Game review: Final Fantasy XII

I harbour a bit of disdain towards Final Fantasy XII for several reasons. First off. when I went into Game to buy it and redeem £10 off of my reward card, I got told my shit wouldn't swipe and that I'd have to pay full price. Me not wanting to lose face: I went and paid the full rip off Game price for the game - knowing full well I could have gotten it cheaper off of Play.com and Amazon. Second of all. I was so hell bent on getting the game done and dusted, that I put my final year dissertation on the back burner just so I could beat the game. This led to me failing it. It's not entirely fair to blame Final Fantasy XII for this, but I'm going to any way. Plus, I said there were several reasons I harbour disdain towards the game. And so far I've only given you two.

Final Fantasy XII has you start the game in a flashback sequence, throwing you into the thick of the new battle and new camera system. Final Fantasy XII has many shortcomings, but the 2 things which work in the games' favour are the battle system and the camera. Gone is the uncontrollable camera of previous Final Fantasy's, and in is a camera which can be fully rotated with the right analog stick. This ensures players always have a good view of the action. And being able to control the camera comes in handy when going at it in the all new battle system.

Gone are the random battles of previous Final Fantasy games. Enemies can now be seen roaming around of their own free will. New to the battle system are Gambits. Gambits are a bunch of pre-set rules for your individual party members. These can range from things such as targeting enemies with the highest HP, going for the enemy whose HP is critical, or have a party member heal a fellow teammate when their health falls below a certain percentage. To sum it all up, Gambits allow the game to pretty much play itself during battles. As you progress you will acquire so many Gambits which allow you fine tune you party in the case of every battle scenario; that you can pretty much just leave the DualShock on the floor, make yourself some dinner and return to find the end game credits rolling to Angela Aki's "Kiss me goodbye". Whilst this may seem like an odd system which defeats the object of game, it's in-fact a great addition; putting you in complete control despite sounding like quite the contrary. The Gambit system removes having to keep going through the same menu's to do the same shit - allowing players to only step in when they feel it is absolutely necessary to do so. If players would rather get hands on, they can always turn the Gambit system off. Though you'd be pretty stupid to do so. Because managing every character in a battle can become a real pain.

Graphically the game is a stunner. This should come as no surprise given that Square Enix are behind it. Despite all that is going on and the level of detail on the characters, surroundings and spell effects - the action never slows down or chokes up. As is always the case with FF games, the FMV is also top notch. The soundtrack is decent and well composed, but XII doesn't feature the most memorable of musics. There is no catchy battle theme, and so much of the music is so short and loops so often that they annoy and become irritable, instead of lodging themselves into your head as a memorable ditty. The voice acting is surprisingly good and a major step up from Final Fantasy X and X-2: both of which scraped the fuck out of the bottom of the voice acting barrel.

Final Fantasy games used to be all about the story. Somewhere along the line Square Enix seem to have forgotten that - because Final Fantasy XII's story is as bland a loaf of Kingsmill. Initially I'd thought that the story was deliberately bland so that Square Enix could turn around and slap me in the face with some big ol' plot twisting climax, or a dramatic death. Alas...it was not the case. Final Fantasy's plot is stoic and bland from the moment you select "New game" right up until you see the closing credits and hear Angela Aki warble over orchestrated strings and a piano. Even the strong influence (ripping off may be a more appropriate term) of the Star Wars films does little to inject some life into the story. Things do pick up in the final moments of the game, but by then it's a case of too little, far too late. And you've lost so much interest at this point, that you're all too willing to just let Mr. Gambit AI handle every battle for you, and wish there was a Gambit which could just walk you through to the end of the game (which is pretty much does).

XII's characters (ironically) lack character. They're all boring sons of bitches. I didn't care for a single one of them. In fact, I had hoped that the game would end with an apocalyptic Ultima spell which would kill every one of them. The characters look cool, but don't let that fool you for a damn second. Behind the good looks and nice threads, lie candidates for the most boring characters to grace a Final Fantasy game since IX. Square Enix would get brownie points (pun not intended) for including two black characters. But one of them talks as though she's as thick as shit, and the other one dies. Typical.

Final Fantasy XII is like getting with the hottest chick in the world, only to find that she's got no personality, is as dumb as a duck and won't put out no matter how much effort you put in. The game is incredibly boring to play, and there is never a moment when you enjoy playing it. There's also nothing to go back to once you've completed it. Sure, there are side quests. But none of them are interesting, and the rewards aren't worth the effort you have to put in to get them. If you're new to Final Fantasy, you may find more to like than I did. But as a gamer who has played Final Fantasy VI through to XII - I found this game to be the weakest of the bunch by far. This game made me appreciate just how good Final Fantasy X was. I hated X on a first play through. But after XII, X in hindsight felt like a masterpiece. If you want Final Fantasy kicks on PS2, then I'd say go for Final Fantasy X or X-2. They're much better games. Or if you really want a definitive Final Fantasy experience go for VI or VII. Heck. Even go for VIII!

XII is a case of style cartwheeling over substance, and then ghetto stomping it in the top of its head. It is a complete and utter shame, because XII exhibits bravery in Square Enix's decision to really attempt to turn the franchise on its head in terms of its look, its characters and its battle system. But they relied far too much on the name selling the game, instead of actually putting in the work to ensure it all came together better.


The good
+ Great graphics
+ An all new battle system that works brilliantly
+ Solid voice acting

The bad
- The plot is in no way gripping
- The whole game feels like a chore
- At times the game doesn't really feel that much like good ol' Final Fantasy