Level-5, the team responsible for bringing us such fantasy RPG classics as the critically acclaimed Dark Cloud series and more recently, Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, are about to hit us with their new and much anticipated action RPG, Rogue Galaxy.  The game’s central character is Jaster Rogue, a callow youth who yearns for travel and adventure far beyond the desert planet he calls home.  A strange turn of events sees him joining the motley crew of space pirate Dorgengoa, on a galaxy-wide quest to find a legendary planet which holds the key to eternal life.  As you might expect from the developer’s impressive past efforts, Rogue Galaxy boasts a rollicking adventure of epic proportions, mini-games to amuse and delight, tournaments and side quests for that extra element of challenge, memorable characters supported by a very high standard of voice acting, gorgeous cel-shaded graphics – plus many, many hours of quality playing time. From what we’ve seen of the preview build, Rogue Galaxy is shaping up to be another first rate Level-5 RPG, and we eagerly await its arrival in early June.

Just check out the many features:

•  Epic 3D game play: More than 100 hours of game play are unfolded through five expansive worlds with highly detailed environments and unique, cel-shaded character designs.

•  Multiple playable characters: Eight playable characters in total, with up to three controllable characters on the screen at the same time.

• Unique ‘Battle Suggestion’ system allows your A.I. controlled allies to recommend specific actions during combat and allows players to issue commands to team mates.

•  Utilize close and long-range weapons and execute special attacks unique to each character, as well as team combo attacks.

•  Ability to build special weapons and items: Combine different weapons to synthesize more than 500 new weapons. Player can also manufacture specialized and rare items in Factory Mode by locating schematics throughout the galaxy.

•  Featured mini-games and side quests: In addition to solving the mysteries of the epic story, Rogue Galaxy features a number of mini-games and quests to further challenge players.

•  Insectron Tournament: Capture, train, and stage battles using Insectron bugs found throughout the various worlds. Over 120 Insectors can be collected in the game, and players will increase rank and earn prizes by advancing through tournaments.

•  Challenge battles: Players can add an element of difficulty by completing battles under certain conditions. Successful players can earn hunter coins, which help to upgrade a player’s hunter license and open up additional challenges within the game.

•  More than eight hours of high-quality cut-scenes and cinematics help to drive the coming-of-age story full of action, adventure, and numerous twists that will keep players guessing until the very end.