Has it been 3 years already? Sega Saturn owners will finally get one of the games on their lists this Christmas, and that's Magic Knight RayEarth. I can remember when this was first announced oh so long ago. I immediately wanted to play the game. I remembered downloading the opening intro, which was in Japanese, and just watching the jaw dropping, excellently drawn Japanese anime. It was beautiful. However, flaws in the programming, law suits over the characters names (out of the stupidest things to fight about...), translating time, complaints and then the little Stolar/E3 fiasco has finally brought us to the present. It's taken some 3 years for these 3 little girls to come to our Saturns, but they have finally hacked and slashed their way through courts and delays to make it home this Christmas.

Magic Knight RayEarth is the story of 3 girls, around 14 years of age each, who are transported to the mystical realm of Cefiro by Princess Emerald. Their purpose is to rescue the Princess from the hands of the vile Zagat (Didn't he used to host America's Funniest Home Videos?), and his band of nasty baddies. Along the way, the Magic Knights, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu, meet a lot of interesting characters and allies to aid them in their quest. Characters like Clef, the Priest, and Precia, who forges the Knight's weapons, will help the girls on their way through Cefiro, and passed Zagat's henchmen.

Graphically, the game is breathtaking. From the opening theme, to the beautiful backdrops, every little detail was drawn to as close to perfection as possible. Who says you need polygons to be pretty? Certainly not here! The game flows pretty well, with few slowdowns in the animation as you go along. Some of the cannon fodder enemies, however, appear to be very simplistic, and not much work put into them. Like drawing a splotch on a paper and animating it for a frame and making it a gooie death thing. However the boss monsters more than make up for that, as well do the drawings and animations of the Knights, their allies, and Zagat's posse'. These are some of the best 2-D graphics you'll ever find. Hands down.

While the game does play well, it is pretty much just average when controlling the girls. There's nothing too complex. It's pretty simplistic, and easy to get the hang of, however there are some things that will get on your nerves, even if it's just little things, like trying to keep all 3 girls together at once. All three do walk around with the head character, which can be chosen at random just about any point in the game. Keeping them together is somewhat of an annoyance..although that doesn't really matter. The girls do tend to over run targets, and have a hard time stopping at some points (not just ice parts). The spells and such are easily accessible, as well switching between the Magic Knights. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages in battle. For example, Fuu uses a bow and arrow as her weapon of choice, therefore she has the most distanced attack. It's quite useful, but her arrows lack the punch of Hikaru's sword, or Umi's foil. The game plays well, but there are problems you'll notice as you go along.

So what would an adventure game be like without puzzles? In the Zelda style of playing, the Knights do have to use their brains, as well as their brawn, to battle through dungeons. Most of the puzzles are not that challenging to figure out, though. Any Zelda or Alundra vet should find the game to be pretty much simple in that respect. Pushing this, destroying that. The hardest puzzles are the ones that aren't hard to figure out..but require some outside source to solve, like positioning a live enemy on top of a swich, to where he won't move long enough for you to get the girls through the door that has opened.

The game's storyline is pretty good. Character interaction and translation, as with all Working Designs titles, are excellent. There are some plot twists that will try and keep you guessing, but as I've stated before, if you're looking for a Final Fantasy or Lunar storyline, adventure games aren't where you're going to find it. As expected, WD did keep in some of their trademark humor, which adds to the character interaction for those love/hate relationships we all form with our characters in games. I didn't like most of the characters, though. No no, not in that way to degrade from the title, but in the way that I just didn't like ‘em! Umi was probably my fav Knight, and that's because she had an attitude to her. Hikaru and Fuu I just found annoying! Then there's Mokona..who's pure evil. I liked Precia the best, but it's always open for debate between others. Precia's #1 in my book! For the game's style, the line up of characters is good.

The game's biggest flaw comes with the sound and music department. I wasn't really impressed here. I found the score to be rather boring, and not really offer anything memorable. Normally there's at least one or two tracks to a soundtrack that stick out in your mind like a sore thumb, but here it was all bland and ran together. The voice acting left a little to be desired too. As usual, the anime dubbing was excellent (Vic, teach Square how to dub before XenoGears 2, please? :) ), but the line up of voice actors was not their best. Of course, this part of the game was one of the last completed, so it was a tad bit rushed. It could have been much worse..right XenoGears fans? But WD did put a good foot forward, it's just not their best. Unlike XenoGears, though, Magic Knight RayEarth doesn't have a five star soundtrack backing it up.

Overall the game's pretty enjoyable. It might be lacking in the sound department, but it's pretty good everywhere else. If you own a Sega Saturn, or a fan of the Magic Knight RayEarth anime or manga series, then this will make you a very happy camper for a little while. The game is short, and easy, unfortunately. As you play, you know it's gonna be short because of all the anime and voice acting. I have a feeling this will end up a lot like the old Zelda games for Saturn owners. You get bored, you slap in RayEarth, you beat it in a few hours, and you feel happy and rejoice. There are extras in the game, which are funny to play with, and are humorous (Precia's Shameful Secret is *vintage* Working Designs humor). So Saturn fans, go buy this game, and you won't be disappointed to have it in your collection.