Game Boy Advance

Though I can see what the developers were going for, the dungeon-crawl genre comes pre-loaded with a few hurdles to get over, and anyone attempting to pull it off successfully has to absolutely nail the mechanics or drown the player with charm in order to avoid turning out something that's too trudging and tedious to bear. Although it's not terrible in any aspect, this game simply fails to do either.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood, Mild Fantasy Violence, and Use of Alcohol

Game Description: Mazes of Fate is a first-person role-playing game for the Game Boy Advance handheld console. The game takes players into a dark fantasy world facing divine punishment. The ancient gods, disgusted by humanity's pride, intend to wipe mankind out and replace it with a new, more submissive race of goat-men. One party of adventurers is left to make the ultimate choice. Should they fight back against overwhelming odds, or sentence humanity to a fate that may be worse than death?

Game Description: Yggdra Union is a strategy/RPG card-based game which allows you to engage in fantasy styled tactical battles. Ruled by a royal family said to be descendants of the gods themselves, Fantasinia is a prosperous and peaceful land—until the peace is shattered by the invading forces of the Empire of Bronkia. Bronkia's Imperial Army cuts a bloody swath through the people of Fantasinia and the Royal Armies of King Ordeene. Amidst the chaos, a young woman escapes from the besieged capital of Partina—a woman with innocence in her face, and a sword in her hand. The girl's name is Princess Yggdra, the last surviving member of the royal family. Character design by manga artist Satoko Kiyuzuki and card design by Sunaho Tobe, character designer of Riviera: The Promised Land!

Yggdra Union from superb developer Sting could be described as the lovechild of the Saturn's seminal and the super-popular series, but to leave it at that would be doing both game and developers a disservice. Not only has Sting captured the essence of what makes those two games great, they've added their own unique spin to create something freshly original while being familiar enough for fans of the genre to jump right in.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Alcohol References, Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, and Partial Nudity

According to the ESRB, this game contains: Fantasy Violence

Namco's Tales of Phantasia has an abundance of clichés. But the game handles them so well that it's made me see why these things became clichés in the first place.

Frequent readers of this site may remember that I covered the original Kingdom Hearts on PlayStation 2 and gave it one of the lowest scores on the Internet at a time when it was undeservedly racking up accolades and capturing a legion of fans.