I'm always very pessimistic about games called Dragon Quest or Lord of Zoltan or The Search for the Lost Enchanted Knee of King Shazbut, not because I have a speech impediment, but because fantasy games just aren't my bag. They merely make me think of greasy kids with no friends, playing hour upon hour of these games until they actually believe they possess magic powers, and then use them to sit in their room playing even more, rather than casting a spell on a girl so they can actually get a date. However, if that stereotype ever did actually exist, the fact is that it died with the early Nineties, along with shellsuits, the Amiga 1200 and Bananarama. Nowadays, RPG fantasy games have gained a very strong following, appealing more widely to gamers, to the point where even I have found myself playing the likes of the Final Fantasy series when I should be working, eating or sleeping.

The story of Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King begins in a lonely clearing where a fat Cockney is expressing his amazement that our own character has begun working for the small green lawsuit that is standing next to him (do they not know that George Lucas likes to sue?) Yoda is complaining that his daughter is missing, but before anyone can tell him to use the Force, the clip-clop of her hooves comes into earshot - oh, his daughter is a horse!? After some informative dialogue, the first glimpse of combat is laid out in front of us.

The fighting system is the type that you would expect from an RPG, in that players take turns to perform some kind of action in order to rid their opponents of their life points. The first point to make here is that you are immediately disadvantaged by the fact that you rarely go first, so you're likely to lose points whatever happens. There is a variety of actions from which to choose, so you have the choice to attempt to intimidate your opponent, attack them in a variety of ways, try to defend against their attack, make use of an item, or run away with your tail between your legs. There are some useful special abilities and magic spells, which can be quite cute, such as the devilish dance where you just can't, you just can't, you just can't control your feet (Michael Jackson). The likelihood is that if you go gung-ho into this section of the game, however, you will quickly fail in your quest, because at the beginning you are very weak and could quite easily be wiped out by a group of enemies. However, with time taken to explore the huge landscape and interact with the countless NPCs, you can prepare yourself to take on any of the wide variety of enemies and beef up your skills and strengths as you go through the experience levels and gain new abilities and magic.

The controls require very little explanation; at one point I entered a room and pressed the X button to interact with a young townswoman, who began to inform me of the intricate controls of the game. "Don't forget that special button," she said; and believe me, you won't, because it's all you ever use. X this, X that, you can't help but feel that the other dozen or so buttons have been somewhat wasted on Dragon Quest. Still, it's really no different to the Final Fantasy approach, as RPGs aren't about direct action, but about the story, character progression and strategies used during battles.

The storyline is quite interesting and the characters invoke a 'with them all the way' veneer that is quite endearing, mainly because of Yangus (played by comedian Ricky Glover). The game's website claims he has a rather dodgy past and going by his accent and constant use of the expression "Look lively!" one can only assume he used to kick people's heads in with various other beer swilling West Ham fans. As you progress on your quest to catch up with the person responsible for turning the king and his daughter into a little green goblin and a horse, respectively, you meet up with many quirky and amusingly voiced characters, some of whom join your party and become a vital part of the combat later on. The voice acting really is good fun; it's often over the top and clichéd, but in a way that's deliberate and very appealing.

Dragon Quest boasts an enormous playing environment, in which every NPC can perform some sort of interaction with the main character. Although the majority just give you a brief clue into what is going on at the time, it's truly amazing the amount of characters that you can actually have a conversation with to gather information on your quest. That enormous playing environment also looks luscious, with superbly detailed landscapes and intricately crafted buildings within the towns, right down to the furnishings and decoration. Against that backdrop are some of the nicest looking cartoon characters you'll ever lay your eyes on, created in a similar style to that of Jet Set Radio - fully 3D characters drawn and outlined in a traditional cartoon way. The characters show a deep level of care involved in their design, whilst having that lovable cartoon feel about them - and the same can be said about the vast range of imaginative and often bizarre enemies that you will face in battle. While they're never as spectacular or stunning as Final Fantasy, the game benefits from this, as the battles are lightning fast and progress very quickly without the extended animations and build up that we've come to love in the FF games. Unfortunately, I cannot be so complimentary about the music - there is no disputing the talent of the full orchestra that has performed the musical score, but the themes themselves are often ridiculously overdramatic and can quickly become irritating, while also often not even fitting in with what is actually going on in the game.

Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King is a worthy successor to the now long-running and highly acclaimed Dragon Quest series. With an endearing cartoon style, quirky characters and a fun story, most RPG fans will take to the game's charms without a second thought. However, in many ways this game is like 'Final Fantasy Lite' and those RPG gamers who thrive on the spectacular settings, stunning monsters, epic storyline and depth of customisation that are pre-requisite in every FF game might just find Dragon Quest too simple for their tastes, while those that have never taken to the genre are going to find nothing here that will change their opinions.

Reviewed by Rob Byron for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).