Sorry, Dodge

Okay, 2010 is moving along at whatever speed relativity sees fit, and games are being played. My aim is to actually complete the damn things, something I've singularly managed to not do these past few years. So with this new single-minded spirit I've been giving Final Fantasy XIII a good going-over.

I have to say Final Fantasy XII is probably my mumber one PS2 game. Forget what the "it's not as good as VII" people say, taken as a game in its own right Final Fantasy XII is superb. It looks good, the battle system is brilliant, the Gambit and LIcense systems are deep and satisfying. Okay so the story is basically Star Wars, and the politics is a bit confusing, and a couple of the characters are not particularly engaging, but generally the game is a joy to play.

I really need to get back to it. I put a good 51 hours in so far.

So I was very much looking forward to XIII, surely they couldn't mess this up?

I'm 24 hours in and I am sorry to say it really isn't as engaging or enjoyable as XII. It is very linear, which frankly defeats the object of "adventure", not only in the story but the character development. Okay so you can assign points to improve characters' attributes in each of the 6 classes, but it's clear that they expect you to be at certain levels at certain points in the game, there are glass cielings in that regard.

The battle system is a step back, using an Active Time Bar-type affair, but because you only control one character you don't really feel as involved. You can change the Paradigm (combination of character classes) but it's just a bit too 'global' for my taste.

What cannot be faulted are the production values. The cutscenes are generally breathtaking, and everything is generally slick and gorgeous. Sasz is a really likeable character, and whoever does his voice acting deserves a medal.

It's not an awful game by any stretch of the imagination, but it really isn't grabbing me like its predecessor. A vital part of any RPG is managing your party, developing characters, and here it feels as though most of that is hard-wired into the game, which rather takes away from the overall experience.

PS: i'm reliablyinformed it's not Dodge but Dahj, or something like that. Fantasy names eh.