Jeanne d'Arc announced exclusively for PSP

Who says history is boring? Joan of Arc's life is proof to the contrary. Convinced God was guiding her through visions, she set off to liberate France from English occupation way back in the 15th century, during the Hundred Years' War. At just 17, she became her nation's heroine. Two years later, she was dead, set alight at the stake by her fellow countrymen.

Her life may have been brief but it burned brightly. (Sorry.)

Level 5 must have been doing its homework, because it's based a game on the young French warring maiden. The developer can't have been reading the same textbooks we did at school, however, because in Jeanne d'Arc the teenager fights not the English, but a demonic army. And she does this by using the power of a mysterious armlet that appears on her wrist.

To say the game world leans a little on the fantasy side of things is an understatement – you're still aiming to recapture the French homeland and end the English domination but you should now expect dragons, ogres and magical powers to be thrown into the mix.

This is also reflected in the playable characters. You get to command up to 14 throughout the adventure – both human and beast – and can develop their skills (over 150 abilities such as magic spells and special attacks boost overall stats), as well as discover powerful new weapons – each character is associated with a specified weapon type of the era, including swords, axes, bows, knives, shields, spears, whips and, err, wands.

True to Jeanne's tactical genius, the game delivers a strategic grid-based battle system with which players implement numerous special attacks and defensive schemes in turn-based battles. The skills of characters (up to seven can be controlled simultaneously in combat) can be combined to initiate special moves and powerful offensives while battling the enemy across rolling fields, through villages and complex dungeons.

The environments themselves are numerous – more than 40 are promised – which matches the number of hours Level 5 claims it will take players to finish its charming-looking and potentially excellent quest.

Such early praise isn't simply the result of our being enchanted by the game's apparent cel-shaded beauty (typical of Level 5 productions), however. The developer has a remarkable pedigree when it comes to RPGs, having previously created Dark Cloud, its sequel Dark Chronicle, Rogue Galaxy, and perhaps most famously, Dragon Quest VIII. Besides, Jeanne d'Arc is already out in Japan, where it's reviewed very well.

In short, the project is in as safe a pair of hands as the French soldiers who fought under Jeanne's command.

Despite its European setting, however, the only western release announced so far has been by Sony America, where the PSP exclusive game is due in August. At worst, you may have to contact your favourite importer, though we expect a UK version is very much on the cards. Call it a vision.

Click 'Track It!' to keep an eye on our Joan.