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Jeanne d'Arc

Published: Mon 28 Jul, 2008 | On:

Jeanne D'Arc defies expectations in a number of ways because it manages to twist the story of "Joan of Arc" into something legitimately exciting. In fact, it is a fun and user-friendly strategy role-playing game. It doesn't break new ground, but it twinkles with cleverness, as well as slick design, and is one of the best games I've played on the PSP so far.

The gameplay infuses the traditionally dense and slow-paced strategy of the SRPG genre with urgency. As in most SRPGs, you place members of your party onto the game grid then take turns moving them, attacking enemies, and using items or spells. And just as you'd expect, such factors as the way a character faces or terrain height determine where you move your party members and how you attack the enemy. Developer Level 5 layered in just the right amount of complexity and accessibility with features that make battles fluid, as well as truly dynamic, so you always have a fear that anything could (and most of the times it does) happen.

The quick pace of battles is Jeanne D'Arc's best attribute, and a number of mechanics work in tandem to move things along. The armlets that Jeanne and a few of her cohorts exhibit are amongst them. Equipping jewels in the armlets allows these characters to transform into pillars of righteousness, granting them additional attacks power, spells, and more. Killing an enemy grants the transformed character an extra turn, which means a well-timed transformation will have Jean trouncing around the map and killing a bunch of enemies before your turn is over. It's definitely powerful but also necessary on the difficult maps, and you will feel Jeanne's triumph as she overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds by felling four or five enemies in a single turn.

Although battles keep you pressing forward, you shouldn't take that to mean Jeanne D'Arc doesn't offer its own brand of complexity and flexibility. Most of the customization is found in the system of skill stones, which function like spells and upgrades that characters equip to their limited number of slots. There are restrictions to what stones certain characters can equip; in the same way that characters are limited to a certain weapon type, they are also limited to certain types of skills. Stones are found as loot and in shops, at least in the beginning. However, about a quarter of the way through the game, you will earn the ability to combine stones into new, more powerful ones. This is underwhelming if the resulting stone is one available as standard battle loot, but it's genuinely exciting when you receive a brand new, formidable stone that far exceeds what you already possess.

Jeanne D'Arc is an attractive and vibrant game. It isn't stunning, but it's got a keen sense of style and crystal clear visuals that make it easy to identify characters during battle. However, the character design may not be everyone's cup of tea: The characters looks like bobbleheads, which is an interesting design choice but doesn't always fit with the serious theme of the game.

If reliving 15-century French history sounds as appealing to you as being burned at the stake, rest assured you will find a lot to love about Jeanne D'Arc. This is revisionist history at its finest.