Septerra Core is a role-playing game in the style of Fina Fantasy, with vivid characters and lots of puzzle-solving tests of player mettle. Its combat system runs smoothly and provides lots of chances to display your tactical prowess by combining various characters' Fate cards to create different spells. You play as Maya, a young woman at the center of a power struggle to control her world. A fabulous, multilayered planet with a gigantic computer at the center, the planet was designed by an ancient creator. The Creator's plan works in such a way that once every century, the continental layers align so that light can reach the planet's core, powering up the computer and making its secrets accessible to anyone possessing the right keys. Unfortunately for Maya and her friends, a Chosen Lord named Doskias has decided to hurry things along, and is prepared to destroy the planet if it means he can activate the Creator's computer 40 years early. Recent role-playing games have a tendency to combine a fantasy quest and combat sensibility--including swords, spells, and, above all, healing--with what is otherwise a science fiction concept. Septerra Core is no exception. However, the layered setting of the Creator's world is vigorously thought out and beautifully drawn, putting this particular genre hybrid in a class above most of its competitors. --Alyx Dellamonica