Final Fantasy XIII Review (7.5/10)

Never have I seen a video game that warrants the title 'a product of two halves' as much as Final Fantasy XIII. Throughout the fantasy experience for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, there are stunning production values, a wonderful soundtrack and an emotionally engaging plot to ensure gamers don't get bogged down by the sheer linearity that governs the first dozen hours of game play- and that's where the other half comes in. Much as I love splendid graphics and conflicting story lines, I'd rather have a game that looked average but featured constant innovation and excitement throughout its running time, and Final Fantasy XIII can't claim to have either of those traits outside of its cut-scenes (which do tend to border on and often cross the line of melodrama frequently), making it too unbalanced a release to recommend to casual fans of shooters and racers. Difficulty spikes don't help either as you'll sometimes find yourself dashing through repetitive segments featuring the same guards over and over again before taking on a hard-as-hell boss that will have you throwing your controller across the room. This linear format gets tiresome fast, so I doubt I will even attempt to blaze through the 30+ hours of time required to beat Final Fantasy XIII, much as the plot compels me to do so. More than likely as Square Enix are looking to improve the game-play for Final Fantasy XIII-2 I'll do a Wikipedia to catch up on the plot or return to this later this year when there's a shortage of quality games. Were it not for the unbelievably impressive graphics and soundtrack this would be a real downer, but my oh my are those elements impressive.