. And the pre-set moral orientation allows little room for manoeuvre in terms of real dialogue or action choices. So why is Revenant so good to actually play?

Well, it all seems to fit somehow, for starters. But more importantly Revenant has a number of redeeming features that more than make up for its inadequacies.

Firstly, the visuals. They're isometric, but they’re isometric with a capital L for Luscious. Secondly, the combat. It's a console-style beat-'em-up system (read: combinations of key presses combined with the distance from your target) with a reward factor that never lets up. And lastly, the learning curve. Quite simply, it's an absolute joy.

Revenant certainly won't please the purists - it’s just far too much of an un-beardy experience - but if you're looking for an easily accessible, entertaining romp through adventure land, you'd be hard put to find something better than this.