I wanted to make sure to stop by Working Designs' booth after seeing some of their recent work with the Arc the Lad Collection. Once again, they are taking on an ambitious project and bringing another popular RPG series from Japan to North America - and at their E3 booth they had two consoles set up with Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice.

One of the employees at the booth was quick to point out that the game was still very early in the localization process, and it was easy to see why. With the exception of the status menus, none of the in-game text was translated. For those interested in anime-style characters, Growlanser definetly fits the bill - and the opening sequence has voiceovers as well. Again, I was told that the localization team would do a few changes to the game - namely cleaning up the sprites and redoing the intro (set to an 80's rock theme - it was something else...)

Whatever the case, only two things were available to do in the demo copy - character stat selection and a single battle. Battles are unique - it works like a tactical RPG except in real-time, and the timing of the moves and attacks does make a difference. Unfortunately, this was all that was available as the game crashed shortly after the first battle. While this may be admissible for a demo copy, it would have been nice to see a little more. Regardless, if anyone has been a fan of Working Designs' past work, Growlanser II and its younger brother Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness will be worth a look, provided all the bugs are ironed out by its release.