Reviews// Eternal Sonata

One of the downsides to the ever more frequent fights (which, you can avoid for the most part) is that after you emerge in the calm of the Technicolour world you don't regain any health. Finding health giving goodies lying around the place becomes more rare. You can't rely on it.

So, basically, unless you have stocked up on health biscuits and floral powder (NOT mineral powder – but that's all I'm saying, right?) you can find yourself going into the next battle with team members only capable of sustaining a single blow before keeling over and dying... dead.

This became clear to me on my first play when I eschewed little Beat and his little camera and did not shop intelligently. The 'Game Over' sign came down with stunning and tediously repetitive regularity. So, be smart gamers, and shop regularly.

Also, bend an ear to the music. Personally, I was expecting more Chopin. You do get some – in the 'real world' scenes. But you get more of the work of Motoi Sakuraba. For me, it's adequate. Other people I've spoken to have raved about it and it's majesty, depth and richness. For me, however, it's satisfactory and not intrusive. Then again, I think Shostakovitch's Leningrad Symphony is a bit understated at times.

In terms of music playing a big part in the game. It doesn't. Simple as that really. Although you do have pieces of sheet music in your inventory which you can then choose to play off with NPCs in order to 'win' items from them. Basically, they play a snatch of song at you and you try to harmonise with it. It's pleasant and I would have liked to see a great deal more of it. In fact, when I spoke with the producers of the game at Leipzig a few years back I was under the firm impression that there would be more of it. Obviously, the combat elements were considered more appropriate for us philistine games types.

SPOnG Score: 89%
Conclusion
With more exploration than the Xbox 360 version, this is certainly an improvement. Once you get over the lack of any camera control and the inability to explore the richly rendered environment, you'll enjoy passing time with the characters. The changing combat system is welcome. The plot is rich. It is let down by occasionally daftly pointless forays into – for example, collecting paper for goats – nowhere. It is limited also by the lack of any ability to get out into the environment. Solid, quite good ideas. Not as revolutionary as it wants to be.