Infinite Undiscovery (Xbox 360)

[  1 | 2 | Next Page »  ]

The much-hyped JRPG is a bitter disappointment

The most disappointing thing about this tri-Ace developed Xbox 360 exclusive is that it's just a bit, well, meh. The story is as nonsensical as the game's ridiculous title, the characters as generic as a 7/10 FPS and the graphics are way below what we've come to expect from the Xbox 360. What were we expecting? Quite a lot, actually. It's made by the developer behind Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile, two JRPG series held in high regard by aficionados.

Underwhelming is the best word to describe the Infinite Undiscovery experience. There are some genuinely good moments in there, as well as some God awful moments, too. That's fine - it's incredibly hard to make a JRPG of about 30 hours in length consistently entertaining all the way through. But it's a crying shame that the game should reek of generic role-playing cliché when it clearly could have been so much more.

 Advertisement

We're used to cringe-worthy plots from JRPGs, as well as 'so bad they're, well, still bad' voice-acting (why can't we at least have an original Japanese with English subtitles option, developers?). And Infinite Undiscovery is no exception. The moon, known as the throne of gods, had rested peacefully in the heavens, with man enjoying lovely prosperity by harnessing its power. But the bliss was blasted into oblivion when the Order of Chains, er, chained the moon to the planet (yes, with actual chains) and started bleeding the life out of the earth, transforming previously gorgeous environments into barren wastelands and generally making everyone very sad.

The game begins with a jail break. 16-year-old Tifa rip-off Aya busts 17-year-old 'I never wanted any of this!' Capell from behind bars for the simple reason that he's a dead ringer for Sigmund the Liberator, the leader of the resistance. Aya soon realises she's made a mistake, but by then it's too late. Capell's in too deep and they both need to work together to escape.

The first two hours are terrible

It's astonishing how incredibly boring this jail break opening to the game is. It feels as if tri-Ace is deliberately trying to stop you sticking with its own game. This sequence, complete with a race to get away from a troll that chases you up what feels like a never-ending stairwell, has about as much dramatic oomph as a sleeping turtle. Outside the jail things get worse. It's night and you're in a forest - you have to creep up on guards and take them out without signalling the alarm - a nigh-on impossible task since you have absolutely no idea where you're going because the mini-map is jammed. After that there's an excruciating escort quest and some funny business with farm animals This lot will take you about two hours to get through - two of the slowest, most boring opening hours to a game we've ever experienced. It's all the more shocking that this off-putting antipasti has been served up by a developer that knows how to cook up a quality JRPG.

The combat is perhaps the best thing about the game. The battle-system is real-time, bucking the turn-based JRPG trend, and there are no random battles (it actually feels similar to Final Fantasy XII's real-time, almost MMO group combat, which for me is a good thing). You simply have to walk up to an enemy to 'agro' it, and then a fight kicks off. Capell's got a few core sword-slicing combos that you'll use over and over again throughout pretty much the entire game, which doesn't help in the 'keep things fresh' stakes (you'll soon tire of hearing the teenage angst-ridden flute player scream SPINNING WALTZ! every two seconds, that's for sure). Because he's a melee-based class, it's essential that you have a healer in your party to sort him out when he starts taking a beating, otherwise you'll have to dip into the menu via the Back button, which doesn't pause the action, to heal yourself with expensive potions (it didn't work in Alone in the Dark and it doesn't work here).

Luckily, you can 'Connect' with your party mates in order to dish out commands, like firing arrows from Aya's bow, or calling for a heal, which helps make you feel more like you're managing a group of freedom fighters rather than one.

[  1 | 2 | Next Page »  ]