Rogue Galaxy - hands-on

Rogue Galaxy is tied together by some cool aesthetics and impressively high production values, which apparently got higher as the game made its transition from Japan to the US.We've been told that huge portions of the game worlds were overhauled, refined and trimmed to avoid dungeon-crawling tedium, and a new planet and chapter in the story have been added as well.

So far, it seems to have paid off; the planets we've tackled are huge, interesting to explore and packed with cool-looking characters, and we're digging the cartoon/sci-fi/pirate aesthetic. The cel-shaded visuals are sweet, and we've even heard a couple of standout voice performances wedged in among all the stiff, monotone line-deliveries. Assuming Rogue Galaxy can keep its momentum up over the course of the entire colorful adventure, this could be exactly what RPG fans need to bust out of the winter doldrums. We'll let you know at the end of the month.

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Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.