4/5 stars ****
It hurts, to think I would be here, reviewing the latest Final Fantasy game, the most recent iteration of a series which has entertained and enthralled me for years, starting as with many western gamers with the 7th, and only giving it 4 out of 5. Having enjoyed not only the main series, but many of the numerous spinoff games, shooters (Dirge of Cerberus), fighting games (Ehrgiez), and remakes, I was looking forward to the first proper Final Fantasy in a good few years. With high expectations, and trying to block out several negative reviews I plunged into the game, my head held high.
For newcomers then- the ironically named Final Fantasy series consists generally of a team of stereotypical warriors banding together to overcome a diabolical menace to the world, and often facing up to personal tragedies and betrayals along the way. By fighting through reams of bizzarre monsters and learning new spells and skills, you progress through dungeons with various pit stops at towns to rest and pursue side quests, usually for a reward. Each game starts fresh, with a new world and characters but retains a lot of staple elements from the series, for example monsters, spells, names and more, which serve to tie the games together in spirit.
Final Fantasy XIII is visually very impressive. As the first Final Fantasy on the current generation of consoles it far exceeds previous games, and also gives other current games a run for their money. The design of the architecture, the enemies, the characters and the world is very good, and they work cohesively giving a good sense of scale and setting. The sound is also good, with the game being fully voice acted, for the most part very well, and although longtime fans may argue that the games have suffered greatly from the loss of longtime composer Nobuo Uematsu, the music is generally unobtrusive and matches the tone of the scenes in which it is used. The game looks and feels very impressive from the get go. The battles too, are generally well done, with less emphasis on individual actions and more on team tactics, with the computer controlling two of the three characters allowed in battle at a time, and you controlling the third. You can switch roles during battle, allowing you for example to change your team members to offensive, defensive or healing tasks.
Upgrading your character is made simple by giving you points to upgrade the individual roles for each character, of which there are six. You can choose which roles you want the character to level up in although the leveling paths are little more than straight lines. Upgrading weapons is the other main way to beef up your team, and collecting upgrading material from enemies, or buying it from a store allows you to give weapons points which they use to level up, making them stronger. Although straightforward, it is sometimes difficult to know the best way to upgrade your weapons. The main non-story task in this game allows you to seek out and hunt monsters in the game world. A lot of these are just more powerful versions of enemies which you have already encountered, but as you get further, more interesting and varied enemies appear, including a few old favourites from previous games. The hunts are challenging, and often require a decent amount of levelling up of your characters or some solid tactics to get through.
Getting through the main story takes a while, and the game makes sure you don't miss too much. As I worked my way through the game, minor annoyances with the various systems appeared. The character upgrading is very linear, and does not really allow for much choice from the player as roles which a character is not supposed to learn take a lot more experience to use than the ones the game has chosen for them. The battles are good, but only controlling a single character becomes frustrating, as at times you want your other characters to do something different to what the game tells them to do. A simple addition of being able to switch between characters during battle would have really helped the battle system in my opinion. A lot of the fun of exploring the world is taken out of this game, with most dungeons resembling a dropped piece of string- far too little challenge and no chance of taking alternate routes, or even any puzzle elements. I feel that the game has been oversimplified, which I am sure has been done in an attempt to introduce it to new players and give it a more mainstream feel but serves to alienate people who were expecting something with a bit more depth. I also felt the story was lacking depth, and whilst the characters were not too bad, they spent most of the game without really knowing what was going on, which I felt continued right up to the end of the game, meaning it was difficult to really give a damn why they were fighting whoever. The villains in this game are pretty dire too, which is a shame for a series famed for its memorable bad guys.
Overall then, I was disapointed with this game, as a fan of the series I was expecting a lot more. As a game in its own right though it works, there are some good and interesting ideas throughout, and I did enjoy it overall. If you are a fan of the series, you probably have the game already, so give me a shout in the comments and tell me what you thought, but if you haven't played a Final Fantasy before this is a more simple take on it, and one which is reasonably enjoyable.
Version reviewed: PS3
Thanks for reading! Andrew
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