La Pucelle: Tactics

The developers of last year?s strategy/RPG sleeper hit Disgaea return to the tactical combat arena with the highly enjoyable and surprisingly complex La Pucelle: Tactics.

Japanese developer Nippon Ichi seems to have no qualms in borrowing huge portions of gameplay from their Square Soft contemporaries as La Pucelle is chock full of remarkable ?similarities? that seem to have been plucked straight out of both Final Fantasy Tactics games. However, you?d be dead wrong to dismiss this game as a rip-off or a remake of Final Fantasy Tactics as great care has obviously been taken in extracting only the best elements of that series and combining them with a refreshingly intricate and customizable magic system.

Parlez-Vous Japanese?
Set in a pseudo-French nation, you control a set of young demon hunters caught in an adventure involving corrupt clergy, time travel, miracles, a Dark Prince, and a demonic war for supremacy in Hell (though unfortunately, heavy doses of campy dialogue and slapstick humor leave the story feeling a bit childish). The inclusion of Dark Portals (along with the awesome ability to convert enemy monsters into allies) is one of the most unique and creative aspects of La Pucelle: Tactics. By channeling the energy streams emitted from the Dark Portals and then ?purifying? them, you can release powerful Miracles capable of healing your comrades or destroying your foes and stopping new enemies from appearing.

Every Rose Has Its Thorns
Sadly, a host of nagging aesthetic gripes and a few minor camera and control issues hinder La Pucelle: Tactics from being a truly fantastic strategy/RPG. Graphically speaking, La Pucelle fails to even scrape the surface of the PS2?s capabilities, while the soundtrack quickly grows tiresome when repeated during protracted battles. Also, the welcome ability to rotate the levels in 90-degree increments is inexplicably absent in a number of stages, making the purification of Dark Portals an unnecessarily difficult chore.

Even so, when taken as a whole, La Pucelle: Tactics is a great strategy/RPG loaded with hours upon hours of solid gameplay, multiple endings, side-quests, and a high degree of customization (you can upgrade everything from spells to items, and even synthesize them). Though it?s unlikely this complex and quirky French-feeling Japanese role-player will receive any mainstream success here in the U.S., fans of the Final Fantasy Tactics series and Disgaea owe it to themselves to check this title out?it?s not one to be missed.

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