Okay, this game is just weird. I love anime, and the only thing stopping Orphen from hitting the bottom rung, is the cut scenes, as the graphics, sounds, voices, and story just blow (to be ever so blunt). I apologize to any developers who may read this, but it just seems to me that the development kits didn't arrive at your desks early enough. Orphen's idea had some promise, but the release should've been held back for some major tweaking!

Visually the lighting effects are done well, but that's where the prettiness ends. Stiff, lifeless, poorly animated bodies await your control. Backgrounds are poorly textured and they do not draw you into the game at all. Also there are major clipping problems to be seen everywhere. The only real visual splendor is held in the battle scenes, which are too few to keep one interested and the anime cut scenes, which are nice and clear FMV. Orphen would've benefited more on the original PSX, because this game isn't up to snuff on the mighty PlayStation 2.

The audio experience is more bad than good, with the best probably being the orchestrated musical score. Then you are all of a sudden deafened by some of the WORST voice acting known to gaming. These character voices are just plain annoying, and make it hard for a player to want to get involved with the story. Too bad a text option wasn't offered, as I would love to read through this one, as opposed to listening to Cleo bitch and moan. Even the sound effects aren't done to the PS2's advantage. This is just a bad example of the PS2's sound potential.

Gameplay is also a pain. Not only do you struggle moving around the tight environments, but also the battle system is just too damn weird! From the odd choice of real time battles, to having to push start to change equipment. It's just strange to have to time your attacks in that way, and one wishes a different battle system were chosen, as they do look nice. Changing lead characters thoughout the game adds to the replay value, and essentially gives you three endings. This is a great idea, but the game is so hard to get into, it makes you wonder if you'll actually try to accomplish this feat.

When the dust settles, Orphen is summed up as a poorly translated, and obvious first generation RPG. It doesn't stand out at all, and will be buried by plenty of other RPG's on the system. I have to say, wait for the price to drop to around 30 bucks to try it, as there are better games to play not only on the PS2, but even the PSone!