Ah, Japanese anime-ish tactical strategy role-playing games. I'm a sucker for them, but lately the releases have been pretty disappointing to this fan. Even the predecessor to this game, last year's Luminous Arc, didn't do that much for me. But playing through the review code of it's sequel, Luminous Arc 2, I can say that they've turned things around.

This Nintendo DS SRPG game sports some noticeable improvements from Luminous Arc. You can opt to play the game without ever touching the bottom screen, but if you prefer, it can be used, and it works well. As review code doesn't always come with an instruction manual, I went through about 2 hours of game play before realizing you could use the stylus for full battle control. After I finally tried it, I haven't gone back: you can tap your position on the field, access menus, and attack targets, all with simple stylus movements.

The overall game menu presentation is nicer now, too. Again, you can navigate all of the menus without ever using the stylus, but this sequel actually gives you a choice now.

I'm about 20 percent into the game now. The story is nothing too spectacular so far, but the characters are engaging enough that I'm enjoying their tale. The story is fun and lighthearted, but it seems to be heading into "interesting" territory. Maybe it will get deeper, but I'm totally fine with it as it is now.

The visuals and art are very nice in Luminous Arc 2. The character art for the dialogue is pretty as ever, showcasing plenty of busty girls -- or witches in this game -- with big hair and bigger attitude problems. Maps are still on the small side so far, but they look great. The title opens up with a lovely anime video introduction, and I hoping more video like this shows up later in the title.

Game play is very similar to its predecessor, with a few new changes. The most notable one is the "engage" mechanic, where the main character, Roland, engages with another of the characters on the map, enabling him to borrow some of their power. In the cases I've seen so far, he nabs their elemental power (fire, light, water) and applies it to his combat style, making for a powerful one-time attack. For some reason, this engagement is accompanied by a dreamy image of the engaged female in a wedding dress. Strange. Pretty.

We're digging Luminous Arc 2 so far. The game play is solid, and the story in between battles is charming. I wouldn't call anything in this title groundbreaking, but it's nice to have something fun and lighthearted to play, especially after all of the lackluster SRPGs we've been playing lately.

Look for our review next month.