With an estimated release in late 2006, Riviera fans waiting to sink their teeth into Sting's new RPG, Yggdra Union have a fairly long wait before release. Perhaps during that time, they can attempt to effectively define exactly what the game is.

Yggdra Union is a strategy role-playing game. It's also a turn-based card fighting game. And, if Riviera was any indication, it might feature some light-hearted, almost dating-sim gameplay. This certainly makes exact genre definition difficult, but it also may indicate promise for another unique RPG by developer Sting.

The story of Yggdra Union takes place in Fantasinia, a land of peace...until a neighboring country invades. The plot follows Princess Yggdra, the sole survivor of the Fantasinian royal family after war breaks out. Her goal is to fight this war and ultimately liberate Fantasinia from the invaders.

Battles in Yggdra Union will likely be the mainstay of the game, and the systems involved look like Sting material through and through. While most SRPGs spread units out over a huge playing field, allowing for much planning in advance, Yggdra Union's maps are condensed, allowing for only minor movements. This facilitates fast and furious battles, with little downtime between. Players control units of forces, which they then send to fight the enemies. Once the fight has been engaged, the game zooms in on the action, Advance Wars style, and the units battle it out on screen. Units have classes, although it isn't clear yet whether or not there will be a distinct class system, or whether or not players will be able to play with the classes as they can in games like Disgaea. The battles do look pretty entertaining so far, but right now there isn't a ton of information about how it will all end up working.

The graphics look great. Time and again, the Game Boy Advance proves that it still has the power to impress graphically, and Yggdra Union is no exception to this. Character portraits are also superb, with art in the same vein as Riviera.

Publisher Atlus USA's showing of Yggdra Union at E3 certainly answered a few questions, but it also opened up the game to speculation. Sting has already shown that it is a worthy developer, but it remains to be seen as to whether or not they can pull off a game as ambitious as Yggdra Union. Remaining questions will be answered in October of this year; expect a full review around that time.

SCREENS

• Mmmm... sweet SRPG goodness
• A card
• I'm sure there's some explanation for this...
• You = Owned
• That fencer isn't looking too hot...

MOVIES

• Short trailer with lots of cool art, even more twangy guitar (29 MB)
• Almost 6 minutes of gameplay, clearly the other trailer's daddy (49 MB)

LINKS

• Yggdra Union Wallpapers
• Forum Discussion
• Official Atlus Website