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Infinite Undiscovery
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Graphics & Sound:
Infinite Undiscovery is the latest Xbox 360 offering from Square Enix and tri-Ace. Seemingly cut from the same cloth as genre standouts like Kingdom Hearts and Rogue Galaxy, Infinite Undiscovery takes you on a quest to destroy an evil society, bringing peace and prosperity to the world while learning more than a few things about the cast of characters. On paper, the premise is terribly cliched, but Infinite Undiscovery throws in a few interesting twists that save it from being an otherwise average action-RPG.
Graphically, Infinite Undiscovery is a good-looking game, although some aspects of the visual design leave a bit to be desired. Far too many environments feel underused, save for the monsters littering the landscape. In all honesty, sometimes it feels like playing on a brilliantly painted movie set... after the studio hands have cleared most of the furniture out. From a visual standpoint, Infinite Undiscovery is at its best during combat. Sword slashes that hit their targets are marked by brilliant arcs and magic attacks are punctuated by radiant bursts of color. In addition, the animations are fluid and believable. The character models definitely get the job done, but they don't stand out in any particular way, for better or worse. There is some framerate slowdown, which is a bit unfortunate but not crippling to the overall experience. The game's visual fidelity won't stun anybody, but it's no slouch, either.
The sound in Infinite Undiscovery is, for the most part, solid. Motoi Sakuraba's musical score is appropriate and even quite beautiful at times. The orchestral soundtrack is a near-perfect fit to the fantastical setting and sounds as if the music itself is quite aware of what is going on. The sound effects work, as well; all of them are appropriate to the actions represented on-screen. The voice acting is a mixed bag, and it's only partially due to some instances of shoddy voicework. The biggest problem by far with the voice acting has more to do with the game's localization efforts. To start things off, the lip-synching is poor across the board; it doesn't even look like they tried to adapt it to the English language. Most of Infinite Undiscovery's cutscenes feature voice acting. The scenes that do not include dubbing look like they should, as there is a fair amount of realistic gesturing and lip synching involved (accurate-looking lip-synching, not randomly flapping lips). To further complicate things, every bit of cutscene dialogue is presented at the bottom of the screen without telling you who is speaking. The scenes that lack dubbing force the player to take on the juggling act of reading the aforementioned text and finding out who said what. This doesn't look like it would be quite as much of a problem had the developers included the option to use the original Japanese voice acting, but for some reason, the English dub is all we've got to work with.
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Gameplay:
Infinite Undiscovery begins with the young hero/flutist/compulsive whiner, Capell, rotting away in a jail cell for reasons unknown to him. When a young girl named Aya arrives in time to lay the guards flat and break the young hero out of captivity, the reason for Capell's imprisonment and subsequent rescue becomes apparent. Capell bears an uncanny resemblance to Lord Sigmund, leader of the Liberation Force and mortal enemy of the Order of Chains. The Force itself is comprised of a group of warriors who travel the lands, breaking the disease-producing, monster-spawning chains that bind the world to the moon (courtesy of the Order of Chains and its leader, the Dreadknight Leonid). Under constant pressure from the ever-vigilant Aya, Capell reluctantly joins the ranks of the Liberation Force and embarks on a quest to help Lord Sigmund destroy the remaining chains.
The game has some genuinely interesting characters: Capell is a total loser for much of the game, but his character arc, while predictable, is no less enjoyable to watch. Aya may seem to be a stock heroine, but even she has her share of secrets. Not every character is a winner, though. Edward, the brown-nosing badass (the first I've ever seen), has such an awful "get out of my way" attitude that he remains incredibly unlikable for about half of the story. There are also plenty of characters that feel one-dimensional and come across as filler. Not to mention the number of NPCs who mistake Capell for Lord Sigmund who then take the time to point out Capell's countless inadequacies. The narrative itself explores interesting themes such as social persecution and the true meaning of nobility. For example, in the world of Infinite Undiscovery, those born under certain moon phases possess powerful sigils known as lunaglyphs, those who are born during a new moon do not, giving them the outcast status known as "unblessed." Without spoiling too much, the story is undeniably entertaining and includes a few genuinely intriguing twists, providing enough incentive to see Capell's story through to the end.
Infinite Undiscovery plays somewhat similarly to Kingdom Hearts in that most of the action occurs in real-time. The only controllable character is Capell, but three additional party members will usually accompany him, offering a thin layer of strategy to accompany the battlefield chaos (it's a good idea to have at least one mage and one tank on your team). Organizing a party requires some sharp decision-making in this game, as over fifteen supporting characters eventually join your ranks. There are no random enemy encounters in Infinite Undiscovery; every potential enemy is in the field. If you find a way to catch the enemy off-guard before he detects you, you will be rewarded with around fifteen seconds of unlimited critical attacks and ability points. If the enemy attacks you first, you become completely susceptable to critical attacks for a short period of time. This is a really interesting idea that works in execution and definitely helps to keep you on your toes. There are two main attack buttons, and different sequences of button presses result in the unleashing of a powerful combo. New combos can be unlocked simply by leveling up, and before long, Capell will find himself with a devastating arsenal designed for the sole purpose of making the Order of Chains suffer. The combat is exciting and sometimes intense, especially during many of the game's boss encounters. However, towards the end of the game, combat begins to feel less intense and more like a grind to the next story sequence.
The biggest issue with the gameplay revolves around poor level design. One area in particular falls prey to a rather archaic approach to dungeon design. In this area, a number of hazy walls teleport Capell and his comrades to different parts of the dungeon. You are forced to try and figure out the pattern while simultaneously trying to keep you and your party safe from enemies that constantly respawn. It never changes and eventually becomes a sheer test of patience; what's worse is that you will have to go through this area several times during the second half of the game.
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Difficulty:
With regards to the actual gameplay, Infinite Undiscovery isn't very tough, and that might be to the credit of the artificial intelligence of your allies. With the press of a button, Capell will call for healing. Whenever this is not enough to sustain your party during a boss fight, it just means that you might need to level your party up some more.
As with the general gameplay, most of the problems with Infinite Undiscovery's difficulty level can be blamed on poor design decisions rather than the challenge level. As I explained earlier, some parts of the game require a good bit of trial-and-error, and you will probably get lost more than once. The game gives you a lot of credit, but its failure to explain certain scenarios can result in frustration. In addition, save points are scattered around the world, but sometimes they are just too few and far between. This is most apparent and all the more frustrating during the game's many dungeon crawls. Most gamers know the sinking feeling associated with being whisked back to a save point miles behind; Infinite Undiscovery will deliver that feeling a few times, but not enough to the point where you will want to quit.
Infinite Undiscovery is rather short for a role-playing game, clocking in at between eighteen and twenty-two hours (give or take a few to allow for the completion of sidequests). Once the game is completed, masochists can attempt the more punishing difficulty levels, but other than the lure of extra Gamerscore points, the game doesn't offer much replay value. |
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Game Mechanics:
There are many notable mechanics present in Infinite Undiscovery, but not all of them fare well in execution. One interesting twist with regards to the combat is the ability to "connect" with one of your three teammates. This helps keep things fresh, since each of Capell's allies has his or her own unique abilities. Connecting with teammates can open up new combat and exploration options. For example, connecting with Aya allows Capell to take advantage of her skill with a bow, while connecting with another will allow Capell to speak with animals. Sometimes connection is the key to solving some of Infinite Undiscovery's puzzles; this requires a bit more guesswork than critical thinking, as the characters never explicitly explain their talents. Other notable mechanics include Item Creation, Cooking, and Enchanting. Few of these mechanics are necessary to complete the game, but some of them are necessary in order to complete some of Infinite Undiscovery's sidequests.
Perhaps Infinite Undiscovery's biggest flaw lies in its awful Menu system. The game is hellbent on having everything run in 100% real-time, and that includes everything done in the Menu. If you wish to use an item in the middle of combat, you must open the Menu, which will stop Capell dead in his tracks. Enemies will actively pursue and effectively punish you while you're sifting around looking for the right item to use. The real-time Menu system might have sounded like a neat idea in development, but its implementation is about as far from ideal as anyone can get.
In the end, Infinite Undiscovery is a good game that could have been great. If you enjoy action-RPGs, I strongly recommend a rental before dropping three Jacksons on this one. The game is not bad or even mediocre by any means. The problem with Infinite Undiscovery is the fact that it is a decent RPG in a year of great RPGs (Lost Odyssey and Tales of Vesperia, to name a couple). You could certainly do worse than Infinite Undiscovery, but you could also do better. |
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-FenixDown, GameVortex Communications AKA Jon Carlos |
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