What do you get if you mix Devil May Cry, Pokemon and Kameo: Elements of Power together, then infuse the result with a touch of Ghostbusters and a dash of The Brothers Grimm? The answer is Folklore, an unusual action game with strong adventure and RPG elements, a mishmash of ideas that blend together to form a unique and addictive gaming experience.

When Folklore begins it doesn't make the greatest first impression. The CGI opening cut scene is pretty good, but the dialogue betrays its Japanese roots, falling quickly into cliché territory, while one of the first things you'll notice upon beginning the game (other than the gorgeously atmospheric visuals that batter your eyeballs with clear next generation prowess) is its very limited playing areas. Taking a cue from Devil May Cry, the village of Doolin where you begin your journey uses set camera angles to add to the atmosphere, while you're constantly walking into scenery that you can't traverse, like low verges, garden walls and even the waves lapping on the beach, which you can't splash around in, instead walking into an invisible barrier.

For a cutting edge game this feels hemmed in and unrealistic, while the vital map in the top left hand corner of the screen, which shows you the exact shape of each area you visit, is intrusive - you can switch it off, but then you'll end up walking against endless invisible barriers in an attempt to actually ascertain where the exit to the next area is; rather than cohesive environments, you suddenly jump from one confined level section to the next, often while walking down a path that shows more scenery further ahead, making for a jarring experience. The Resident Evil style load breaks between each small area (whether you're walking inside a single-roomed cottage or moving through a landscape in the Netherworld) are tiresome too, further breaking up the flow of the gameplay.

The majority of the story cut scenes are also disappointingly primitive as well; opting for a fairytale, storybook style, these scenes are viewed like the pages of a book, with stylishly rendered cut-outs that only move slightly and speech bubbles to read (you only get voice acting in the traditional cut scenes, which are few and far between). This is only made more annoying by the fact that you're constantly having to press X to move to the next part of the cut scene, often after only a couple of lines of dialogue, meaning that you can't sit back and relax while watching them. In the game you're constantly reading text too - there's no voice acting when you stop to talk with the Faerys in the Netherworld and the humans in the secretive village of Doolin; instead two 3D figures appear on-screen whose mouths simply flap meaninglessly as you read what they're saying.

Now, you might be wondering what happened to that unique and addictive gaming experience I promised - and don't worry, I'm getting to it! The reason I started off on this note was to prepare you for those aspects of the game that might put you off right at the beginning - and to help you see past them - because even if you're not initially thinking "wow, this game rocks," just give it a bit of time and complete that first Netherworld chapter; by the end you'll almost certainly be hooked.

You actually play through the whole game twice, both as the mysterious Ellen whose dead mother wrote a letter that summoned her to Doolin Village, and the enigmatic Keats, a cynical reporter for a third-rate occult magazine, brought to the island by a cryptic phone call from the same woman. The village of Doolin itself, a very authentic looking small collection of cliff-side cottages, harbours an incredible secret - it is host to an entrance to the Netherworld, a realm beyond the mortal coil that is shaped by the perceptions and emotions of humankind, and converse with the dead. As Ellen and Keats both find themselves guided into the Netherworld for different reasons, they become embroiled in quite an engaging chain of events that revolves around an incident in Doolin Village that occurred seventeen years ago, when at least three people died under very suspicious (but hereto unexplained) circumstances. Each playing a role in the drama that unfolds, they are both granted the ability to enter the five realms of the Netherworld, where there is also trouble brewing, with the rise of a threat to the fabric of the Netherworld itself.

Beyond that I won't say any more, as it would be to spoil quite an intriguing story, even if the dialogue can be clichéd at times (par for the course in any Japanese conversion) and the details sometimes nonsensical (like the ease with which Ellen gets people talking about those tragic events that usually they would never discuss, or how she finds a bottle on the beach that's been there for seventeen years and somehow has never been discovered by anyone else!) If you can overlook the unrealistic daftness of some of the minor plot devices then you're in for an enjoyable time discovering just what the hell happened in the village's past, how that is connected to Ellen and her now-dead family, and just what is going on in the Netherworld.

In a really neat touch, rather than having to play through the game entirely as one character or the other, after each chapter you can switch between them - so you can either stick as Ellen or Keats through several chapters, or see both sides of the story for each chapter as you go, filling in the blanks and viewing revelations from an alternative perspective. While they do have their own unique parts to play and indeed meet up on many occasions throughout the game, the downside of this is that when it comes to the gameplay their roles are very similar, so you have to go through the same areas, battling with the same enemies and levelling up the same weapons, twice. It's fortunate then that the nature of the gameplay is so engaging and that there are so many weapons to use (in the form of the native Folks of the Netherworld) that if you focus on using different folks for the two characters, you'll end up with two fairly different gameplay experiences.

In an unusual twist that's reminiscent of Enchanted Arms, you actually gain control of every single enemy you encounter in the whole game (bar the huge Folklore boss of each Netherworld region). Starting off with two of the weakest folks, giving you a rudimentary attack and a one-hit shield, you attack enemies and see their blue Id (their essence) knocked out of them momentarily upon landing each blow. If however you see a red shimmering barrier then they're immune to your attack and you need to choose a different creature to try out on them. Once you've hit an enemy enough times, its Id turns red and hovers above its body - then in classic Ghostbusters style you fire out a twisting beam of energy that looks like a flowing rope of light and hoist them inside you. This is a really great mechanic and variety is added in that you get combos for absorbing multiple enemies at once, but they only stay dazed with a red Id temporarily - so getting half a dozen or more in one go is a challenge, but very satisfying to pull off. The motion for absorbing the Id is great too - you flick the SIXAXIS controller up as if you're literally yanking out their spirit.

Larger enemies are trickier though and can only be absorbed one at a time - Ids can be several different colours, denoting different movements. Blue means you must sway your controller left and right, to bash their Id from one side to the other until they're weakened enough to rip it out of them, while with green you have to wait until the Id turns red and then whip the controller up, repeating this several times. A yellow Id means that you must use subtle adjustments to keep the Id from swaying left or right and orange sees you shaking your controller only while the Id stays orange. The huge Folklore bosses combine these methods, really keeping you on your toes after the often-prolonged multi-stage assaults needed to get at their Id.

The range of folks on offer is fantastic - each of the uniquely themed regions, from the relaxing and picturesque Faery Realm to the ruined warzone of Warcadia and the underwater majesty of Undersea City, has its own selection of folks with their own unique powers. Some charge at you, some attack with multiple combo melee moves, others fire projectiles or try to stun you, or put you to sleep. Many foes have several moves (like projectile and melee attacks, perhaps with water or shock elemental slants). There are some big beasts to face in every zone, like a giant fish that fires homing rockets out of its mouth, a furry black beast that can turn itself into a huge ball of spikes, a scorpion-like tank with machine guns and a mortar cannon, a giant bird with a wind attack and many, many more - over fifty in fact! This is where the Pokemon element comes into play, because you've gotta catch 'em all! Many of the folks are key for defeating other folks or taking down the Folklore at the end of the level, as well as breaking barriers that require a shock or wind attack to progress. It becomes very addicting to visit each new realm and hunt down each creature - but that's only the beginning.

Once you have absorbed a new folk you can go and check it out in the inventory, read a description, see a picture and then view the two to four conditions for releasing karma - which basically enhances your creature by reducing magic consumption (every folk uses up magic energy but your bar restores itself after a few seconds), increasing attack or defence power, lengthening its effect or increasing the area of effect. There are three methods to achieve this - some require that you simply absorb a certain number of Ids for that folk, others will require that you defeat a set number of folks (if you keep attacking when an Id is red then your enemy dies and fades to nothing) or a set number of a certain type of folk. Finally, you might be required to give your folk a set number of items, like five purple dust vials or ten warm pulse nuts. Items can be found in crystals, dropped by folks you've vanquished or given as a reward when you complete side quests, available to sign on for down the your local pub in the real world, which at night plays host to the bizarre looking half-lives.

With such an array of cool looking folks at your disposal, the attack system feels a bit limited - you hit L2 to bring up the selection screen and assign one folk to each of the four face buttons, so later on in the game you'll be constantly switching your selections, which is a bit of a chore. It's a shame that a better system wasn't implemented, like the Quick Select method in Ratchet & Clank for example. Still, this is a minor annoyance that you will adjust to. Once you've got four folks assigned to the face buttons, you simply hit the corresponding button (a display with pictures of your folks is onscreen at all times) to activate them. Some can be charged up for extra power, some use combo melee attacks, some fire explosive projectiles or glue certain enemies to the spot, others send your foes to sleep or create a protective shield around you.

Discovering which folks work best against other folks is a lot of fun - I discovered that one fairly tough type could be put to sleep with one attack, giving me a red Id straight away, while others could be frozen to the spot by repeated shock attacks, giving me the chance to attack some more while they're helpless. You'll soon find your favourites (mine include a group of four sniper faerys who are quick and powerful when fully upgraded) but the combinations of folks in any given area is very clever, so you will find yourself using completely different combinations from one area to the next, picking those folks that are most effective against the folks you're currently facing.

Visually, Folklore is luscious to behold and while understated at times, everything is beautifully rendered and sports a loving attention to detail, as well as some amusing and creative designs for the folks. The animation on all the folks is fantastic and the way you see each creature appear when you launch their attack is reminiscent of Kameo: Elements of Power, as is the way you use the different powers your many forms possess. Characters you come across like the half-lives in the local pub and the faerys you meet are also brimming with personality and typically quirky for a Japanese game. Some of the environments could have been better though - the Undersea City wasn't quite as pretty as I'd hoped it would be, while the Endless Corridors realm isn't very visually appealing and features some of the most frustrating gameplay in the whole game, which is a bit of a sticking point until you eventually get past it. The ambient sound is excellent though; you'll hear waves lapping the shore and the wind blowing past you in the lonely village of Doolin, while the bubbling of the Undersea City and the constant shelling and plane engines of Warcadia add to the atmosphere nicely. The music is a mixed bag; some levels have enjoyable tunes while others are less easy on the ears - they still fit with the theme of the realm you're in but aren't that melodic.

It'll be a while before you make it through your adventure too - the five realms (plus the Core) aren't huge but they have plenty of areas to explore and with the addition of side quests (and the option to download new ones) plus the exploration and interaction with characters in the real world, there's easily fifteen to twenty hours of gameplay here - and you can double that if you intend to fully upgrade every last one of your folks for both Keats and Ellen.

Folklore is something of an acquired taste; it won't appeal to everyone, but those who do take a liking to it will find an absorbing adventure filled with unusual gameplay ideas that have been implemented very well - the engaging dual story played from different perspectives chapter by chapter, a fresh take on fairies and the afterlife, and the concept of capturing over fifty enemies to unlock a multitude of varied attacks. With some great usage of the SIXAXIS for that extra bit of immersion and some wonderfully imaginative, often sumptuous visuals, this fairy tale is anything but grimm!

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).