The Legend of Heroes Hands-On

The Legend of Heroes is the upcoming role-playing game on the PSP from Bandai that is poised to fill the painfully obvious RPG gap in the portable system's software library. The game will provide a meaty experience, sending you to the four corners of the gameworld as you guide main character Avin on his quest to find his sister. We had the chance to try a work-in-progress version of the game to see how it was coming along.

The intro is an in-game cinematic that shows how Avin and his sister, Eimelle, got separated. Once the stage is set, you'll get control of Avin and begin exploring his surroundings, which basically serves as a tutorial. You'll be tasked with delivering a letter, which gets you going around town and preps you on the basics of control and navigation.

The game's presentation still retains the charm of its first impression, thanks to a clean look and detailed graphics. Though there's nothing groundbreaking going on technically, The Legend of Heroes has a pleasing retro look that draws on many time-honored effects to bring its world to life. You'll see lens flares and some lighting effects to spruce up the polygonal environments and the sprite-based characters. The audio is decent, although the pleasant music tracks and sound effects leave you hoping for some voice in the game.

So far The Legend of Heroes is looking like a substantial first RPG for the PSP. The gameplay and graphics are solid, although we would like to hear some audio for the various characters. If you're fiending for a good old-fashioned RPG, then you'll want to keep an eye out for The Legend of Heroes when it ships this fall for the PSP.