OUR RATING: 7.9 VERY GOOD About our ratings

TANGIBLES: Gameplay: 7 Visuals: 8 Audio: 8 Value: 9 Quality: 8

Why you should buy it: Not Available Why you should rent it: Not Available

UNIQUE RATING: 7.9 SUGGESTION: N/A

When does a lot of a good thing become too much' Snowblind seems to be testing these waters with their latest hack-n-slash RPG, Champions: Return to Arms. The sequel to last year's Champions of Norrath, RtA lets the player choose a hero and jump into the fray, staving off hordes of fantastic beasties and encountering some formidable bosses along the way. The formula has worked since Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, and the newest entry doesn't stray too far from the well-worn path. While Snowblind's previous efforts have woven more complexity into their stories, the solid gameplay and fluid controls haven't lost their appeal, and anyone needing to feed their slashing and spellcasting addictions need look no further: Return to Arms lacks innovation, but its singular fun factor hasn't yet worn out its welcome.

It's too bad, then, that Return to Arms doesn't offer a terribly positive first impression, not because of its character creation, which features two more races and classes than its predecessor, but the manner in which the player is summarily dumped right in front of elf Firiona Vie, who serves as quest provider and general merchant. She gives you the unsurprising news: the future of Norrath depends solely on you. Given your rudimentary quest, you journey to the Plane of War to ' well- kill things. Lots of things. You traverse across a number of Everquest's renowned planes of power , solving a few quest-related puzzles and talking to a few bland and uninteresting characters, but for the most part, the meat is in the gameplay itself, not in the inconsequential narrative that would interest only the most dedicated Everquest fans.

Once you get past the trite story, however, you are left with the same type of addictive combat that fueled Champions of Norrath, and the well-designed dungeon crawls and outdoor romps keep the gameplay from ever feeling mundane. You view your avatar from an isometric perspective, navigating throughout some extensive but fairly linear environments. You can easily switch between two primary weapons, and have two spells available for quick casting at any given time. As with any RPG, leveling up and acquiring new and better weapons and armor serve as plenty of reward for your troubles, but it all comes down to the combat, and while it may seem a bit monotonous at first, the addition of new spells, abilities, and upgrades keep your battles fresh.

This freshness is also due in part to the myriad of enemies across the planes, whether it be standard goblin and orc fare in the plane of war, volatile mechanical robots in the plane of innovation, or the flaming giants from the plane of fire. Some enemies are more susceptible to some attacks than others, although these strengths and weaknesses are mostly common sense: after all, it would stand to reason that a fire attack would do more damage to an ice creature than a wintry one. Eventually, you will be dealing with enemies in huge numbers, such as the swarming Samurai (who brilliantly commit suicide when defeated to retain their honor). It makes for intense action with a certain degree of tactical maneuvering, since keeping yourself out of harm's way in some of the labyrinthine levels can be a challenge.

The main story itself requires no backtracking to prior levels to finish, but Snowblind has added an impetus to return to them in by adding numerous'side quests. The Medallion levels offer various challenges in the form of various minigames, such as defeating a certain number of foes with a limited number of health potions, or locating pearls underwater before running out of breath. You are rewarded with the plane's medallion, which gives you some experience and skill points, and also unlocks the bloodstone level for that plane. The bloodstones are items you must find in most of the levels, which, when found, also grant various upgrades. Should you meet every bloodstone challenge, you then unlock a powerful weapon on the plane of valor ' a true reward for a job well done.