“Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch” was released on January 22, 2013 by Level-5 and Studio Ghibli for the PlayStation 3.

   The game has a serene beginning, starting with the main character, a child named Oliver, and his friend, Philip, who finished designing a small car,  discussing when they should try it. The hesitant Oliver wants to wait and to ask his mother, but his friend wouldn’t hear of it, and Philip persuades him to sneak out at night and try driving their newly finished car. Oliver returns home and waits.

  When the moon rises, he takes to the night under a guise of darkness and finds the garage where he and his friend store their car. His friend is already there, waiting, and the two head out with the car to a riverbed, where a long straight piece of land stretches out endlessly, perfect for their midnight test-run.

  Oliver gets into the car and starts it up. After a series of noises, the car moves slowly forward, and, not content with the slow speed, Oliver gasses it up. As he races along the riverside, the car begins to lose control, and he starts to swerve left and right until a sharp turn sends him and the car plunging into the river. Philip, watching the entire time, begins to scream and flail his arms, calling for help from the nearby homes.

  They pull Oliver out from the water, although he isn’t moving, and his mother begins pressing down on his chest in an attempt to restore his life. Once Oliver regains consciousness, his mother suddenly gets a heart attack from the stress of the event. She dies, leaving Oliver alone and crying at her side.

  He stays at another house for a while and spends most of his time sobbing. When one of his tears lands on what he believed to be a stuffed animal, a curse was broken, and the toy reveals itself to be a fairy king from another world.

  He then tells Oliver of the threat the other world is facing and how there’s a chance to revive his mother by finding her soul mate, who is an exact copy of one’s self. Oliver, determined to bring back his mother, sets off with the fairy, whom is named Drippy, into a new and fantastic world where countless trials and battles await him.

  The game certainly does sound as if it were a children’s game, due to the story and Oliver’s age, but it grows into something beautiful, rich, and memorable. The graphics are flawless, making it feel as if one were playing in a movie instead of a video game. The style of drawing is the same as the films produced by Studio Ghibli, such as Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away.

  The game-play resembles most Japanese role-playing games, running around different areas and bumping into roaming monsters who will attack the main character. Eventually one will begin the battle, which is like that of Tales of Grace combined with Final Fantasy, where one can move as he likes, but his attacks are more turn-based.

  Once one attacks, there is a short waiting period before he can do another, so then one must run and evade incoming attacks. If the main character is killed, the game is over, and one has a choice to revive at the spot where the battle took place for a small price or to return to one’s last save-point.

  The story can get awfully cliché sometimes, but it has heartwarming moments too, as well as sad moments. It tells of a boy’s resolve to save his mother in this strange new world. With a long, memorable story, endless side quests, and entertaining battles, it’s an instant classic that will live on as one of PlayStation’s most beautiful games.