Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King (PS2)

The most popular Japanese game ever finally comes to the UK, with a role-playing game of incredible size, depth and charm. Lead your motley crew of heroes and heroines in a quest to restore the king as you fight the most bizarre line-up of bad guys in video game history.

Although this is actually the eighth game in the core series, each Dragon Quest game has, like rival Final Fantasy, a completely different storyline so you dont have to worry about not understanding the plot. In any case the game is far more interested in combat than endless cut scenes, with a turn-based system that is simple to use but allows for a huge range of different magical and melee attacks. What gives the game its real charm are the excellent cel-shaded graphics, designed by Dragon Ball Z artist Akira Toriyama. The animation in particular is superb and the game world, in which you are given total freedom to explore, is enormous.

• Unique visual style (character design by Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball Z)
• Intuitive game balance makes this title easy to pick up, allowing rapid engagement with the story and environment
• Freedom to go anywhere the eye can see in a huge, seamless and colourful world
• Battle against a wide variety of weird and wonderful monsters
• Party members deploy spectacular attacks and spells in stunning 3D
• Individual party members' behaviour can be customised for optimal battle performance
• Time passes from day to night revealing an entirely different side to towns and dungeons

In a nutshell:
The most popular Japanese game ever finally comes to the UK, with a role-playing game of incredible size, depth and charm. Lead your motley crew of heroes and heroines in a quest to restore the king as you fight the most bizarre line-up of bad guys in video game history.

The lowdown:
Although this is actually the eighth game in the core series, each Dragon Quest game has, like rival Final Fantasy, a completely different storyline so you don’t have to worry about not understanding the plot. In any case the game is far more interested in combat than endless cut scenes, with a turn-based system that is simple to use but allows for a huge range of different magical and melee attacks. What gives the game its real charm are the excellent cel-shaded graphics, designed by Dragon Ball Z artist Akira Toriyama. The animation in particular is superb and the game world, in which you are given total freedom to explore, is enormous.

Most exciting moment:
Taking down one of the game’s string of extravagant bosses with moves like the Underpants Dance and Jessica the sorceress’ Sexy Beam.

Since you ask:
In 1998 the Japanese government demanded that Enix no longer released Dragon Quest games on a weekeday because too many people were taking time off work and school to go and buy it.

The bottom line:
A role-playing game that’s both fun and accessible – no wonder it’s Japan’s favourite franchise.
Harrison Dent