New land-making RPG sure to please classic game fans

Sony have planned at least one RPG for the March 4, 2000 debut of PlayStation2, a game by the name of Dark Cloud. The game stars an innocent but adventuresome boy who must return a strange floating plot of land to its original place, presumably on Earth, or at least a place that looks just like it. He knows how to land his giant hovering island, but removing the evil kingdom that's uprooted and replaced his future village is more challenging than it may seem. Travelling back and forth from his island in the sky to nearby villages, the young central character trades information and gains allies in his quest.

What makes Dark Cloud so intriguing isn't so much the graphics, which look as good as any seen on a Dreamcast or high-end PC, but the game's 'Georama' system, which enables players to create their own town using several on-screen tools. The aim of the game is to build up an island, creating a village with houses, hills, churches, temples, volcanoes and streams. There's even a choice of weather. Players can build paths, bridges, windmills and other necessary structures as well, and if they're unhappy with them, a hammer-like tool can be used to destroy them before rebuilding.

Reminiscent of Legend of Mana's land-make system, the Georama system also has an extremely compelling feature. By using a combination of Select and other buttons, players use a menu-based system to create their village, and once finished they can immediately adventure in it. The camera zooms from the isometric map to the actual playfield in a sweet, graphic effect never seen before. The system is extremely easy to use and it's relatively quick, too.

Unfortunately, no battle scenes were available for play at the show so it's unclear right now whether they're real-time or turn-based.


Courtesy of IGN.com