I was pretty excited when I received my copy of Grandia II "Special Package", a limited edition of the import game on Dreamcast. With a music CD and art book, I was in gaming heaven...or was I? Before even turning on the game, I wanted to sample the music from the CD and look through the art book, and as I played the first track and looked through the whopping 16 pages of art, my smile quickly turned to a frown. The music was a joke, it sounded horrid. I went to the second track, and it started off with some pretty vocals. Then, out of nowhere, I hear some horridly synthesized electric guitars, among other junk, and hit the next track. Track 3 turned out to be decent, only problem being that it was an incredible 19 seconds in length. The remaining 4 tracks were remixes of songs from the original Grandia title, and only one of them was a song I truly enjoyed, that being "Sample the Taste", track 7. And after hearing the fantastic musical score in Grandia II, I hate this "special" CD even more.

I highly, HIGHLY recommend you avoid the special package edition of Grandia II, if you have any thoughts on importing. The CD is a joke, and the artbook will not make the extra $15 you pay worthwhile. Only 2 of the songs from the actual game are on the CD (and horribly remixed at that), and you're better off not spending that extra money.

Reviewed by: Jason Walton