The real core of Folklore is its overall aesthetics and its combat system. First it should be pointed out that Folklore is probably one of the nicest looking games you are going to find on the PlayStation 3. The worlds are exquisitely created and so varied that you probably won't tire of them as you explore them. They are bright and colorful dream worlds and dark and dreary nightmarish landscapes - all populated by a cast of hundreds of monsters that you have to fight, subdue and ultimately capture.

The combat is really the lynch pin for the rest of the game, because it is what you will spend the bulk of your time doing. Combat is pretty fun and easy to pick up and play. Instead of using fighting moves or magic like in other games of this type, in Folklore you use captured "folks" as your moves. Hit an action button and out springs a folk to do his or her special move. This can be everything from blowing bubble to striking your enemy with a staff - andd all stops in between and beyond. To use a folk you have to first capture its soul, or ID. To do this you beat on them until their soul pops out and turns red. When the moment is right you click the button and latch on to them, then you jerk the controller upward like hooking a fish. For lesser folks, hooking a spirit is easy, but as you face larger foes you may have to use some other Six-Axis related techniques to secure the ID you are after. There are a lot of different folks that you can capture and upgrade as you go, but the more entertaining ones are the massive folks that dole out tons of damage in one shot.

As you continue to hook souls, you gain experience, which in turn allows you to upgrade your folks even more. Upgrading is based on certain criteria like killing so many types of monsters or collecting a certain amount of a specific item. While the upgrade paths aren't all that complex they serve your powers very well in the game and give you the opportunity to have something else to do.

While the action can get repetitive at times, it is a lot of fun. using the controller's Six Axis functions works pretty well and retains the fast paced that players expect from simply pressing a button or moving a stick. It's simple, streamlined, and it works very well. Folklore is actually the first game I have played that implements Six Axis support in a useful way that doesn't interfere with flow of the game in any way..

At the end of the day Folklore is a solid game experience, but probably not for everyone. Adventure gamers will be disappointed with the game's lack of depth and RPG players may not like the heavy focus on action, the use of the Six-Axis controller and the linear nature of the game. But the real charm of Folklore is the excellent presentation, decent storytelling, wonderfully entertaining characters and the beauty of the combat system. If story and visuals are what you are looking for, then Folklore is worth a try.

Hot:

• Beautiful graphics
• Good use of the Six-Axis controller: it's fun to capture souls by hooking them like fish
• Lots of souls to collect and use
• Good storytelling presented with an art style best described as a cross between film noir and a comic book
• Two different characters to play with different perspectives
• An interesting character development system

• Gameplay can be linear at times
• Adventure game elements are too light
• Protagonists are virtually the same and come across as one dimensional
• Too much loading time for a PS3 game
• Some parts of the game can be repetitive