thoroughly enjoyed this game where you play as silly swashbuckling swordswoman Adalia who has to defeat a cartoon villain with a handlebar mustache. my initial verdict upon beating the story mode was that it was too good, too short, but then i stumbled on the excellent arena mode, which pits you against up to 6 arenas of enemies with wacky (but horribly balanced) modifiers being added to the mix with every escalation. and it just revealed to me how well the game's mixture of spectacle fighter gameplay and slapstick comedy works even outside of the context of linear, scripted sequences. adalia and the count-duke's henchmen slinging a never-ending supply of dynamic one-liners, banter and occasional compliments back and forth while trading blows somehow always stays funny, and watching a lackey teeter on the edge or blowing a duelist across the room by luring him into the path of a cannon never gets old. some games can't even be funny with carefully controlled cutscenes and dialogue, but "en garde!" can do so without

oh and the music! can;t forget the music!