In an alternate world and timeline, mankind has spent decades waging war with the race of Deimos in an effort to capture the mystical spirit stones, a source of great power to whomever holds them. To the humans, the stones are a simple matter of survival as they provide power and light. Yet for the Deimos, the stones are a power source that boosts their spell-casting abilities, which will grant them dominion over the lesser beings of the world. Entering into this world are two brothers, Darc and Kharg, both born of a human/Deimos union, and each favoring a respective bloodline. Both brothers are searching for the spirit stones, and in Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits, you'll alternately play as both, watching their storylines intersect as the game progresses.

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits (or just TOS for short) offers a mixed style of gameplay, combining the standard RPG fare with a bit of turn-based strategy. While most of the game plays like a smoothly flowing RPG, with you wandering around the world talking to locals and helping out your friends, it quickly switches to a turn-based tactical system once you head into combat. Combat rounds are played just as they would be in a pen-and-paper RPG, with characters having limited movement points and restricted spell/weapon ranges. This tactical system requires that you plan out your combat, rather than jumping in for a hack-and-slash fest.

Inventory is handled a little differently in TOS, as you can't really change the specific weapons you're carrying. Instead, your weapons have "slots" for upgrades, and these upgrades can be purchased throughout the game. Weapon upgrades offer all sorts of interesting powers to the character, and they get better as you get further into the game.

The spirit stones, a key point in the storyline, are necessary to the gameplay as they provide spellcasting power to the characters. Each spell requires a certain number of stones, and each character can only carry so many stones. This stone requirement forces you to strike a delicate balance between the power of your spell, and the availability of spirit stones. Exhaust your collection of stones early on through careless spellcasting, and you'll find yourself in a serious bind when you need heavy-hitting spells for fending off more powerful foes.

The graphics in TOS show that the PlayStation 2's graphics engine still has plenty of life left in it. Not to be outdone by newer graphical powerhouses, TOS is a shining example of how good a game can look on the PS2. In the preview copy we played, character models were crisp and well defined, while the environments were colorful, detailed and had plenty of character. Spell effects, combat moves and character motion are all fluid and impressive.

The sound, while limited for the demo we played, was solid, and the only speech you'll hear is during the cutscenes. The rest of the time, you'll be clicking through text-based dialogs between the characters. The music as a whole fits the mood of the game, with plenty of flute and fife playing when you're visiting your sleepy little hometown, and then switching to a more serious tone when you're embroiled in combat.

Sony has grabbed hold of the RPG genre pretty early this year with the awesome Dark Cloud 2, and now with Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits heading to store shelves in late June, it looks like they don't plan on letting go of their strong lead. RPG fans have a lot to look forward to with TOS.