It's been a long time since a Nintendo console was the go-to system for RPG fans and however much contemporary relevance the Virtual Console and Square Enix's daisy-chain of DS-bound remakes may have lent the genre's golden years on the SNES, the case with the Wii has to date proven little different than the lamentable early stages of the N64 and its misbegotten successor, the Gamecube. Ready at Dawn's port of the painterly PS2 favourite Okami tops the fledgling list, with strategy RPG Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and, at a push, Super Paper Mario rounding out the few choice genre efforts available to Nintendo fans with a taste for role-playing. More than a year after launch, it's a sad and ultimately rather predictable state of affairs for the Wii to be mired in; despite their sales dominance and an assured slate of innovation, Nintendo's same-old shortcomings have begun to shine through the mediated veneer of success they've achieved this generation. Add pointed ignorance towards the core gamers that helped the Wii break out in the first place to the usual suspects: questionable quality control, a poor track record of third party support and that old chestnut, franchise fatigue. For its part, Opoona is hardly likely to change that lamentable fact; but although it looks to have been lost already amid the glut of ill-conceived tie-ins and waggle-enhanced flash games available for Nintendo's revolutionary little box, Japanese developers ArtePiazza have with their first original IP taken an important step in the right direction.

The eponymous Opoona is the eldest of three Tizian siblings who, at the outset - as in so many star-cross'd RPGs - is separated from his family. Suddenly in danger, Mameena and Papeena hurry their children into escape pods and when Opoona awakens on the planet Landroll he cannot recall how he got there. He knows that, above all else, he must set about finding his brother and sister so that they might reunite with their parents and return home but, in order to do so, Opoona must live as a citizen of Landroll, abiding always by their laws and customs. He takes a job as a ranger, using his unique bonbon - a ball of energy that hovers above his head like a halo - to defend the Landroll colonies from the rogues that threaten to devastate its people, but soon enough Opoona realises that there is more at stake than a simple family reunion.

Despite occasional echoes of genre greats, gone but not forgotten - besides the understandable similarities with the Dragon Quest franchise, there are also strains of Star Ocean in its first few movements - the simplistic narrative never aspires to any kind of awe or grandeur. It's slight, superfluous and ultimately somewhat forgettable, which, considering the sloppy localisation evident throughout, is perhaps for the best. Still, it's charming enough to serve its singular purpose, which is to set in motion the three distinct mechanics that make up the vast majority of Opoona's gameplay: questing, grinding and working. Yes, working. It's to ArtePiazza's credit that in each of these ways - even the decidedly unappealing latter - their defining experience with the monolithic Square Enix comes through, although one suspects never quite to its fullest potential.

Opoona begins his journey in Lifeborn, the first and most developed of Landroll's five domes, and while there's not a lot to do there initially, it's doesn't take too long for the world to widen some. However, before the unassuming little Tizian can hop on the inter-colony express in pursuit of adventure and his lost family, he has to earn his passage by achieving certain quotas - which is to say jobs - set by the licensing centre's quest-givers. The story objectives aren't particularly imaginative in themselves - defeating all the rogues in a specific area or finding a set number of special items in another is a fair assessment of what most amount to - but thankfully Landroll has more than story missions to occupy its citizens. There's a license centre in each of the colonies and the further you progress through the story, the wider the variety of part-time careers becomes. You can be a farmer, a detective, a delivery boy, a fisherman and plenty else besides - and whether the individual experiences amount to a memory test or a little exploration, a mini-game or a fetch quest, they're diverse enough as a whole to entertain. At the least they're a welcome relief from the random battles that you're assaulted with as soon as you leave the dome - this isn't to say those encounters aren't worthwhile, only that they're random, and that, well, there are rather a lot of them.

Luckily, the battle system is compelling enough to stand strong against the barrage of encounters that so often impede your progress. There's a steadfast two-minute upper limit on the length of fights, after which the Tizian explorer keels over exhausted - but most battles are over in just a few seconds. Opoona uses a rudimentary sort of Flick It system; just as the right stick was tied to your board in EA Black Box's skate, your bonbon is ruled by the stick on the Nunchuck, which you can pull in any direction and then release to direct your throw appropriately. The longer you hold the stick, the more energy you channel into your elastic bonbon; the more powerful the bonbon, the faster it travels and the higher the damage it inflicts upon the rogues that hinder your advancement. Short of an excellent sense of timing, however, you're defenceless while you're charging attacks, and the more powerful your first strike, the longer you have to wait for a chance to follow up. Not only that but a straight throw might only glance some stronger rogues, so you have to angle your attack towards weak spots on the back or side of some enemies. And don't think the clock stops to let you pull off special attacks or use recovery items from the menus; every action you take plays out in real time. The countdown won't often expire, but its presence creates an imperative to push ever onwards, meaning that battles are quick and surprisingly strategic. There's a little depth to be plumbed in terms of stat-management, too; you can customise your bonbon with coatings of fire and ice - to name but a few - which add secondary, elemental damage to your attacks, or fit new and improved cores to increase its weight, strength and speed. Different rogues are vulnerable to different elements, of course, and a few apposite modifications go some way to making the harder enemies more manageable. When all is said and done, the encounter mechanics come together to make a neat and rather satisfying system.

What's astonishing about how natural everything feels is that you can control all of this with just the Nunchuck: two buttons and a stick. It sucks power from the Wiimote, so you will still have it on your lap, but the only controls mapped to it are shortcuts that you can access just as circuitously with the Z-trigger. Experienced gamers will likely opt for the more reassuring layout of the Classic Controller - and perhaps they should - but for all its limitations, the Nunchuck proves to be a surprisingly functional alternative. If you've neither a Nunchuck or Classic Controller, though, no dice; the Wiimote-only scheme is serviceable but clunky enough to suck some of the simple pleasure from the experience. From the ground up, then, ArtePiazza have crafted as accessible a game as possible. It's not quite My First RPG but it's certainly more approachable than Infinite Undiscovery or Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. The casual crowd will appreciate the simple controls, the unobtrusive story and the appealingly pared-down characters (as in, devoid of the usual emo accoutrements). They won't, however, be so enthused about all the grinding necessary in order to button-mash through the high rate of encounters - and they certainly won't tolerate the appalling, mouse-in-a-maze level design or the restrictive camera. Core gamers, meanwhile, know well enough how to babysit a camera, although ArtePiazza have made the process rather more cumbersome here than the engine's limitations merit, and there are enough maps, arrows, and guided tours for experienced players to get their bearings from eventually, but that market will slip away in want of a deeper battle system, a more involved narrative and a general understanding that worthwhile games should not be more frustrating than they are rewarding. By trying to cater to two very different audiences, Opoona ultimately falls short of the high watermark set by crossover RPGs such as Dragon Quest and in doing so the developers run the risk of alienating every variety of gamer by limiting or outright ignoring their individual expectations.

First impressions aren't usually substantial enough to found a fair and balanced opinion, but Opoona's looks are so-so from the get-go and you'll find little variety later on to change your mind. We have renowned art designer Shintaro Majima to thank for an admittedly charming aesthetic - cute characters and adorable enemies go some way to spicing things up - but so many of the environments are otherwise dull and uninspired that it's hard to believe he had much to do with any of them. The last dome, Blue Desert, and many of the more visually appealing areas are locked away long past the point that the patience of most players will give out. NPCs are cloned everywhere you go and textures are lifeless and repeated ad nauseum; there's not nearly enough variety to distinguish the supposedly distinct domes from one another. You'll see screen tearing and visible artefacting during loads that could have you questioning the health of your expensive new telly; and, believe it or not, there's no 16x9 support. In this day and age? Really?

Singularly the best, and certainly the most consistent aspect of Opoona, is the music. Soundtrack producer Hitoshi Sakimoto, whose work on Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII brought much acclaim, has been applauded aplenty for the excellent score, but the credit should be shared with his company Basiscape, whose contribution to Odin Sphere might be a more familiar yardstick for RPG fans stuck with the slim genre pickings available on Nintendo platforms to measure by. There's no voice work at all, which, again, we should probably be thankful for, while the sound effects are otherwise uninspired. Still, the music is truly superlative; the most emotional moments in Opoona aren't driven by dialogue or action but by the swelling of Basiscape's synth-driven orchestra. Adorable and upbeat, Sakimoto's studio has captured the essential characters and beats of ArtePiazza's first original IP better than any non-interactive story sequence.

Another six months in development and a little play-testing would have done Opoona the world of good - and from the inconsequential whimper of its arrival at retail, the wait could hardly have hurt - but as it stands, this is an able RPG that's brought down by some questionable design decisions. Aurally and even artistically, the development team are on a strong enough footing to stand against the industry's most experienced outlets, but their grip on several of the more elementary aspects of game design proves tentative at best. Navigation is never less than a chore and the contrary camera needs constant nannying; if you can deal with these irritations then there's a reasonably deep experience to be had, only then presuming you appreciate that this game was made at every stage for you and the other guy. There's depth for the core and there's pick-up-and-play for the casual crowd, but they're each half of an experience that a little less ambition and a tighter focus would have strengthened immeasurably. Nevertheless, if you can reign in your expectations then Opoona is a fun, light-hearted fluffer of a game that remains, as an RPG on the Wii, among the best of a wanting lot.

Reviewed by Niall Rough for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).