Final Fantasy XIII

Overall: 8
Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 9
Sound: 8

Pros: Beautiful graphics accompanied by an impressive soundtrack, Rewarding levelling up system, Intuitive combat system which encourages hard hitting agility and tactical placement
Cons: Some annoying voiceovers, Less side-quests than would be appreciated, Annoyingly constrained for a majority of gameplay

Welcome to your illustorous and epic fate

House gracing a bustling town centre, it's no use getting an early night around here if a blockbuster game warrants so much attention that not one single human being on the face of the planet can wait for the sun to rise in order to grab such visual delights. Many a sleepless fan boy have graced the street, but none that reach of the extremities of the Final Fantasy XIII devotees, those who have gelled their hair high enough to stroke upon my bedroom window and caused a lunar eclipse.

Final Fantasy VII will always hold a place in my heart as a gaming landmark. It's Stay Puft Marshmallow Man figures have not scarped it's impressive storytelling even though my third playthrough but a few weeks ago. Yet as you begin to age, thirst for blood increases, more than any dose of daytime television can subdue, and the gentlemanly turn-taking procedure instigated by many an RPG becomes gratingly repetitive made even worse by the farming obsessive compulsives that lay their hands upon it. Slow yet genre defining combat and a constant stream of similar JRPG's floating across from eastern seas, it was somewhat dismaying to see the staple of such a great series flood with constant familiarity. It's obviously somewhat difficult to create a fresh and unique experience especially in this industry, so it can be seen as somewhat forgiveable that Square Enix simply made the 13th instalment in it's landmark series a career reflecting scrapbook coated with a thick gloss of 'Cor bloody blimey!'

Drawn into a battle by forces out of their control, a group of six strangers ranging from a brave soldier to a bash revolutionary, from a loving father to a powerless son fight for the greater good of their people, only to become dreaded l'Cie, a stigma which brings about the victim great misfortune. Each of the marked gains a Focus, a primary objective which much be completed to avoid becoming a shambling Cie'th, doomed to walk the world soulless with no purpose in life. I's clear that the party must fight for a brighter destiny, but when each characters Focus toys with the lives of millions of innocents, however, the curse of the l'Cie becomes clear, and the six fugitives must find a way to try and alter the panicked populace and their very own fates.

With combat being so enjoyable, it's easy to cancel all appointments for a good session of grinding
In no way can the plot of any FF game can be justified in one Wiki worthy paragraph, and XIII being absolutely no different. There's clear determination, fear and personal turmoil writhing inside each persona for you to build a repertoire of favourites from the cast. As expected plots deepen, crisis's worsen and a destruction 'FAR WORSE THAN YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE' rears its ugly head, yet the journey to imminent Armageddon is made much more personal by the nature of the events that precede it. Due to unforeseen circumstances, each character is forced to split, some pairing up with a buddy for a good majority of the first sections of the game. These joinings encourage plenty of intimate reflections upon each character, truly adding depth to their moral choices and cursed agendas.

Obstacles will always come in the way of enemies strewn over the area, stumbling into which causes some sort of rift in dimensions, and then the next thing you know you're trapped in a galaxy where status ailments, numerical values and precise time keeping are essential to survive. Combat takes a much more pro-active approach to the usual turn based formalities. Players take control of the team leader, with 2 other party members being controlled automatically. A bar filling through the centre of the screen called the 'ATB Gauge' dictates the amount of activity your leader can commit to the battle. The higher the gauge, the higher the quantity, the more moves can be pulled off and chained together. A focus on agility forces players to adapt to the new system quite quickly, yet a constant barrage of tutorials ensures that you're in complete control of it before it sends your thumb-sucking self into the fierce world of 'Combat Farming'.

To ensure that you have at least some control over your team mates choices in battle, you can feel free to 'Paradigm Shift' at any point during battle, a process that's much easier than pronouncing it. All characters can train in several roles that have expertise in physical combat, magical combat, medical resistance and more. By assigning 'Paradigm Decks' made from different combinations of roles, players can switch that battle tactics a any time to tip a gruesome fight back in your favour. With a seemingly endless array of decks to form, it's easy for players to form new tactics for battles they may be having problems with, and every boss can be topped with the right combinations and imagination.

With combat being so enjoyable, it's easy to cancel all appointments for a good session of grinding now and again. The 'Crystarium' system replaces a standard EXP/Level Up format for something a little bit more exotic. Set up like unique DNA strands, each character can move around and climb up their 'Crystarium Grids' through earning 'Crystarium Points' through battle. Abiding to this forms a glowing path from each strengthening attribute to the next, colouring in complete grids to form a rewardingly power party for the battle hungry and a aesthetically pleasing strand of coloured lights for the simple. Certain levels are capped, out of reach until players reach certain milestones in the story to give the combat a least some tactical elements, and despite this move to make the game too easy, it's a system that guarantees you complete control over your character growth.

A majority of environments line you up on a set path, ones which don't exactly geographically challenge, but outline the route from A to B so easily that even a Sat Nav could get you to your goal through only 3 flooded embankments. It's lucky then that the visual department have pulled out all the stops. The cinematic quality of all the cut scenes are unsurprisingly remarkable, environments sustain a spectacular amount of awe and a frame rate that doesn't break up despite the impressive visuals and speed form the backbone of this magical experience. Unfortunately not all production qualities are quite on the same level. Although the array of voice acting talent is impressive, some characters can all too often sound so cliché that you'd think they're in a panto, waiting for you to cheer them on, a pony tailed innocent named Vanille who sounds like she swallowed her favourite squeaky toy, and the whole cast mildly gasping like they're having awkward mini climaxes every time something vaguely perplexing happens can to easily make you wretch for the skip button at times.

Vanity aside, it's clear to see that this isn't as free flowing as some players would like it to be. Linear routes practically make up the structure of the world, a vast majority of which cannot be revisited, and a rather big field replaces what could be a world map. 'Hunt Missions' prove to be the only real sustainable side-quests in the game, and though vast in quantity, don't offer a lot of variation. I was given airships multiple times throughout my adventure, and my cast of plonkers kept crashing them in cutscenes. Could there not have been a parallel parking mini game?

Final Fantasy XIII is everything you'd want it to be, but a lot less of it than you would want. Expect a roller-coaster plot, expect a fun and frantic battle system, but expect to be treated like cattle from beginning to end, albeit an artistically fulfilled herd. When forced into enclosed spaces, the characters open up to provide the storyline significant substance, yet anything outside of a cutscene can feel like a monotonous trek. When finally given free reign, clichés begin to seep in and that character foundation is no longer strengthened. Both plot and gameplay balance finely upon the same side of the coin, yet never seem to be willing to join hands and make FFXIII the epic we all want it to be. Nevertheless, despite the lack of freedom, it's an RPG that truly serves to encapsulate a new generation of gamers and offer a Marmite fresh platter for the veterans of the series. A few shortcomings may scarper it, but in no way tarnishes the series as a whole.

Review written by Phoenix Trigger for Yet Another Review Site