Events in Suikoden Tactics occur before, during and after those in last year's landmark RPG, Suikoden IV. The emphasis here is on battle strategy, you're required to build huge teams to work most effectively in various types of battle - their lives depend on your tactical ingenuity. When recruiting soldiers for each confrontation, you must consider the elemental forces that govern the powers of each individual soldier and also the terrain. In this way you will discover how Suikoden Tactics is one of the most advanced games within its genre.

More than 50 characters are yours to govern in Suikoden Tactics, around 20 of which make their series debut - among them Kyril, our hero. When Kryil was a boy his father was killed while researching a powerful new weapon called the Rune Cannon. Kyril is now a young man and has decided to go in search of this machine, rumoured to transform men into murderous beasts.

Runes play a key role in Suikoden Tactics, permanently boosting a soldier's statistics or temporarily summoning powerful magic during battle. However all power within the world of Tactics is ruled by the basic elements air, earth, fire, and water. Each element is represented by colour, and would-be generals must learn how elements interact or counteract in every scenario. For example blue areas are beneficial to water type characters, but harmful to fire. So your water-type units will have their attack-strength boosted and defence points raised when standing on areas coded blue, or you may want to force fire-types onto blue areas to weaken them.

Of course one of the main strengths of the Suikoden series is personality. And so, in addition to making the right moves and considering the best runes and/or elemental powers, conversation between characters also helps boost attack strength. Individuals can strike up friendships that encourage co-operative skills in battle. When characters become good friends they automatically support each other, blocking attacks or contributing to stupendous combination moves.

Whether you're new to Suikoden or a long-standing fan of the series, you'll appreciate how every effort has gone into making Tactics visually superb, from lush environments to the expressive gestures of individual characters. As an added bonus, if you have a saved game in Suikoden IV you can unlock extra companions to enlist in Tactics.