Eternal Ring

Super-console PlayStation 2 is gradually increasing its variety of games since its release in November 2000. After the disappointment of Orphen, acclaimed publisher and developer Ubi Soft's Eternal Ring has a much tougher challenge to crack a cautious audience. With the words `Who Said Fantasies Had To Be Final' written on the back of the cover, Eternal Ring has given itself a lot to live up to. Has Final Fantasy finally met its equal?

Eternal Ring's first-person point of view is one of a few exceptions within the role-playing genre, and on first impressions the game presents itself more as a Doom clone than any other game type. However, shortly after beginning the game on the Island of No Return, you will witness the appearance of swords, hit points, magic points and fantasy beings such as dragons. Now that's more like it.

To the joy of role-playing fans across the globe, there are no random battles, only real-time encounters. Venturing into the games menu system initially provokes feelings of confusion and will seem a little daunting. But after a few hours of play, the game mechanics can be mastered and the learning curve will seem much flatter. Unfortunately the first-person approach makes manoeuvring around the full 3D world a little more challenging than it should be with a PlayStation pad, forcing you to make precise movements when combatting evil dragons and the like. We can't help but feel Eternal Ring would have benefitted so much more from a mouse and a keyboard.

Although more technologically advanced than any existing Final Fantasy game, it lacks the addictive progression system that Square have mastered so well. But with no Final Fantasy game due on PlayStation 2 for quite some time, Eternal Ring should satisfy RPG fans' appetites for a while.