After three years in the making, The Legend of Dragoon is being unleashed and the rumors of it being the Final Fantasy killer should not be ignored. With the ninth installment of Square's popular series still far in the horizon, The Legend of Dragoon brings to the RPG arena an epic tale that will take the player on an unforgettable journey.

Talking 'Bout a Revolution The world of Endiness has been racially divided for thousands of years. During that time Humans, Winglies, Dragons, and Gigantos have fought for power, with each species having their turn at supremacy. That's about to change, though, because a bigger enemy looms in the horizon. In order to fulfill an end-of-days prophecy, Emperor Diaz wants to unleash total destruction and bring forth a whole new species-the Virage. It is up to the hero, Dart, and his six newfound friends to stop Diaz and bring peace among the species.

Throughout much ofthe game, the player will control Dart, but the other characters, Rose, Meru, Albert, Kongol, Haschel, and Miranda will move to the front periodically. One by one, characters acquire gems, which give them the power to transform into dragoons, powerful beings able to control dragons. As a dragoon, characters can cast spells and unleash destructive blows with their weapons. Even in their natural form, characters can become quite powerful once they learn Additions, special combo attacks that become more powerful with repeated use.

A Lesson in Good Taste The folks at Sony paid attention to every detail in this game and it shows. An abundance of locales, each beautifully rendered along with great character design, are sure to make this one of the most satisfying gaming experiences of the year. The few voice-overs are well acted and happen only during crucial cut scenes to propel the story forward, while a great musical score takes over the rest of the time. Responsive controls enable the player to perform the timed combo attacks without frustration, and any other actions such as using items or replacing characters in your party can be achieved with ease. Because of the high volume of items, however, cursor memory would have been a nice touch.

There's Room for Everybody The Legend of Dragoon definitely lives up to the hype. While comparisons to FF are inevitable, LoD stands on its own as the game to play this year. It is an intelligent, intense, and challenging game that breaks new ground with its inventive battle system. These eighty plus hours of adventure shouldn't be missed by anyone.

After years of awful solo titles and endless crossovers with Capcom fighters, the X-Men finally strike out on their own in a fighting game that dishes out some mad mutant mayhem.

Kicking Ass in a World That Hates Them The X-Men are a team of mutants (people with a genetic condition that gives them special powers) who've come together to study under the tutelage of Professor Xavier, one of the most powerful mutants of all time. Together they must combat the evil Brotherhood of Mutants, an organization led by Magneto, who believes that mutants are the rightful rulers of mankind. Mankind hates and fears the mutants, but the X-Men still protect them from the evil Magneto. Got it so far?

In X-Men: Mutant Academy, things are a little different. To advance as one of the X-Men, you have to beat the snot out of everyone, friend or foe. There's no real reasoning as to why you have to smack your mutant buddies around, but there doesn't need to be. As a fighting game, Mutant Academy offers lots of wild moves, crazy characters, and tons of unlockable hidden goodies, from the X-Men movie trailer to extra costumes and production art. In a fighting game, you don't need story. You just need to get in there and kick some ass.

Xavier's School of Beating Ass X-Men's control scheme is more or less exactly that of Street Fighter, with a three punches, three kicks button layout and fireball- or charge-motions to pull off the moves. Paradox has done a good job of making the controls forgiving without being too loose, and even gamers who aren't SF masters can pick this one up and play it. Gameplay centers around smart use of powers and supers, rather than tricky combos, and every character has moves that make sense within the X-Men universe. It's definitely a good thing that they include the Academy Mode, in which Prof. X and Cerebro guide through learning your moves and controlling the rather complex super meters.

A lot of love was put into the graphics, that much is obvious. With the exception of a few lame backgrounds, Mutant Academy looks better than most PS fighting games out there. The crisp, detailed polygonal fighters move quickly and smoothly, and some look so awesome that you'd swear they were sprites. Comic and movie fans alike will not be disappointed, as both the original and the black leather costumes are included. If only those backgrounds were more detailed or higher-res.

X-Men's major fault is its sound. Voices, while typically good, are so muffled that you'll be riding your volume control if you want to hear them. The sounds of combat work very well, from the shrill blast of Cyclops' optic beams to the pulsing woop of Magneto's magnetic fields, but it's all placed over the (again) muffled Saturday-morning soundtrack, featuring garish guitars and outdated grooves.

Pun: It's X-cellent! X-Men Academy is a genuine treat for fans of the mutant menace, but it's also good enough to stand on its own. Hardcore fighting fans will find depth within these hallowed halls, and casual brawlers will find the controls forgiving and fun. Do yourself a favor and enroll in Mutant Academy.

Monster Rancher started the monster-raising genre, and Pokemon perfected it. Digimon rode the success of these shows onto the boob tube, and now, it makes an entry into their video game market, though it has tweaked the standard formula. You still nurture a cute young monster into maturity, but now, you do it in a much more frustrating fashion.

The Digivolution Will Not Be Televised Digimon opens with promise. There's a smooth cut scene illustrating how the main character gets sucked into the Digital World - the graphics are good, the voices well done, and everything seems to point toward Digimon World being a wholly pleasant experience. Regrettably, the opening is nothing like the rest of the game. Once in the digital world, the game loses all pretenses of fun and digi-devolves into a horrendous beast.

Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Worse The first (and immediately) noticeable flaw comes every time the main character takes a step - it sounds like someone is being slapped. If you can muster the willpower to keep the volume on, you will be treated to an onslaught of tinny music and strained animal groans. The agony doesn't end when the blessed Mute button is pressed, either. Instead of the RPG-style combat of Pokemon, Digimon World tries to be different by making the Digimon self-empowered -- or, in simpler terms, uncontrollable. Combat consists of the main character standing at the edge of the screen, yelling such things as "Your call!" and "Moderate attack!" at the Digimon, which tends to run around and attack every fifteen seconds or so. Combine this with a thin plot, and the bottom line is that unless you're a hardcore Digimon fan or a sucker for punishment, this game should be avoided like the weird uncle at your family reunion.