Hands-onLost Kingdoms

Activision stopped by with Lost Kingdoms, which just announced for the GameCube. The game is a localized version of Rune, which is set for release in Japan next month. You will take the role of Princess Katia and embark on a quest to save the land--which is made up of two-dozen worlds spread out over the five kingdoms of Argyle--from an evil force.

You'll encounter a variety of NPCs who offer advice and side quests for Katia to embark on, as well as hordes of enemies who must be dealt with. To aid Katia in her quest, you will be able to collect and power up more than 100 unique guardian creature cards, which can be summoned in combat. The various creatures will include skeletons, wolves, plant creatures, and dragons, to name a few.

In addition to the single-player story mode, the game will offer a two-player versus mode that will let two players pit their creature card collection against each other.

The build of the game we played was similar to the build of Rune , which we played in Japan, and it looked to be almost completely localized. The graphics were clean and detailed, with solid animation for Katia and her bestiary. The two-player mode offered a variety of arenas to compete in, which are taken from levels in the game, and it offered an engaging experience as well. Lost Kingdoms is currently slated for release this spring for the GameCube.