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"One twisted adventure of a ride!"

Set in the land of Perathia, this game takes place in a land far, far away. You are Azurik, a young, yet powerful warrior with still much more to learn. With your master Eldwyn, you are set on a quest to guard the elemental discs - Water, Earth, Fire, Air, Life, and Death. But a greedy, and self-centered warrior also under the command of Eldwyn, named Balthazar wishes to change all of that. And as he takes the elemental discs, the power is overwhelmed and boom! The discs explode and are sent in to the far ends of the Perathia. It is your job, to collect all 6 discs that were scattered into 4 pieces each, and restore honor, and life back to the land of Perathia...

Graphics -
Here we are, the graphics. To some, graphics don't really matter. To others, they do. But to just give you the whole nine yards, this game is involved with beautiful graphics, and gameplay as well, but I'll get to that later. Everything looks so amazing in the land of Perathia! The different realms, Perathia itself, and of course, Azurik. But there is a downside. Frame rate tends to drop when Azurik is battling - a lot. Frame rate drops do tend to fall to 20fps, which is really a pity with a game as this. At times, it can be very annoying and you may want to throw the game out the window, or even worse - forget about it. But I assure you, the graphics stay a good 40, maybe even 50 FPS. That still doesn't test the Xbox's true power. A little bit sad, I'm afraid, but its still all good.

Overall Score - 9/10

Sound -
Ah yes, the sound. Well, the sound does have sort of a sadish mix into the game, somehow. The theme, is alright, not that good in my honest opinion, but still, some of us gamers may want to listen to it. Its basically, the first time you hear it, you will have two reactions - you love it or hate it. If you truly love it, you'll listen to it most of the way. I kind of felt under that feeling, but at times I tend to want to listen to some rock songs to get me into the fighting spirit. Anyways, the voice actors are pretty good as well. Feelings are put into the action, and the overall sounds of the environments are really pretty good. Nothing to get jumpy about, but it'll do.

Overall Score - 7/10

Control -
Here we go, something actually easy to do in the game. The controls! Azurik's main weapon is a sword. He can jab or swim with the A button, move the camera with the X button, jump or swim up to something with the Y button, and finally do a sweep attack with the B button. The black button is also used to roll or dodge and attack. Now we get to the main button - the left trigger. The left trigger is used to activate Azurik's powers. So while holding the left trigger, Azurik can activate his Air powers by pressing Y, Fire powers with B, Earth powers with A, and Water powers with X. What's better is, that these powers are colored coded. So if you forget which ones which, you can always remember by - water powers are blue, Earth is green, Fire is red, and Air is yellow. A pretty good idea, I must say.

Overall Score - 10/10

Gameplay -
Finally, the gameplay. As this is an adventure game, you will have only one mode to work with - The gameplay. Its obliviously suppose to be a killer, right? That you are. The gameplay is, very fun. Your Azurik, and your job is to collect the elemental discs. While on your quest, you will meet up with baddies. Your job, is to dispose of them.

Once you meet an enemy, you will have two options - to try and avoid him or her, or to fight. Like any hardcore gamer, we shall fight. You can use to two things to beat an enemy - your regular sword, or your elemental powers you meet later in the game which I'll explain in a bit. If you have the water power, which you collect by defeating the water temple, you can activate your water powers (by pressing Left Trigger - X). Your sword's end, will now turn into water, as you start to jab your enemy. And down, he shall fall. This works the same with Fire, as your sword turns into a fire sword. But its a little different with Earth and Air. As you collect the Earth power, instead of your sword turning into a rock sword, you, yourself will receive a rock armor which takes 1/2 of the damage you receive. Pretty cool, huh. And now we get to air power, which is the best or all. Instead of having your sword turn into winds or whatever, you, yourself, grow wings, so you can jump 2 times farther. And there's also combos you can do as well. For example, holding Left Trigger+Fire Button (B)+Water Button (X) will turn your sword into a steam sword! And there's also plenty more features like this, but you need to consult your game manual. I don't want to turn this review into an FAQ! Who said we were done? There's also one more feature you receive. Whenever you collect a 2nd or 3rd elemental power piece, your elemental powers level up! Thanks right, RPG elements in this game! There's 3 levels of each power - Water, Air, Earth, and Fire! Good Luck in collecting them all!

But, never fear. Besides battling most of the time, there's also puzzles which you must solve in the different temples you come across! Like for the most part, exploring and collecting different keys, and unlocking different parts of the game! Sweet! There is a downside though. Some of the puzzles in the game, are extremely hard to solve, and may take days or even weeks. You'll be starting your third temple by the time you know how to defeat the first one.

Overall Score - 8/10

The Hits and Misses (A Follow-up) -

Hit:
+The different RPG elements in the game which make it a success!
+The great graphics which stay at a good 50fps!
+The easy controls to learn!

Miss:
-The lack of a multiplayer or coop which could have done wonders with this game.
-The lack of a decent soundtrack.
-The puzzles that take several days to beat.

Rent or Buy -
This was actually one of my favorite Xbox games I bought! I rented the game out first, and it was a wonder. But don't worry, the gameplay in here will last a good month if not more. There's 6 levels in all, with difficult boss battles to beat. Each level takes a couple of days to explore, and as you progress onward, the levels get more harder, and require more time for you to beat. If anything, rent this game out first. Most of you will like it, and for a 20 maybe 30 dollar price tag, this game is worth it. Its definitely, the most underrated Xbox game I've ever played, and one of my favorites!

Final Reviewed Score: 8/10 - Great!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/31/02, Updated 08/28/03