The setting is an interesting fusion of futuristic world meets feudal Japan, where magic is as much a part of everyday life as advanced technology; where old school samurai and ninja rub shoulders with robots and other magically synthesized creatures; and quaint villages nestle alongside huge, modern cities. The plot is typically grand and follows the main character Atsuma on his quest to defeat a powerful, evil entity he has unwittingly unleashed upon the land.

Initially Atsuma is an immature but likeable buffoon, a university student whose loyalty to his friends and budding sense of responsibility sees him develop into something of a hero – albeit a hot-headed one. Playing a supporting role to Atsuma is a selection of RPG archetypes: you've got your noble and perpetually sombre knight, a cute, feisty princess, an annoying kid with a chip on her shoulder, a female samurai for whom honour takes priority over personal desire, an enigmatic stranger who offers assistance when it's most needed, and a brilliant but modest student whom all the girls – plus his flamboyantly gay friend - swoon over. While they each have very different personalities and backgrounds, we found it difficult to take these characters seriously; perhaps they would be more suited to the pages of a comic book than a next-gen RPG. This impression was reinforced by the long-winded and often banal dialogue segments, of which there were many.

Most of these characters join forces with - or take their leave of Atsuma, depending on where you are in the story. You don't have to have them in the active party; in fact there are many times when it is advisable to use golems over characters, or various combinations of both.

Golems are creatures magically constructed from materials Atsuma collects or buys on his travels. Each golem has specific abilities and attributes and is governed by one of the seven elements (more on those in a minute). Once synthesized, a golem can be added to the party to fight alongside Atsuma.

This leads us to the turn-based combat system; an integral part of any JRPG worth its salt, and the standout feature of this one. Set on a 4x6 grid, movement for each side is restricted to its own half, much like a tennis court… except you'll be slinging spells and bone-crunching attacks back and forth instead of a fuzzy yellow ball. After positioning and action instructions are given for each party member – up to four in total, the combat round is played out, blow by earth-shattering blow. You can fast forward this part with the mere touch of a button, but to be honest, we never tired of watching the units pounding each other to a (bloodless) pulp!

To begin with, the battles are fairly straightforward, but it soon becomes apparent that careful planning is needed to win quickly and decisively. This is important because for every round beyond the first, your party members lose vitality points (VP – not to be confused with hit points, which are restored after every battle). Once a character's VP reaches 1 they must effectively be retired to the sidelines, and replacement called up. VP can be replenished with items or at magical 'drinking fountains' called Refresh Points, the scarcity of which encourages you to win within one or two rounds wherever possible.

The further we progressed into the game the more we came to appreciate the combat system, which is well balanced with a gradually increasing level of complexity designed to keep players on their toes. Among the points to consider before heading into battle are which characters or golems to include in your party, their placement on the grid (characters taking cover behind others will suffer reduced damage), and which skills/attacks to use for best effect. Another important factor – particularly later on in the game, is a combatant's ruling element (earth, wind, fire, water, dark, light, none). Element-based attacks on opposing elements – e.g. fire vs. water, cause double damage, whereas attacks on the same element will only cause half damage.

Each skill has its own area of effect, magnitude, and ether point (EP) cost, and some have added effects, such as poison damage or gravity - which prevents a combatant from moving within the grid. Once characters have accumulated sufficient extra skill (EX) points, they can employ their uber skills, which include devastating elemental attacks, applying powerful buffs or healing up the entire party.

Success in combat will earn all active party members money (TB), skill points (SP), items for use in weapon and golem creation, and experience (XP). Characters and golems held in reserve will earn just the XP, which enables them to level up alongside the active members – a nice touch. SP can be spent on learning new skills: offensive, defensive and restorative, or improving a character's parameters (HP, EP etc.). In this respect you can tailor each character - and to a certain extent your golems - to suit your gaming style.

According to the sales pitch, Enchanted Arms offers some 50 hours of gameplay, however this is a fairly conservative estimate. By the time you've played around with various golem combinations, backtracked over previous locations and spent some money at the casino, you could easily tack on an extra 20 hours.

The developers have made some half-hearted attempts at including puzzle and platform elements, in the form of having to move objects to certain positions to open doors, or swinging across gaps with an enchanted 'grappling hook'. Just like the plot however, these are fairly insubstantial and linear in nature, with no risk of misjudging a leap or taking a wrong turn. Simply put, it is virtually impossible to become lost, or to fall to your death.

The story plays out across a broad selection of terrain types and locations. For the most part, scenery is beautifully detailed with some extremely realistic textures and lighting effects adding to the game's environment. It's just a pity that you can't interact with most of it! The cities are a prime example of this, with most of the buildings little more than facades – some of them quite tacky-looking ones. You can "open" doors, but rather than entering and exploring the building beyond, there's usually a brief line of insignificant dialogue with the occupant, set against a backdrop of the building's interior. We thought this was a real shame – especially with much effort spent in other areas of the game. We would have much preferred rifling through someone's cupboards and drawers, over trivial gossip with the locals.

The cinematic-quality cut scenes are truly breathtaking, and serve to demonstrate what the Xbox 360 is capable of. Combat animations – particularly the characters' special moves - are also very eye catching, although we were disappointed with some of the lacklustre 'death' animations.

As far as sound is concerned, the music was pleasant enough to listen to, and while the voice talent for the English spoken dialogue is perfectly adequate, we found the Japanese voice actors to be far more animated and entertaining overall (and there is far more of the Japanese voice acting). After switching back and forth between the two languages a few times, we settled on the Japanese version, relying on the English text to translate what was being said.