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This time kids we're reviewing Tales Of Symphonia by Namco for the gamecube!

controls 9/10:

this is one of the best parts and one of the worst. The controls are made so that the B button and a movement of the directional stick with execute that command, so down+B would have a command. You can set one skill to down+B, left/right+B, up+B, and just B. Also you can set shortcut to any character's skill ((within your party)) to up C stick and Down C stick. over all the controls are great. Its just the reason that up is also jump doing an up+B skill is semi-difficult

Story 8/10:

kind of been done. Collett is the Chosen. Only she may regenerate the world of Sylvarant and bring mana and prosperity back to the world. But in order to do so she must sacrifice herself. To become an angel. Her best friend, and main character, Lloyd a long with his professor Raine, Genis, Raine's younger brother and Collett and Lloyd's other friend all come along with her on the journey of regeneration. Along the way they meet allies and enemies. This is one journey they will not forget.
((note: i made that)) sound familiar? Yep final fantasy X. thats where the connection is. and even then its kinda old. Girl is chosen. girl travels with friends. girl faces challenges. girl sacrifices self. girl saves world.
Not how the story goes but kinda the jist of it.

Gameplay 9.8/10:

Because of the shifting characters you never really know what's going to happen next. Plus each enemy is different so an all out offensive will not work for all. Button mashers will have their fun in this game as well as thinkers. Spells are learned like skills and skills are learned depending on the characters T or S scale. if one character is based more on T they will not learn skills they would in S. Unision attacks are executed when a gauge is full by pressing Z. This, if the first attack hits, will kind of freeze the enemy and you press X,Y,B,A in any order and combination you wish. Why is it called unision? Each button is a character in the 4 people party. Just like you would use a regular skill you can vary it by pushin down+Y or up+A. If two attacks are combinable they will form a combo attack.
i.e Photon+Psi tempest/tempest=Phonton Tempest

Why a 9.8? for the reason above. Only one combo attack can be executed. So basically the max of moves you can use is 5. If we could execute more combos in a unision attack i would have given a straight 10.

Replayabilty 8/10:

there are choices you can do in this game and each one affects an outcome. So if you wanted to see another outcome, play it again. Not only that but the GRADE you get from your battles can be used. They are used in the end of the game in a shop. In this shop you can buy things like EXP x10 or carry over monster book. 8/10 is my rating because it all depends if you like replaying and everything.

Overall Rating: 9/10

This game is definately a must buy. If you don't believe me then just rent it and see. Worth everything you put into it. So get out and have fun!