At first glance, Anito: Defend a Land Enraged appears to be a Diablo clone. Indeed, the way powers are set up and the way combat flows are very similar to Diablo. However, don't be fooled, this is a game that has far more in common with exploration-centric adventure games than with mindless monster-bashers. This charming gem from the Philippines has its share of flaws, but a powerful and well told story keeps it shining.

You begin the game choosing between two characters, Aguila and Maya, who are brother and sister and who both have their own unique story. They live on Maroka, a tropical island paradise that is home to several villages of their native people, the Mangatiwala. Also present are invaders from another, apparently European land, which are determined to turn the island into another colony for their Empire, and a group from mainland Asia who are content to take over the hearts of the natives with their culture instead of trying to browbeat them. Adding to the turmoil is a group of natives who have decided to rebel, causing the imperialists to crack down on travel between the villages. In the midst of all this conflict, Aguila and Maya's father goes missing. The tribal elders ask them to undergo tasks to prove themselves worthy of taking his place as a leader of the tribe while the pair searches frantically for their missing father.

The majority of the time you spend in the game is spent in conversation with the numerous characters that populate the different villages. They can also assign you a wide variety of quests. These range from extremely complex, multi-task quests that can take hours to complete to something as simple as tricking someone into taking his medicine. The benefit of this is that you always have something to do; you are never floundering about trying to find where the next plot point is. The drawback is that it often feels like you've been given your to-do list for the day and you're just checking things off one by one instead of being involved in an epic story. Combat does not come up very frequently, but is usually challenging when you get to it.

Speaking of day, Anito incorporates some staples that you find more in rogue-like, text based games such Nethack and ADOM than in traditional computer role playing games. There is a day and night cycle. When night falls villagers pack it in for the night, and you are no longer able to buy or sell. However, new creatures also emerge at night, making exploration at all times of day both necessary and rewarding. Another thing CRPG games might not be used to is having to eat. Your character will run low on energy as you tromp about and it will be necessary to keep a food supply on you at all times. To aid in this is a most impressive list of cooking items and foodstuffs that can be combined to make lots of different foods with slightly different properties. After you kill a wild boar you can harvest its meat, take it to an oven and cook it, then prepare some side dishes using local fruits and vegetables. While this aspect of the game won't appeal to everyone, it does make for an amusing diversion.

What is amazing by Anito is that such an interesting game can be made on such a shoestring budget. Unfortunately, there are places where that budget shows, and some people will not be able to see past the graphics to the meat of the game. The pallet of the game is a realistic but uninteresting series of drab greens and browns, and with as much foliage there is in the different areas, without a whole lot of color variation from plant matter to path, it can be easy to wander off the path and have to wander around to get back on it. Also, the character models are not terribly detailed and some of the animation is quite stiff and unnatural. However, the sound for the game is surprisingly good. The soundtrack really gets you in the mood for exploring a tropical island, and the voice acting, while sparse, isn't bad at all.

Anito: Defend a Land Enraged is proof that it doesn't take a huge staff and gobs of money to make a compelling gameplay experience. If you go into the game to play it as an adventure game rather than a hack and slash you'll find some delightfully complex systems and lots of good dialog that only occasionally suffers from translation. With a strong, compelling narrative, 2 kind-hearted characters you want to root for and who have their own unique quests, and lots of places to explore, Anito will keep you occupied for a long time.

For more information about Anito: Defend a Land Enraged, visit the Official Site .