Final Fantasy XIII (XBox 360, PlayStation 3)

• Release Date: 01/31/2012
• Genre: RPG
• Rating: 3.5/5
• Studio: Square Enix

The game unfolds in Cocoon – an imaginary world up there in the heaven! Cocoon, where peace & tranquility prevailed everywhere was protected by the Fal’cie sect. Then one day, a Fal’cie from Pulse, a lower level world comes and takes over and transforms a large number of human to servants called l’Cie. The rest is left to meet with a catastrophic fate. Their beautiful world is destroyed and was going down to oblivion when after 13 days of destruction and mayhem, the battle of survival triggers off! Outstanding plot – isn’t it? That’s what this fantastic game is all about and you join the battle along with Serah, the sister of Lightning (of the earlier part who is now lost). She chooses to take on the monsters to rebuild the planet and is joined by Noel who helps her in her fight and her search for Lightning. A few of these scenes are played out in real-time transporting you to the Cocoon-world!

The game has everything you would like to see – sprawling futuristic cities, breath taking destruction scenes, blinding wars, a lot of magic, a number of monsters and weird characters everywhere! As you join Serah in the fight, you cross over to newer dimensions of space travelling through time. Time gates at crucial junctures lead you to newer dimension of space and time as you search for Lightning. A few techniques of searching for time gates are reminiscent of the earlier part and this will help you to remember the old techniques as you play it out! There are several situations and scenarios which will remind you of the earlier versions. There is a place called Historia Crux, which is the central hub of the game. The time and space travels begin from here!

This newer version has improved special effects and scenic places to explore through these time gates which you can close as well as open as the story leads you deeper and deeper into the plot. Be prepared to bring the best controlling skills out of yourself as you would need them to compete with those monsters. Space is a dangerous place which shows no mercy to those who fail to excel!

You do a lot of things – change from one time level to another, open a gate only to close the previous one as you cover light years in a blink of an eye and get to a new dimension with newer dangers that you must mop off! You are into an interstellar war and you must survive to find out Lightning!

We like: 

• The change in the basic setup of the game
• Impressive visual design
• The special effects

We hate:

• Some characters should have been given more space
• The story seems to be a little too short

Official Website of the game: www.finalfantasyxiii.net/final-fantasy-xiii/characters.html