At first glance, Lunar may look like any other role playing game. Many who are not familiar with this series will probably pass it off as just another standard rpg. They will be missing out on a brilliant new adventure from Game Arts, one of the finest Saturn publishers in the market. Game Arts released Gun Griffon earlier this year which was one of the better mech-warrior type games where you battle it out on a 3-D playfield. Mega-Drive and Sega-CD owners may remember Lunar: Eternal Blue from last year which was a best seller. This new Lunar starts the game off with a laserdisc quality animation which tells you where the story is at this point. The in-game graphics are very detailed and sharp. Yes, they look similar to the graphics found in other rpgs where the characters that you control are short, squat and cute. Yes, the characters look better in the animation sequences than they do in the in-game graphics but we're used to this style by now right? Each character in the game is represented by a voice actor who supplies the character's voice. This adds to the character and charm of the game. It also allows players a chance to hear what the characters they are controlling and interacting with sound like...which adds a lot to a game. The battles in the game are fought in a Final Fantasy type view where your warriors stand on the right side of the battlefield and your enemies stand on the left side. You can choose an option from the menu from such standard choices as: attack, defend, use magic, etc. The animation in the game is very detailed so you will see each swing of the character's sword and each intricate movement when it comes time to cast a spell. This also applies to enemy attacks as well. You will be able to see snow monkeys gallop towards you with a little smile before they bounce off of your body and inflict some bruises on your character. Very fine animation. The quality of the game is very high and it will please fans of the Lunar series and new inductees into the Lunar world..

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