Infinite Undiscovery

Infinite Undiscovery

Infinite Undiscovery is a role-playing game fan’s dream: the latest epic title from Final Fantasy giant, Square Enix, is to be simultaneously released in Japan, America and Europe come this September.

Gamers who have little interest in the quests of spiky haired anime adventurers should stick around for the deeper details here: developer Tri-Ace is confident that the game will usher in a new day for the RPG genre. Earlier this year the company’s co-founder and R&D programmer Yoshiharu Gotanda claimed the game is set to contain “10 years worth of ideas that can finally be realized by the power of the Xbox 360 and that with it RPGs will undergo a true evolution." From what we’ve seen thus far, this means mixing modern flourishes and ideas, such as real time combat, with some of the classic elements that define the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series.

You play as Capell, a flute player mistaken for wanted criminal ‘Sigmund the Liberator’ and imprisoned. The game begins with you escaping through the dungeon of a castle, an escape that leads to your meeting with your first companion, Aya. Unusually for a RPG you don't get to play as Aya or any of your other party members but must instead rely on the AI to provide back up as you use Capell to slice and dice attackers.

The combat is balletic and impressive. You have a mixture of light and heavy attacks and the character animations blend together seamlessly to give an exciting sense of dance and flow. Along with his sword Capell can bring out his flute and play tunes which act like spells. As an example of how fluid and imaginative the gameplay is for an RPG, during the opening scenes of the game Capell and Aya are chased by a hulking red ogre as they sidestep guards blocking their path and destroy wooden barriers set up to hamper your progress.

The production values are sky high, with some exquisite CG cutscenes outplaying what looks to be an interesting story. While the combat seems a little easy on the nerves from what we’ve experienced so far, both Tri-Ace and Square-Enix are experts at making these sorts of games and will likely have a stack of inventions and exciting ideas to keep up player’s interest over the long haul.

Infinite Undiscovery is released for Xbox 360 on 5 September, so something to look forward to next month.