Having been monumentally disappointed with Blue Dragon, which had been purported as one of the great RPGs for the 360, I was slightly skeptical about Eternal Sonata when I heard ruminations of the same kind of billing. Other than the wonderful Oblivion and its Shivering Isles expansion there has been virtually no RPG of any note on the 360, which is an absolute shame. We've all had to console ourselves with the blissful thought that Mass Effect is on its way, but just as it's approaching there's a new and unexpected contender on the block in the form of Eternal Sonata. Can it compete for our time in an ever-crowded Christmas for the Xbox 360?

I must admit that I was most intrigued when I first heard the story for this game: an RPG centred around Eighteenth Century composer Frederic Chopin, hours before his death at the young age of 39 in 1849. While on his deathbed, Chopin has started to imagine a fantasy world where terminally ill people are gifted with magical powers and where he meets a young girl called Polka who takes him on an amazing adventure filled with colourful and vibrant characters. The characters he meets on this journey are attempting to prevent the Kingdom of Forte, led by Prince Waltz, from continuing to use mineral powder, a drug that can cure illness but that also maddens, enslaves and then kills its users. By taking the drug, the dying are granted magic powers that Forte plans to use against the neighbouring Kingdom of Baroque and its leader Prince Crescendo. Chopin find himself immersed within this turbulent world and is forced to look within his soul to see if he has what it takes to help the people of Forte.

What strikes you first and foremost as you play Eternal Sonata is that this is one of the most visually impressive RPG titles ever made, replete with sumptuous landscapes and beautifully rendered characters. The game follows the traditional mechanic of the RPG, with exploration of an overworld and dungeon crawling. Surprisingly you're not provided with a map, which can often make it very difficult to find your way around; it only takes a few minutes of carelessness to find yourself stumbling blindly between locations, which can be extremely frustrating.

On your travels you will of course encounter lots of enemies. The battles in this game are a blend of both action and strategy, much like the recent Final Fantasy XII. Enemies appear onscreen as you're walking around and you can either avoid them or choose to take them on in battle, thankfully rejecting the mandatory random battles system that has plagued many an RPG over the years. When you initiate battle, it's split into two sections - tactics and action. When it's your turn, you choose what move you'd like to use and then you must run towards your enemy and hit the A button to swing your weapon. Similarly, you can block when it's the enemy's turn to attack; as the enemy strikes, you have the chance to tap the B button in order to try and lessen the damage. This is a great little addition to the gameplay, as often in RPG turn-based combat once you've performed your attack you just feel powerless as you watch the enemy lash into you. It also helps keep the action fresh and keeps you feeling more involved in each battle.

In addition to the great battle system, Eternal Sonata provides even more original gameplay with its 'light versus dark' combat. Whenever a player begins a battle, the battlefield has areas that are brightly lit, as well as areas that are shrouded in darkness, and where you and your enemies choose to stand and fight can affect the outcome of the battle. Each character has their own special attack, which can be used to either inflict great damage or heal others and you can have two powers, one for light and the other for dark instances. Depending on whether you're in the light or dark, your relevant special power will work better or worse and your enemies react to light and dark in the same way, with some becoming even more dangerous when they enter dark regions. Enemies also have special attack powers that they can use on you, depending on whether they're in the light or dark. This makes for an interesting take on the RPG turn-based combat system and it's something that I expect many competitors will take on board and try to adapt for future titles.

There is one big problem with the game that has repercussions on the battle engine however; your main character and any subsequent followers who join them cannot be crafted into your own preferred class. Instead, each character is preset with their own traits, skills, weapons and special attacks to such an extent that, even when you level up, you can't choose what new special attacks you would like to add.

It must be said that this is among the most beautiful games out on the Xbox 360, using a cel-shaded graphical style that's reminiscent of Dragon Quest on PS2 but obviously much, much better looking. There are moments in Eternal Sonata when you'll stop and stare at the landscape, mesmerised by its beauty. There are also plenty of stunning cut scenes and battle animations to discover, which further display the high production values that you'll find ever present throughout the game. However, like Blue Dragon, there are way too many cut scenes and they're oh so very long. Sometimes when you're playing it almost feels like you're watching a movie with the odd little bit of interactivity where you drop in and out of the game. Japanese RPGs are seemingly obsessed with these long, sweeping cut scenes - it's big in Japan, but some of us prefer to keep the focus on the gameplay!

The game also uses a fixed camera, which can cause problems if there's somewhere you really want to look but can't. This is a minor gripe though, because for the most part this system works very well and lets you know the limitations of where you can and can't go. The game also has a fantastic soundtrack, fitting to a game inspired by the life of Chopin. It features a veritable dearth of Chopin's classic works, cleverly used to inject pace and gusto into the game when the action of a battle kicks in, then to bring it back down to a blissful, calm jaunt as you stroll through fields and country and lanes. The voice acting is less accomplished but definitely bearable, even if there are literally hours of cut scenes that you have to trawl through.

I really enjoyed Eternal Sonata. There are dozens of hours of gameplay available with numerous quests to embark upon, fantastical items, weapons and armour to collect and a genuinely thought provoking and accomplished story that I don't dare to reveal any more about for fear of ruining it for everyone. This is a game that's had a lot of love lavished upon it and you can tell this by how stunning it looks, as well as its polished, tight gameplay. I can't recommend Eternal Sonata highly enough. Sure, it's very cutesy in areas, with lots of flowers and girls skipping about in dresses - but it's an absolute corker of a game and hopefully will become a sleeper hit in the run up to Xmas.

Reviewed by Ross Alexander for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).