Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion review

When not hacking down vile monsters with extreme prejudice, there's still plenty to do. Towns are designed with depth and variety, while still being as easy to navigate as in classic role-playing games. NPCs, enemies, and interactive objects all have handy-dandy icons about them to give you information right off the bat. Baddies will tell you how confident they're feeling against you, and important people will be easy to pick out -- which is good, as the population in Legend of Heroes is relatively high. Keeping a pet adds a comforting element, as you praise the little guy for fetching you items or feed him food.

In the graphics department, the game again shows that it's trying to exceed normal expectations. The influence of old-school RPGs is apparent, but eye candy is liberally splashed about the world. Waves ripple in the water and majestic mountains tower over their surroundings. Lighting effects such as sun glare are especially appreciated, and the developers didn't skimp on character animations. The portraits during dialogue are nice and big, too. You won't see your PSP sweat from overexertion, but Legend of Heroes is still darn pretty to look at. Its music, on the other hand, is more cookie-cutter, and won't be anything you'll catch yourself humming later.