|
For all the fans of the Final Fantasy
series here comes the latest instalment, two years after originally
scheduled, on the PlayStation2 in the form of Final Fantasy XII.
Anyone and
 everyone
who likes videogames has probably come cross the series at some
point, and seen its development from 2D Turn-Based combat to now
full 3D characters and environments, trying to give players even
more immersion into its world.
The story to these games are always
massively long-winded affairs but are key to keeping the player
playing right through to the end - along with all the extra
abilities and items to be picked on the way though - and Final
Fantasy XII is no exception, looking to obviously improve upon
everything and to a point it does.
Things weren’t looking decidedly
brilliant even by PlayStation2 standards with the visuals going for
big, grandiose designs but needing a lot of polishing. Buildings
still look pixelated and characters needing some fine-tuning. But
the animation and Frame-Rate looks fairly solid with no nasty
hindering moments of stuttering or clipping.
All the traditions return for the
enthusiasts: three controllable characters during combat with a
greater selection at hand for different abilities or if another
character
dies in the selected team. The moves list is as packed as ever
giving a large selection of attack moves and, more importantly,
magic, which was always one of the most enticing parts in the game.
SquareEnix are touting the new Combat System - the Active Dimension
Battle System - which simply means when your running around
exploring there’s random battles, or even entering a battle-screen:
its all done right there in the existing play-scape.
Final Fantasy games aren’t
something that can be got into and worked out in ten minutes; you
need patience and passion for the game to appreciate it, and a lot
of the games buying public undoubtedly will. |
