I will begin this review with a disclaimer, I love RPGs, I’ve been an RPG player since a time before video games took them into the fold. So that means I have a lot of experience in what makes an RPG worth playing.

I have to admit I didn’t play the first Magna Carta which is probably a good thing as aside from the excellent story-telling cut-scenes in Magna Carta 2, the first five to ten minutes of the game is a lot of reading and A-button pushing to move forward into the real gameplay (which is then a huge letdown). It probably would have angered me to the point of marking the game down just on that alone and never giving this title a second look. As it is, this second title in the series has something to offer, but not much.

There are so many things wrong with Magna Carta 2 I don’t know where to begin. So let’s start with what’s right about Magna Carta 2. The storyline is well done in the game, even if it is highly predictable and uses almost every cliche in the RPG toolbox - super-powered hero with lost memory who will save the day, good allies with evil intent, buxom princesses attempting to save their nations, people living in the forest who shun humans, the struggle between good and evil (this time in a North/South configuration). It’s all here and it comes to life in some very cool cut-scenes. Even the voices are well done with several being recognizable for avid anime fans. Juto’s voice is done by the voice actor who did Renton in Eureka Seven and even has sort of the same character here with his annoying, useless and lengthy soliloquy. Steve Blum, the voice of Spike in Cowboy Bebop and Wolverine in recent games and cartoons, also makes an appearance as does Beau Billingslea, who was Jet Black in Bebop.

While the cut scenes in Magna Carta 2 are both visually and audibly great, the dialogs in the game are equally dull and useless. In fact, you’ll wear out your A-button trying to get past them as fast as possible since few add anything to the gameplay or storyline except to slow it down to a very dull crawl and none can be skipped. But that is just the first major problem with this game. The whole point of RPGs is generally that dialogs, when they must be used, move the story, give insight or generally serve some purpose. The dialogs in Magna Carta 2 seem to be there just to give the voice actors and writers some extra time in the spotlight. Which unfortunately shines so brightly that all it does is highlights flaws.