Blue Dragon

Here's why it hasn't helped 360 in Japan.

	Version Xbox 360	Developer Mistwalker	Publisher Microsoft	Genre RPG

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The story is laughable, predictable and is basically left alone after the first couple of hours until the end of the game. The characters are easily hateable; bad guy Nene's little helper shit is hateable in the worst kind of way and I want it to die - the less said about Marumaro the better. Zola is the only likeable character out there, and that seems to be solely because her name alludes to the great Gianfranco.

As for the game itself, it's so steeped in traditional RPG fare it's hard to be genuinely excited about anything that goes on - if you've ever played any RPG before you'll know how this goes, and that is a genuinely disappointing and annoying thing. The battles are as formulaic as they can be in the turn based world, the exploration drags and the dungeons are strikingly dull. There are a few mini games to mix things up, but they can't save the whole experience from being an exercise in mediocrity. Throw into the mix a few damn-near impossible achievements - filling the Monster Bestiary McBook? Ha! Never gonna happen.

It's not all bad, mind. Graphically, it's pretty near wonderful. The artistic direction isn't always dazzling, and some of the world map backgrounds can prove pretty bland - oh, and the characters are pretty much identikit. Nevertheless, it really has something special graphically: play through the opening credits scene and try not to be at least slightly taken aback by the look of the thing. It's nice. The music, from the other famous RPG music man, is decent enough - but I can't help but feel it's all been done before. There's nothing as hauntingly beautiful as the Final Fantasy main theme, but there's nothing offensively bad. We'll put that down as a: 'good, but needs more work'.

The thing is with a game like Blue Dragon, fans of traditional RPGs will lap it up. Those who baulked at the thought of FFXII with it's roaming battlegrounds and near-real time fighting system are sure to welcome BD with open arms. I don't think they should. They should show the traditionalists out there that it can, and should be done so much better.

Microsoft wanted something to sell systems in Japan and the game produced seems almost as cynical as their intentions - devoid of inspiration, dull and drab, it's only worthy of a purchase from the bargain bin and if you have a good 60-odd hours to kill. I mean, really kill - hours you literally couldn't spend doing something else. Like replaying FFXII. Or waiting for Halo 3. Otherwise it's all a waste. Unless you love the traditional styles. In which case you're wrong. Get with the times, as the cool kids say, and realise this stale formula just doesn't cut it any more.

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