Dust: An Elysian Tail review Format Xbox 360 Developer Humble Hearts Publisher Microsoft Released Out now (1200MSP) With its gloriously pretty aesthetic, ferocious combat, bubbly anthropomorphic characters and dark --often grim-- narrative, Dust is a fascinating combination. While the painterly style and 2D side-scrolling action most immediately recalls Muramasa: The Demon Blade, its visual language is Hayao Miyazaki meets Saturday morning cartoons. Japan's master animator's otherworldy wonder filters into the 2D world of Fale; lush greenland with grand statues reaching for the blue skies gives way to dark caverns, punctuated with silence and effervescent pink foliage. Meanwhile, your flying nimbat companion Fidget could be a distant relative of Snarf from the Thundercats. It's sugar coating on a sharper, spikier game than you might expect. You are Dust, a soldier that awakes in a glade near the village of Aurora without memory of who he is or why's he's there. Dust is approached by Fidget, the hyperactive guardian of a talking blade. The sword's name is Ahrah, who guides Dust as the soldier attempts to piece his memory together. As the three companions travel across the world, it's clear all is not well; monsters infest the forests near the village of Aurora while terrible giants stomp around in the surrounding fields. Despite the well worn amnesia cliche, Dust is an intriguing character, a definite sense of conflict working away under his tipped sedge hat. He's beautifully animated too, his tattered robes whipcracking around him as he takes the fight to the monsters. Dust's combat is simple and frenetic, X swings his sword, while Y can both finish off a couple of basic combos and initiates the 'Dust Storm', spinning the sword in a vicious dicing attack. B, meanwhile, has Fidget splutter out a small projectile attack. The projectile attack is largely useless on its own but combined with the Dust Storm, you can whip up a screen-filling hail of bullets or fire, using the explosive attack to build the foundation of three-figure combos. It's spectacular to watch, certainly, though is perhaps more superficial than it first appears. The animation lends the combat a fluidity that allows you to compose some neat tricks. Firing off a huge projectile attack before helicoptering yourself and a handful of enemies in the air, before grabbing one and smashing them down to Earth. There's a distinct sense of connection and satisfaction to chopping up bad guys, with a generous parry and dodge system. But the combat is too limited to sustain the entire game. Once you have dallied with a few of the combinations on hand, you can set yourself to auto-pilot in order to wipe out entire platoons of nasties. It's never less than gratifying entertainment, but you feel there could have been some more disruptive abilities or variation in enemy design to keep things fresh. Pacing and variation is a problem that niggles at Dust throughout. Its structure is ostensibly Metroidvania, with new platforming abilities drip-fed throughout the game allowing to reach previously inaccessible areas. However, progression ends up being more linear than you'd like, with the unlocked abilities tending to be simplistic upgrades such as a double-jump. Having said that, Fale is a world well-worth exploring. While the game is sliced into seemingly disparate areas, accessed by the game's main map, Dust's aesthetic thread ties them all together beautifully. It's a gorgeous and natural land, and whether you're frolicking with rabbits in the glades, bashing undead monsters in the Sorrowing Meadow or outrunning avalanches on a snow-swept carapace, you always feel part of the same world. Its population is rather lovely too. The enigmatic Dust proves an excellent lead and while Fidget can be irritatingly squeaky at first, her wisecracks and pathos are difficult not to warm to. The writing is ever so good-natured for the most part, without ever being afraid of a little bite, and this is reflected in Fale's denizens: the young girl with a secret, the kooky old lady searching for something or the frog-boy with a dying father and one last wish. Dust's interactions and interventions with these characters are cutely judged, leaving you with the lasting feeling of a hero making a difference and inspiring hope in a land under threat. It's this warmth which drives you through Dust's less inspiring moments. It's a game clearly crafted with a lot of love, and while a game's genesis shouldn't influence its critical reception, that Dust was largely designed and written by just one man --Dean Dodrill-- is a terrific feat. And while it isn't perfect, Dust is a generous and smart addition to Xbox Live's thriving Arcade.