Silver, the new Dreamcast RPG from Infogrames, is a mix of PC-style RPGs and Final Fantasy console RPGs.  Originally released for the PC, Silver received a less-than-enthusiastic response due to serious control issues which hampered gameplay to a point that ruined the game.  Deservedly, however, the game was ported to the Dreamcast where the control issues have been improved allowing the game to reach its full potential. 

The world of Jarrah is ruled by the evil sorcerer, Silver, who spreads misery and strife throughout the land in his mad quest to resurrect Apocalypse, the God of Destruction.  On a small island, David, a young knight, loses his wife to Silver’s armies.  In order to rescue her and other village women that have been taken hostage, David begins a quest to stop Silver’s plot and save the world from destruction.  To achieve his quest, he and his many rebel companions must gather eight magic orbs that hold the key to defeating Silver’s power.

While the story is pretty standard stuff, the presentation is superbly done.  The voice acting is excellent, featuring all sorts of British accents that fit the mood of the medieval world.  Added to this is a highly detailed world and action-oriented gameplay. Graphically, the game is reminiscent of Final Fantasy. The backgrounds are all static, pre-rendered scenes with occasional movements such as waterfalls, animals, and NPCs.  Characters are polygonal but very small.  In some cases, when they run into the background, you can hardly see them.  Environments range from forests, towns, icy mountains, and volcanoes.  

The game's music is constant and fairly good supporting the environments and moods of the game.  As I mentioned the voice acting is the best part of the sound.  Other effects such as melee weapon battles and magical blasts are also well done. 

The gameplay is fairly complex but easy to get used to.  All battles are real time and action-based, usually involving either swinging a sword or shooting magic.  Thrusts, dodges, and swings are handled by pressing the right shoulder button while simultaneously moving the joystick.  Otherwise, the player can simply press the A button to attack directly and usually this works sufficiently.  The game also features a complex pie menu system with the main menu of items, weapons, magic, and special attacks leading into sub menus for each category.  Life bars beneath the character portraits handle health and magic points.  Only by defeating bosses, rather than fighting regular enemies, gains your character level-ups.  

Although a single character is easy to control, things get more complicated when several members are in the party.  Since the player can control only one character at a time, it becomes a hassle to constantly rotate between characters to use heal items or magic during big battles.  Computer controlled characters will generally attack enemies if provoked.  However, many times they will just stand there while your character is doing all the fighting.  Unfortunately, the AI is not as good as I’d like it to be.  It is possible -- with projectile weapons -- to set the number of times to fire before stopping on a single enemy which is not much help against bosses since they are much stronger then normal enemies.  Navigation of the submenus and character switching is tedious at first but is easy to get used to.  

The game becomes more enjoyable as the player explores different locations, solves puzzles, gathers information, fights enemies, and acquires the orbs.  Each orb has a different magic power that can be equipped on a character.  Once acquired the orb magic can even be leveled up three times for more power.  In addition to this feature are special moves acquired through treasure chests or character interaction which when activated properly deal out more damage than regular attacks.

Combining these features with the free-roaming gameplay, items, and exploration feature, Silver offers gamers a decent depth of gameplay.  The fairly engaging story balances the otherwise shallow character development that moves the game along towards the final showdown with Silver.  

The Dreamcast has had its share of RPG missteps in the past.  Silver, however, is a step in the right direction.  With deep gameplay, great voice-acting, decent story, and impressive graphics, Silver is an engaging game which should keep most RPG fans satisfied until something meatier comes along.