Gamertell

Namco Bandai’s Eternal Sonata, winner of GameTrailers’ “Best Role Playing Game” and IGN’s “Best Artistic Design” awards at this year’s E3 expo, was released last Tuesday (August 7th, 2007) as a free demo available for download on Xbox Live.

The game was released in Japan on June 14, 2007, where it did very well despite the traditionally weak sales of Microsoft products in that market. The game is scheduled for release on September 19, 2007, here in the States.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the game is that the story takes place during the final moments of famous pianist and composer Frederick Chopin’s life. The fantasy world is inhabited by people on the verge of death, asleep and dreaming, which is a relief from the standard fare of most RPG’s these days. The game actually incorporates Chopin’s music as well.

There’s also a very cool hybrid battle system which is essentially turn based but characters are given a set amount of time in which they can perform as many actions or movements as they can. The timer doesn’t start counting down until you move your character, which gives you a chance to think about what you want to do before you do it.

This game will be on the top of the list for casual and hardcore RPG gamers alike come this fall. It’s beautifully rendered and lots of fun to play. Look for it to beat the pants off of Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey in terms of sales, both of which are titles that look like they will simply be rehashing old RPG elements and covering them with next-gen-graphics sauce. No thanks. Pass the Sonata please.

See [Eternal Sonata] Also See [Xbox]