Kevin takes on Namco's latest "Tales" title on the GameCube.

One of the largest complaints that I have heard voiced about the Gamecube is the obvious lack of third party titles and the lack of RPGs. Well Namco has decided to help out Nintendo's little cube with their latest installment of "Tales" series, which has quite a fanatical fan base in Japan as well as in the States.

Story-wise, Tales Of Symphonia is very entertaining; ToS starts out in a small school where you get to meet the first three main characters of the game, Lloyd Irving, Genius Sage, and Collet Brunel. Collet is the chosen medium between God and the world, once she is old enough she will receive the word of God and will be able to carry his message to his children. One fateful day during class, a message from God is sent to the Shrine and this is when all hell breaks loose in the peaceful village Iseria. From that point this is where you begin your adventure. Tales Of Symphonia is a fantastic looking RPG with an art style that follows in the same "cel-shaded" vein as Dark Cloud 2, Sly Cooper, and of course Zelda. The game features beautiful combat scenes, spell effects and anime style art direction that really does the storyline justice. The world in ToS is very rich and vibrant; characters interact with the world and the non-player characters around them with almost flawless movements and animations. The monsters and the overworld map leave a little more to be desired, but all in all Tales is a very gorgeous game.

Tales Of Symphonia plays a little differently from any RPG that I have played thus far. You control only one character in your party and the rest are handled strictly by the game's AI. Although if you do happen to have three friends, you can play ToS as a multiplayer game where each player gets to control a character in the party. Besides multiplayer support, the combat system is what makes Tales different from the more traditional menu-based RPGs. Instead of scrolling through menus while enemies wait for you to decide what you will do, ToS puts you on a quasi-3D battle map. This allows you to dodge, attack, pull off combos, and parry with the feel of an "adventure" title more so than a RPG. The basic controls in combat are fairly simple and straight forward; the 'A' button is your character's main attack, and depending on which character you are using and what weapon you have equipped will determine the range and rate of your basic attack. While an enemy is targeted the attacking character stays on the same plane as the enemy. Pulling the 'R' trigger allows you to change targets, therefore allowing you to change what plane your character is on. This of course could play a big factor in what strategy you take for avoiding enemy attacks and setting yourself up defensively. Other ways to avoid damage are by dodging attacks via jumping and parrying attacks, which can be done with a simple push of the 'X' button and some timing. Combos can also be mapped to simple button commands as well.

All in all, Tales Of Symphonia is a fantastic looking title with a pleasant mixture of traditional and non-traditional RPG elements to create a refreshingly new gaming experience. When this game hits the shelves in the States, Gamecube owners that have been craving a true, non-card based, RPG should do themselves a favor and pick up this title. With RPGs being a rare commodity these days for the Gamecube, even in Japan, it is refreshing to see Namco coming up in spades for all of the Nintendo die-hards out there. Well now if I could only find three more people...