Gust, the Japanese developer responsible for Marie's Atelier, has just released its first PlayStation 2 game. Hresvelgr (pronounced "phrase-velg") is a fast-paced racer with a slight focus on combat. Though it may look like a take on Sony's popular Wipeout series, the game is more flight sim that it is arcade racer - and not a very good flight sim at that.

　　The game's basic premise is that you pick a vehicle and race it on a variety of tracks. After selecting your vehicle, you can go with one of two different control schemes - manual or automatic. Automatic control is easier, and you only have to worry about your vehicle's altitude and direction, whereas manual control gives you all the variables of your standard flight simulator - you'll have to deal with your craft's yaw, pitch, and roll, just as you would in real life. Unfortunately, giving you all this freedom while forcing you to hover above a small track is somewhat disappointing, as you never really get to fly your craft. The track has certain patches on it that replenish your craft's energy reserves, and once you fly off the track, you'll quickly expend your reserves and strand yourself. This is easily the most aggravating aspect of Hresvelgr, as I found myself constantly fighting the overly complex controls just to stay on the tiny track.

　　Perhaps if I were allowed to practice each track before I was engaged in the grand prix mode I would have fared better, but at the start of the game only the grand prix mode is available. Hresvelgr forces you to beat the grand prix mode before it unlocks the single-race or practice modes. I'm sorry, but this concept seems a little backward to me. While the game definitely looks pretty and sounds good, the harsh controls and restricting gameplay keep playing Hresvelgr from being as much fun as it could have been.