'exclusive for 360'
 Developer: Tri-Ace
Publisher: Square Enix
Category: RPG
Multiplayer: none
Official Site
Platform: X-Box 360
Might look like: Eternal Sonata
Date posted: 18 November 2008
Written By: Ian
Infinitely bad name, infinitely good game ?
Developer 'Square Enix' has a long history of developing and publishing some of the greatest JRPGs of all time.
It’s first exclusive effort on the 360 (part of a 4 game deal) is "Infinite Undiscovery". Clearly, this is a very silly name for a game. However, is the game actually silly itself, or does it live up to the great tradition of Square RPGs?
Infinite Storyline ?
IU has a pretty original story. You play as 'Capell', a boy who looks just like local hero 'Sigmund'. You get caught up in his quest to free the moon, which has been shackled to the earth using huge chains by a mysterious lot known as 'The Order'. You get mistaken for Sigmund, then get roped into the quest to unshackle the moon as a result as your likeness.
The story is pretty involving, but the one flaw is with the huge number of other characters you encounter over the 20-30 hour campaign. None of them are memorable enough, or rather none of them have enough screen time to make them unforgettable. A smaller cast may have improved things somewhat.
Gameplay
The gameplay in IU is pretty revolutionary for a JRPG. There are no loading screen for combat, as it’s all real-time.
Enemies are there to be sneaked up upon, ambushed, or, indeed ambush you. Combat works well, with a nice combat system that rewards combat and skilful play.
You can also link with party members to create bigger combos or partner attacks, and get them to cast healing spells. They will also fight by themselves, although the AI can be mildly retarded at times, with a tendency to get themselves killed and/or use up all of their MP leaving none left to heal with.
However, despite the relative simplicity, it is quite tactical, and tanks to the large number of NPCs you can fight alongside, there are a large number of variations you can bring to the table to spice things up.
  
Outside of combat, the game is a very typical RPG, following a relatively linear path (although with a fairly open game-world that at least gives the indication of non-linearity), with a main quest that takes up about 90% of your time, several towns, some side-quests, and plenty of randomers to talk to. It’s fairly standard stuff, but the general art direction is enough to differentiate things and make the world seem pretty interesting.
For the really hardcore, there are also several difficulty settings, which slightly mixes things up and will also net you some more achievement points.
What also works well is you get optional quests as part of the main story, many of which are timed- if you complete them you will get loads of bonus gold or XP, along with some achievement points, which is a nice thought.
Graphics and Sound
Graphically, the game is pretty good, although not in the same league as 'Lost Odyssey', for example. Part of this may be due to the fact that there is much more going on on-screen as everything is in real-time, but in general, IU is still not a bad looking game anyway.
The characters are nicely designed, with fairly flamboyant fashions to distinguish them, and they are also very well animated, especially in combat. Level design, whilst not particularly inspired, is good, and again, look pretty reasonable.
Whilst nothing in-game will raise the bar for graphics in particular, the FMV scenes, however, are totally amazing, especially the intro, which is one of the best looking FMVs I’ve ever seen, and featured some beautiful direction in addition to the high graphical fidelity.
  
From a sound perspective, the game excels for a JRPG. Most of the cutscenes are voiced, and the quality of the acting, and the scripting are excellent.
The music, whilst fairly typical of the genre, is still of a high quality and well worth listening to. The main gripe is with the non-voiced cut-scenes. Character mouths still move, so you think they should be voiced, and subtitles are not on by default, so until you fiddle about a bit with the options, the game appears to be broken.
Multiplayer
Given the real-time nature of the combat, some kind of co-op would have been pretty cool, but there’s none here.
Conclusion
"Infinite Undiscovery" is not the most innovative, original or outrageous JRPG you will ever play. However, the ‘untraditional’ story, real-time combat and large cast of characters make it memorable and of high-enough quality to be easily worth a purchase for any fan of the genre.
Equally, the combat style makes it a friendly entry to the genre for anyone looking to get into JRPGs on the 360 before FFXIII comes out next year.
-Ian
Pros:
+ Short Loads
+ Real-time combat works well
+ Innovative story
Cons:
- Multiplayer would have been nice
- Some cut-scenes are a bit weird
- Short for a JRPG
 
 
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