If I had made a list of 2007 games that should have been played but weren't, "Eternal Sonata" would have been on it.

"Eternal Sonata" might have scared off some people with its childish-looking graphics and cover. But inside, it's a colorful, well-done role-playing game that takes players on an interesting, and strange, trip.

The main character is the composer Frederic Chopin. It's the last three hours of his life, and he's unconscious in bed while his family gathers around him. Meanwhile, in his dreams, he's in a another world, one in which every person and town is named after something in music.

The other main character, for example, is a young girl named Polka. She can perform healing magic, but in this world having magic means you're sick and going to die. Until she meets Chopin, a boy named Allegretto and a few others, nobody will have anything to do with her for fear she's contagious.

Eventually, with a group of a half-dozen or so, you set out to stop the evil ruler of the land, whose goal is to make the villagers into an army of slave warriors.

The world is colorfully cel-shaded, done in an anime style. Also typical of many anime, many of the characters' voices drive me crazy, but they're not unbearable (and at least it's not Marumaro from "Blue Dragon"). Some scenes are incredibly cheesy, and there is one excruciatingly long death scene, but overall the characters are likable and often funny.

Battles have an interesting set-up. It's real-time, sort of. When it's a character's turn, you can move them around the battlefield wherever you want, and you perform attacks by hitting certain buttons. However, there's a timer that drains as you move, and your turn is up when it runs out.

Additionally, there's a light and dark aspect -- when characters are in the light, they can perform one set of attacks, and when they're in the shadows, it's another. This adds a strategic element to the battles.

Of course, with music being such an emphasis in the story, it also has a big part in the game itself. Throughout the game are score pieces that you can play for other characters. If they like it, they give you an item. The game's score is orchestral and beautiful, and each chapter finishes with one of Chopin's compositions and little tidbits about his life.

I certainly haven't played a game quite like "Eternal Sonata." It's got its little quirks, and not all of them are good, but the base is strong and the story and environment are so unique that it's definitely worth trying. Don't let that kiddie look scare you off.