The graphics in Koudelka are quite nice. They catch the ambience of the abandoned monastery where it is set quite well, with a dark, foreboding tone throughout the game. It's moody, in a real sense like Alone in the Dark was, as opposed to the oogely-boogely sense that Resident Evil is. The backgrounds are statically rendered 2D, with 3D characters moving around on them. There is some animation on a few of the screens, but it's generally quite limited. The characters themselves are rather nice, easily discernible and well-detailed. And the FMV in the game is absolutely fantastic -- on the level of Square, I dare say, although that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, Sacnoth being a group of people who left Square.

The graphics in the battle engine itself leave something to be desired, though. Flat, square, drab fields all, and although the enemy models themselves are usually quite cool and creepy, the spell effects and the inordinate reload times after said spell effects ruin the feeling of the game.

I really enjoyed the music in the game. The battle music, when you're in a non-boss fight, seems very period, and although some would say that it doesn't get your heart racing, I find it nice and lilting. And as a battle drags on (which will happen very, very often), you'll find the music gets spicier and spicier. Very cool. The boss battle music, on the other hand, is hard and spiking from the start, so you'll know immediately what sort of fight you're going to have to deal with. And the voice acting, while not stellar, is miles better than most video-game acting. Since almost all of the in-game plot is driven by un-subtitled dialogue, this is a very good thing. Those of us that are a little hard of hearing would appreciate a subtitling option, but I may have just missed that.

Kudos must be given for the game interface. The graphics reminded me of nothing so much as how -I- would have done a game based on, say, Bram Stoker's Dracula. Very clean, easy to understand, and fitting of the period and genre.

Koudelka has its good parts and bad parts. The good parts -- the plot and the characters -- generally overrule the bad parts -- battle engine... okay, bad part. But the cheesy battle engine really hurts the game, in ways that it shouldn't have, and in the end make Koudelka only half the game it could have been.

You take the role of Koudelka (surprise!), a young mystic who was summoned to an ancient monastery in Wales for reasons unknown to you at the beginning of the game. Soon afterwards, you meet up with your first companion, Edward, an admitted treasure-seeker (read: thief) who came because he had heard wealth and women were freely available. Not long after that, James O'Flaherty joins the party, a bishop on a mission from God.

I've got to admit that a more interesting bunch of characters would be very, very hard to come by. No one really gets along -- Koudelka's a bitch, James constantly babbles about the sinners and the righteous, and Edward generally sits stuck between a rock and a hard place. None of them are perfect heroes. Each has their own problems that they deal with, and often lash out at each other. This is a wonderfully human aspect of the game -- you can actually relate to the people, because they have issues just like the rest of us do. It's always amusing to see Koudelka blaspheme (at least, in the eyes of James), and then James go off ranting while Kouldelka laughs.

This symbolism even carries over to when you set up the formation of your party. Koudelka is the Queen, Edward a Knight, and James a Bishop on a miniature segment of a chessboard. This sort of consistency is very, very neat.

What is also very, very neat is the plot of the game. You start off breaking into the place by coming through a roof, and are immediately accosted by Edward, who's about to kick the bucket. As the game goes on, what you think is going on will be significantly altered, and truth after truth will be unveiled. The monastery is not a particularly happy place, and you'll be exploring all its nooks and crannies.

Koudelka uses both lavish FMV and spiffy engine plot sequences, and both work well. You'll learn to love, or at least tolerate, all of the characters, as more and more becomes uncovered as to what's been happening in the dark places of the game.

Koudelka, unfortunately, has serious issues. The battle engine, which you will be spending much time in, leaves a whole lot to be desired. It's a turn-based strategy engine, much like the recent Rhapsody, albeit in full 3D. The problem is that it's slow. Very, very slow. Every time someone moves, uses a weapon, or casts a spell, you may as well sit back and rest for a minute. Especially when you cast a spell -- everyone besides the caster and the target disappears, and after the spell is finished, the game has to 'reload' everyone onto the map. It's tedious and annoying. The graphics aren't all that spectacular to begin with, and this just makes it worse. And then there's silly battlefield logic -- why can't I go around an enemy? How do they magically block an entire row from being passed? I realize that this minimized having to pose people in different directions, as you can't get hit from behind, but man, it's a pain in the ass.

It doesn't help that the battles are unbalanced, either. You'll wash through tons of (tedious) random battles, get to a boss, and get your ass kicked. Try again, and you'll kill the boss without getting hit. Why? I don't know, and by the end of the game you won't figure out a pattern either.

There are some cool aspects to the battles -- leveling weapons is neat, the fact that weapons break makes good sense, and it's always cool to have enemies that often drop really nice stuff. But I can't tell you how many times I had to repeat about 20 or 30 minutes at the beginning of the game simply because there wasn't a save point to be found (another problem) and the random enemies kept tearing me up. Urgh.

Luckily, once you get all three party members, and if you waste some time leveling everyone in various weapons, the battles go pretty smoothly (with the notable exception here and there). Once you get to that point, the game becomes rather fun again, and you'll find yourself re-engrossed in the world of Koudelka.

As stated before, the difficulty curve seems random and bumpy, and can change without warning. An insanely difficult boss may prove trivial upon reload. The only constant difficulty in the game is staying awake through the battle sequence load times. Koudelka looks at anything of interest, which helps offset the generally dark and grimy backgrounds, and the way items tend to blend in. Pay close attention to the way she's looking, and you'll find everything that you were meant to.

The controls in Koudelka are very, very nice. Although the camera tends to be Resident Evil-style, you move relative to the screen as opposed to forward, backward, and turning, which works admirably. It'll take you a second on a given screen to determine which direction you should be heading, but you get used to it quickly. I hate RE-style controls, and Koudelka is a nice proof-of-concept that you can have the same feel without the bad controller antics. The menus are very nice and well thought out, easy to navigate and explore. The only real problem with the game mechanics (and it's a biggie) is the battle engine.

Koudelka is a good game. It's not a great game, although it could have been if the battles weren't so damned annoying. But those of you that can get over the bad battles will find an intriguing plot, realistic characters, and a very nice (if dark, foreboding and evil) world to explore. Survival horror buffs and RPG fans alike owe it to themselves to at least rent the game, and if they find that the battles are tolerable enough to tough through, they'll find a whole lot of good in Koudelka.