Mazes of Fate finds its way to GBA

Here at Pocket Gamer we pride ourselves on being men of the world. With this in mind, we like to cast our discerning and gloriously coloured eyes on gaming projects that emerge from any corner of the globe rather than lazily sticking to the traditional trio of main territories – Europe, Asia and North America.

Imagine our satisfaction, then, at the announcement that first-person RPG Mazes of Fate, from Argentine developer Sabarasa, has secured a publishing deal and should be distributed in cartridge form at some point later in the year.

Sabarasa's relatively unknown status in gaming circles will possibly have the cynics crowing about the fact the game won't be any good. And they might be right – any statistics student will admit that the law of probability states they'll have to be at some point. However, we don't know because we haven't played it yet and, call us crazy gringos, but we tend to prefer trying games out before dismissing them.

What we do know is that it's been in development since March 2003 and that it's the first Latin American game ever developed for a Nintendo console.

Perhaps more crucial to Mazes of Fate's potential gaming merit is that it's split into five chapters (50 levels) and offers three characters as well as the ability to fashion a custom hero. As you venture into dark dungeons, five secondary characters are able to join your party who, along with 45 magic spells and 20 customisable skills, help redress the balance when it comes to facing off, via semi turn-based combat, against the 60-odd types of otherworldly creatures you'll encounter.

Some 30 hours of roleplaying are promised, which should give us more than enough time to lose ourselves in what will hopefully emerge as an engrossing and exotic experience for Nintendo's increasingly overlooked handheld by the larger development regions.