Jade Empire is never anything short of entrancing. The level design is impeccable, and all the sub-quests feel like they have a genuine purpose to them, rather than just being there to provide you with a mechanism to level up more quickly. The musical and artistic presentation of the game is perfectly polished, and the combat system is accessible without being overly simplistic. And I haven't even mentioned the Dragonfly mini-game yet; an unlockable vertical-scrolling shoot 'em-up that is almost worth the entry fee in itself, and can be played directly from the main game menu.

I could eulogise for pages, but that would just stop you from going out and buying the game RIGHT NOW. Suffice to say that whilst perfection is unachievable in a videogame, Jade Empire is the closest we have to date in the RPG genre, hence the 10/10; if this isn't an 'Astounding' game then nothing is. Naturally, the game won't please everyone, especially sections of the RPG "hardcore" who live by the d20 and die by the d20 (very droll - Ed), but Bioware have created a benchmark-standard title that won't intimidate newcomers to the genre, which provides some of the most atmospheric and rewarding role playing in a videogame to date.