The graphics in Anachronox can best be summed up by an old off-color remark you´ve probably heard before- "It´s not the size that counts, but how you use it". Anachronox runs off a heavily modified Quake 2 engine, and despite that engine´s age, Anachronox is a pretty attractive game. Smart and inventive level design, excellent use of ambient lighting, and quality artwork bring the various worlds of Anachronox to life far better than one would expect for a game using four-year old technology. Especially stunning are Anachronox´s real-time cutscenes, which through excellent camera, animation, and artwork, really bring the compelling story of Anachronox to life. That´s not to say that the vestiges of older technology are not present, but that the Anachronox team´s consistent attention to detail successfully diverted my attention away from it, save for frequent and somewhat lengthy loading times between areas, which are bound to annoy even the most patient of gamers. Audio is also of high quality in Anachronox, with each area or action sequence of the game having a fitting musical score that fits it like a glove. There aren´t any "stand out" tracks like you might find in a Final Fantasy or Lunar, but Anachronox´s more ambient style is nevertheless quite compelling in its own right.

The setting of Anachronox is a unique one, and its cast of characters even moreso unique. The game´s protagonist, Sly Boots, is a classic `down on his luck´ private investigator in the bizarre city Anachronox. Located in the center of galaxy inside a huge ancient alien construct, Anachronox is a city built on a series of interlocking-but constantly reshifting-metal plates. After a bit of coaxing from his LifeCursor assistant-which contains a digitized imprint of his former secretary´s personality-Sly gets a seemingly normal job in an attempt to put his tattered life together. Through pursing this job, he finds himself in the middle of a plot that threatens the existence of the entire universe. What makes Anachronox so refreshing compared to other console-style RPGs is in the ways it carries out that plot. Sly Boots, and all of the rest of his friends that join him in his adventure, are real losers (he even admits it in the game). They talk trash to each other to their faces, rarely get along well, and are always ready to crack a joke at the expense of one another. The rest of the game´s writing seems to extend from that notion of not taking itself too seriously, and the result is a lighthearted, charming plot that is a welcome change from the a pretentious coming of age stories so prevalent in the console RPG genre.

Anachronox features a better gameplay balance than most console-style RPGs, blending elements from adventure gaming together with the kind of unique mini-games and turn-based combat that define the console side of the genre. Much of the time playing Anachronox will be spent adventuring, which can range from solving puzzles in a dungeon to investigating mysteries for others with your digital camera.. The quality of the adventure elements are really top notch-dungeons are inventive and interactive, and the camera usage to solve quests is really cool. Mini-games are scattered throughout the game as appropriate-for example, a on-rail shooter mini-game as your party attempts to infiltrate an alien base, and they do a good job of `spicing´ up the gameplay. The combat system in Anachronox is very derivative of the Final Fantasy series, blending a realtime clock with enough stops (as you choose your character´s actions) in it to effectively make it turn-based. It's far from being original, but it suits the game quite nicely and never gets overly repetitive like so many other console RPGs, although I attribute that more to smart placement of enemy encounters rather than ingenuity within the system itself. Probably the biggest flaw in the gameplay isn´t in the design at all, but rather the implementation of it-I experienced no less than ten crashes to the desktop in the span of 33 hours of gameplay. Ion Storm has released a patch for the game and has promised another, but it is clear that Anachronox isn´t completely stable in its current state. When the game did work, however, the gameplay in Anachronox, with the exception of the somewhat derivative battle system, is quite spectacular.

Anachronox is unique game regardless of the background you approach it from. PC RPG fans, recently bred on a steady diet of Everquest and Black Isle Studios/Bioware titles, will find the game´s tight plot and cinematic presentation different from what they´ve become accustomed to. Anachronox also comes highly recommended to seasoned console RPG fans, who will definitely savor the different style of plot and characters that Anachronox provides over the cookie cutter characters and poorly translated dialogue found in nearly every major console RPG release these days. Anachronox deserves not only to be praised for its ability to successfully bring the console RPG paradigm to the PC, but also for it´s willingness to do so in a such a unique and intelligent manner that it separates itself from its high-profile console brethren as well.

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