Stung by the Japanese public's disdain for the first Xbox, Microsoft signed up Hironobu Sakaguchi, the man who created the original Final Fantasy games, whom the Japanese revere like a rock star. Lost Odyssey is the result of that initiative, which has proven partially successful - Xbox 360 sales remain negligible in Japan, but at least Microsoft's console now has a top-notch role-playing game. Unsurprisingly, Lost Odyssey is very reminiscent of the Final Fantasy games: it is epic (straddling four disks), gorgeous-looking and has a complex turn-based fighting system - hardly forward-looking in a next-gen world. But it proves surprisingly enjoyable: the fighting system has depth (bosses require a pleasingly strategic approach), the storyline (bar the occasional descent into schmaltz) is excellent and the whole experience is very meaty. Japanese-style Xbox 360 RPGs are very rare, and they don't come better than this.