Xenogears made quite a splash when it released on the PlayStation in 1998. The title impressed many with its bleak tale of an endless war waged for a forgotten reason, taking place in a convincingly realised world. The RPG was even compared to the Star Wars films, not least because it was subtitled Xenosaga: Episode V, just as the first Star Wars film was called Episode IV, an idea which turned out rather lucratively for creator George Lucas.In the same way, Namco have published prequels to the game, which are developed by Japanese studio Monolith, no to be confused with the other, American, Monolith, who brought you Aliens vs. Predator, Blood, NOLF and most recently F.E.A.R.Xenosaga I was set, however, 10,000 years before Xenogears, and now Xenosaga II is to pick up where it left off. It comes to Europe at last after quite a wait, with the Japanese version having been released in the middle of last year. Set in a huge empire 5,000 years into the future, the world of Xenosaga has been revolutionised by the discovery of 2001-style'Zohar'objects which power the spaceships and just about everything else. The original Zohar is in danger of falling into the wrong hands, and with an evil alien race called the Gnosis intent on the extermination of mankind, it is imperative that such a powerful force be kept safe. The Zohar might be the only thing that can stop the Gnosis. Characters from Xenosaga I, Shion and Jin Uzuki and the robotic battle girl KOS-MOS all return, a brave move by Monolith as it gives them thousands of years to cover in just two more games. Xenosaga II features lovely cut scenes, and puts the player in control of loads of characters, machines and spaceships. An enthralling RPG, it's stealing fans away from Square Enix's long running Final Fantasy series and with a DS version in the works is not going anywhere.