Sequel to the 2001 release Dark Cloud, Sony's Dark Cloud 2, like it's predecessor, doesn't break much new ground — but it retreads old territory like a pro.

The story centers around Maximilian, a wealthy youngster living in the quaint, walled-in city of Palm Brinks. Max has little use for the riches he was born with, and would rather spend his time in the employ of Cedric the inventor, who teaches Max the ways of machines. We experience the game through Max's eyes, as he narrates the goings on as a letter to his absent mother, who he's determined to find. Soon, Max finds himself chased by a group of clowns (literally) who want the pendant his father gave him. As the story unfolds, Max meets Monica, a sword-weilding princess from 100 years in the future. Together, they travel from location to location, delving dungeons to find the Geostones needed to restore Max's world, and therefore restore Monica's, and learn more about Emperor Griffon, an evil being who's trying to erase the future by destroying the "origin points" of key people and places throughout history. Unfortunately, sometimes the story sags under the weight of boring sequences, and it can be easy to forget exactly what you're supposed to be doing to progress the story when you have to spend a lot of time on one dungeon floor.

Dark Cloud 2 has extremely clean, well done graphics and lively sprites, somewhat reminiscent of Final Fantasy IX. The characters are very well detailed and animated, though sometimes lacking in facial expression. As with Wild ARMS 3, the outlines around the characters can be a little jarring at first, but once you get used to it, to my eye at least, it adds a certain... charm to it. The way the camera sometimes shifts and fades in and out when you move from one screen to another can be disorienting, but not extremely so. Palm Brinks is enormous and the details are great, though all the locked houses can be annoying, and it's hard to find where you need to go until you get familiar with the layout. As far as I've gotten in the game, you have to rebuild all the other towns, using Georama parts. The houses, fences, trees, rivers, etc. that you can build are very well done, and the game even gives you the option to paint most things (if you have enough paint, that is. Don't worry, someone sells it). The camera seems much, much more smooth in Dark Cloud 2; it's been far less common that I've had the camera get in my way when I was trying to battle or find something.

The music, for the most part, is very soft and at times soothing. It has the tendency to fade into the background, but that's not always a bad thing. In Max's time, all the towns seem to have the same quiet little ditty (Palm Brinks' theme being the exception; it's reminiscent of the kind of music you hear in Italian restaurant commercials). In the future, the limited areas you can go to each have their own song, which is a nice (if expected) touch. All the songs are fairly good at setting the mood, but overall, the music is easily forgettable. The voice acting is well done, with many familiar voices from American cartoons, and it's rare that I got a feeling (as with most games) that the voice actors were very bored with the parts. Flotsam the Ringmaster seems a bit overacted but this, one thinks, is intentional. Occasionally the subtitling runs far too slow for the spoken dialogue, or vice versa, but it's a problem that can be overlooked, if you're not impatient. The sound effects are exceptional, from the clomp of Max's boots on cobblestones, to the splash of a fishing hook into the water, to the bells ringing every few hours in Palm Brinks — and, as all good sound effects should be, they don't really catch your notice. They're simply there, which to me speaks of fair realism... though the speaker hiss that ends all of the Ridepod's randomly yelled sentences ("Steve" can be given a voice box) can be almost as annoying as the voice itself.

The controls are almost identical to the original Dark Cloud, though if you're not familiar with those, there are plenty of tutorials to teach you the ropes. I admit, in the beginning I was sceptical of having only two characters, but the two you're given are versatile enough to cover what took six people in the first game — although, this time there are no contrived doors or pitfalls that force you to choose one person to pass. As the game progresses, you have to collect people from Palm Brinks and redistribute them around the towns you rebuild. Making this easier is the fact that the situations in each new location usually call for a certain person, though actually getting that person to join you can be a royal pain in the ass. On the bright side though, anyone who joins the party will be sent to the train, where you can go talk to them — no matter how far from Palm Brinks you are — and conduct business, or even have them accompany you (one at a time) into dungeons. None of them can participate in battle, but most of them have helpful abilites to lend to your cause, some better than others (hint — abuse Corinne and Donny). The "Spectrumize" option is an interesting take on — and both more and less versatile than — the old "Attachment" system from Dark Cloud. The Georama mapping is better this time around than in Dark Cloud, though it gets pretty anal about the proximity of objects. I've run across the occasional bug of having an enemy disappear off the side of the camera instead of dying, and thus losing money, exp, and the key item needed to get to the next floor, though thankfully this has been rare. The tutorial menus can pop up at the most frustrating times during battle, however; I had to fight the Robot Clown several times, and even though I knew what I was supposed to do, the little tutorial screen would pop up and get in my way — causing me to be standing right in the path of an oncoming missile and unable to dodge once I cancelled the tutorial screen.

The option to change Max and Monica's outfits over the course of the game is a very welcome touch, to me personally. The system of having medals awarded for beating certain requirements in any given dungeon floor is much more pleasant than the "limited floors" which make you stick to just one person for an entire dungeon floor. There are "sealed" floors; a Blue Seal means you can't use Monica, and a Red Seal means you can't use Max. A White Seal means you can't heal on the floor. However, merely beating every monster in the dungeon one time through will break the seal, making it possible to use anyone there on future attempts. One thing which I'm exceptionally happy about, is the treasure chests; you can now open them from any angle, unlike the first game where you had to position yourself just right. I must say, I'm not entirely fond of the fact that you can't see the entire dungeon map anymore — it wouldn't even be that large on most floors. The camera item is a nice feature; taking pictures for inventions is a good way of making you explore everything. The requirements for the "Scoop" pictures seem to be needlessly anal, though — I wasted 30 shots on Linda trying to get her "Scoop" picture, and failed. I've accessed most of the mini-games (you earn them as you progress), and I can easily say, fishing is much better in Dark Cloud 2. No more bait on a stick, no — this time you're given an actual rod. Spheda, a golf-type game, is interesting, but frusrtatingly difficult (at least for me). The fish-weighing game seems fun, though not really worth the effort as the prizes don't seem spectacular and you lose your hard-won fish (and to win, you'll have to weigh in some real lunkers). As of writing this, I haven't gotten to the fish racing games.

Taken as a whole, Dark Cloud 2 is an entertaining jaunt through an interesting story, even if it lags a bit. It doesn't offer that much that's new and exciting to veteran players, but I'd say it's a good starter for someone new to the RPG fold. For those who've played the original Dark Cloud (or most RPGs) and just want another new face on similar circumstances, playing this game will be like revisiting a childhood haunt that's been rebuilt. To me personally, Dark Cloud 2 has reminded me a very great deal of the old Enix Robotrek game on the SNES. But, for a newcomer to the vast world of role-playing video games (who this game seems to be geared towards), it should be a delightful romp into a whole new world.

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