In a fantasy world where dragons live with humans, Hitmaker brings a story of magical dragons and dragoons. Staring the prodigious Valen Kessler you will be set on an adventure filled with dragons, spirt mediators, and sultry warrior women. The days of PS2 RPG gaming continues to stay alive on the PSP with another addition to the pile with Dragoneer's Aria.

Dragoneer’s Aria might have flown under many gamers radar given the busy holiday season this year. Before NIS America invited gamers into the Netherworld with Laharl in Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, they had time to release Dragoneer's Aria. In August, Dragoneer’s Aria was released from developer Hitmaker in North America and followed with a Japanese release shortly after.

Traditional RPG values creep out around every corner in Dragoneer’s Aria that dampens the experience lightly even if you are a hardcore veteran. From the turned-based combat with the same options to the item shops, inns and magical upgrades, you have seen all this before. On one side of the coin this is perfect, I know a large percentage of gamers still prefer the traditional Japanese style of RPG, however if you’re looking for something a little different, you will have to look elsewhere.

Dragoneer’s Aria focuses on Dragons and their relationship with humans. This relationship also bleeds into the combat with “dragon orbs” that allow you to use powerful elemental attacks. These attacks can be linked in combinations to make larger attacks. This is probably the most interesting aspect of the combat system in Dragoneer’s Aria which should keep your interest if you’re in the journey for the long haul. Besides the combat the storyline will keep you interested as you learn about the mysteries behind the Holy Dragon.

The direct plot in Dragoneer’s Aria follows a young Dragoon, Valen Kesslar who is about to graduate from the Dragoon Academy. In this ceremony six dragons are called upon to appear and this is when an evil Black Dragon appears called Nidhogg. Nidhogg attacks and injures one of the dragons in the ceremony which sets the plot in motion. Valen is appointed to investigate Nidhogg’s attack and the status of the other dragons in the land. Soon after you navigate around town and leave the through the towns gate a young healer named Euphe Kalm meets up with Valen and she helps him on his adventure. She also has romantic feelings towards Valen which starts the obligatory love interest required to make a RPG complete.

The plot isn’t nearly as good as some of the more memorable RPGs I’ve played over the years. Dragons have been done before, so it’s a good thing that Dragons like Ninja’s always stay cool. Along Valens travels he will meet a number of other characters like the guardian of the Earth Dragon, Ruslan and the young pirate captain, Mary Murphy. Draganeer’s Aria is fantasy done how you like it with a colourful cast of characters that help keep the energy of the game up. In the meantime you will be levelling up and progressing to the next area where new enemies await.

Surprisingly Hitmaker included a co-operative mode that allows 2-4 players to connect wirelessly in a unique mode labelled the “Dragoneer Mode”. The Dragoneer Mode is like a version of assault where you have to defeat a keeper and claim its treasure. If you loose during you battle you will have to retire as your friends continue the fight. Including co-op is a nice touch that goes beyond what I expected. The Dragoneer mode isn’t the best co-op addition I have ever seen, but it should please any gamer who has a group of friends into traditional RPGs.

The character design by Korean Jeong Juno is creative making Dragoneer’s Aria have its own identity with a familiar standardized role-playing theme. Gamers might already be familiar with Juno’s work from the popular MMORPG, Lineage II. Like other anime inspired characters RPG fans it’s not shocking to see a majority of the male characters with female design aspects, however the lead character, Valen, is extremely feminine. It actually took me a few moments to realize Valen, was male... I think it's time he cut those long locks to a more respectable size. After a while I laughed as I met some of the other female characters that are busty with the classic Japanese anime look accented with unique colours. Character design is important to role-playing games and it seems that Dragoneer’s Aria has the entire basis covered from the pretty boy antagonist to the sultry female general. If you enjoy your anime inspired games then you’ll be engrossed with the characters in Dragoneer’s Aria.

Musically, we have a typical score that accompanies most RPGs with the main theme being a recreation of Sebastian Bach’s “Air on the G String” on the piano. The production doesn’t skimp out on voice over work in the audio department; Dragoneer’s Aria has full voice over work. The quality of the voice over work is questionable with some cliché sounding characters, but I’d rather have cliché then no sound at all. Adding voice work and an intelligent score increases the production value making this PSP project seem like it was ripped from the annuals of the PS2.

Overall I found the pacing of Dragoneer’s Aria to be a little slower than I personally enjoy. I couldn’t get into the plot like I expected even though I felt the characters had interesting qualities. Thinking to win battles was the most rewarding quality I found about Dragoneer’s Aria along with its excellent visual quality. Dragoneer's Aria starts out a little slow and becomes more challenging as you start hitting the higher levels making the adventure a worth while investment. In no shape can Dragoneer’s Aria compete with a franchise as polished as Final Fantasy, or even other NIS titles like Disgaea, however if you love standard RPGs then Dragoneer’s Aria should do the trick.

Gameplay: 7, Graphics: 7.5,Sound: 7, Innovation: 6, Mojo: 7. Final: 6.9 / 10