Set point A and then set point B- and you have the hugely pretentious, ostentatious and disappointing Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy XIII almost seemingly should come before each of those titles. The reason why this Final Fantasy is in a worse off state than the previous Final Fantasy games, is because it is as predictable as what you would find inside a labeled and marked packet of chips. Think of it as an analogy, when you buy that specific packet of chips, you're 99.9% sure of its contents. The game is excruciatingly linear. If you played enough of FFXIII (30 minutes), you would realise that is as simple as someone setting waypoint A and then somewhere down the road carefully placing waypoint B- with everything in between almost entirely based on your parties development and watching the cinematic sequences. Within your party are other characters that you pretty much meet straight away in the game, the voice acting is for the most part good, but is accompanied by some ridiculous animation that does not work in cadence with the voices. The utterly annoying Vanille portrays this animation/voice mix-up pretty well. She is also accompanied by another irritating boy known as, Hope (not kidding his name is, Hope) who resembles a mix between a Human and a Beagle puppy.
If you're after a world your excited to explore, where there are numerous locations that have those shops where you buy wonderful gadgets and gizmos that aid in your exploration; those people you meet and befriend who help you along the way; the choices you make that affect the overall outcome, well, sounds like your typical Role-Playing game, however FFXIII fails to do this in all aspects. Why? The worlds you visit will resemble the Grand Canyon, not visualy, but in creativity: start on one side and you'll finish on the other. Each map you visit is almost as wide as the character you control, you will start on one end of the map and finish on the other end, and along the way you will run right into enemies that wait along that path. You have the ability to choose whether you wish to sneak past them with the utilisaton of a potion like substance, which does not benefit you in doing so. However, using that substance makes you temporarily invisible and can aid you in pre-emptive strikes. The lack of creativity for each area makes the search for any secrets (if you can even call it a secret) childs play. Everything will be to your left and to your right and if you missed anything along the way, well that just means you didn't care and your over it already.
At no point in time does the game engage with the responder (you). This is the essentialty in all video games, to have you come back for more and more, and have you play it hours on end. One way which this essentialty is satisfied is throught the video games' engagement with its responder. It raises the question: why would anyone want to play something that is below its previous installments? Well it's understandable that the game's developers never asked themselves that question. The game is more than likely made for the teen group, possibly for females who love the cute relationships between characters.
The battle tactics are new and offer something different, this is a positive notion to the game's development, however it too falls short after battle, after battle, after battle. This is because the story lets you down, it is far too predictable and at first far too confusing. The story has no climax to it, and the usually breathtaking visuals that the FInal Fantasy series indulges in, is left with another irony. The cinematic sequences of the previous Final Fantasy's had you almost sharing the comparative image of you standing on top of Mount Everest and looking down upon the world. Yet with FFXIII, imagine yourself standing in a manhole, with no idea why you're their but with the annoyed knowledge that you got some irritating half human-beagle and frustratingly unco characters right behind you willing to help you out and to always be with you forever and ever, kill me now.
I could offer an unbiast review like the GameSpot boys and mention some of the few good things, but to do so would be a waste of time. At the end of the day everything good is preceeded by the very bad nature of the game.
Graphics - 8.5/10 (Cinematics are excellent)
Gameplay - 6/10
Offering - 3/10
Story - 5/10
Overall - 6.0/10