Immerse yourself in the world of the Lanzheim Continent, a conflict-ridden land deeply divided by a fierce civil war. The game is powered by the Unreal Engine 3 and features character designs by famed Korean artist Hyung-Tae Kim...

At the start of Magna Carta II you play as a village errand boy called Juto who has lost his memory but has been taken in by a women in the village called Milisa. Milisa acts like his bigger sister giving him orders, until one day the village is attacked by a group known as the northern army. This attack convinces Juto to join up with the opposing army in order to get revenge on the northern army.

After you leave the village you are thrown straight into the southern army's most elite force, which is designed to take down sentinels (the northern army's most powerful technology). The team you work with in the game is made up of three other people who all have their own unique abilities.

The story is extremely long and is broken down across two discs. One of the main reasons for this is the amount of quests that are available in this game. Along side the storyline you are able to do side quests and with every new place you discover there are normally 2-5 side quests available to you. After each quest you will be rewarded, normally with items and experience.

Most of the game is played in the field which connects most of the locations. There are numerous things to do in the field, such as side quests and training monsters. Most of the side quests, such as guarding convoys of monsters or hunting monsters, are carried out in the field.

The battle system in this game is quite free flowing and can be easily entered by pressing the left trigger. Thanks to this escaping from battle is much easier, as is running past enemies when in the field.

The way this system works is by having a bar at the bottom of the screen which builds up when you attack an opponent and when it is full you enter overdrive which makes your attacks stronger. However this does come at a price. When your character has finished in this mode they become paralysed for a couple of seconds before being able to move and then a few more seconds before they can attack again. This is to designed to get you to change which character you fight with but it only seems to be an annoyance making the battle system extremely flawed.

Each character has two styles they can use in battle. These can only be changed when you switch the weapon your character uses. Each style has its on advantages such as Juto being able to use 1-handed and 2-handed weapons. 1-handed weapons come with a shield allowing for extra defence but 2-handed weapons ditch the shield for power to be able to deal more damage.

One of the ways of progressing your character in this game is the skill trees which use SP gained when you level up. These skill trees have new abilities and attributes which get more powerful as you go through the tree, you start at the top with low powers but they get powerful the closer you get to the bottom. Each style has its separate skill trees - both have different powers which can only be used when you are using that style. Each power can be upgraded to become more powerful.

The story to Magna Carta II is extremely long and in depth. It will take a long time to complete but you will most probably get bored before you have finished the game thanks to the lack of customisation and equipment. But on the positive side it looks amazing, with some great looking characters and monsters along with some interesting bosses. The game seems to have been created more for looks rather than hardcore customising and as a consequence should be avoided by hardcore RPG fans. However, for the novice or those who want a little more light-hearted game play it makes for a great story.

7

Carl Simpson