Infinite Undiscovery is the latest RPG release by Square-Enix, being released on the Xbox 360 platform, coming out at the beginning of September in the United States. Perhaps the best addition to the traditional PRG game play would have to be the real-time nature of the game. Where there seems to be a sort of “pause†present in a number of RPGs when an individual goes into the start menu (items or map segments), Infinite Undiscovery breaks that wall down and ensures that actions can be taken by players, the game, and the larger world in which the action takes place.
The amount of characters that a player will control – up to 18 individuals – gives a wide array of prospective attacks and methods to complete various parts of the game. The puzzle elements of Infinite Undiscovery are such that it is incredibly rare to choose the most obvious solution and get past that obstacle. Furthermore, players will have to go forth and interact with their environment in order to get the reactions and outcomes that they want: with day and night continually cycling, it is only a matter of time when individuals can sneak past guards or otherwise obfuscate themselves in order to advantage themselves in the face of a much larger force. The two main characters with which individuals will familiarize themselves are Capell and Aya: Capell is freed from prison by Aya, due to a mistaken perception of Capell as Sigmund the Liberation, whom Aya knows as the only individual that is capable of cutting the chains that bind the “life-giving†moon.
The game surrounds the exploits of Capell, Aya, and eventually Sigmund. While the plot has enough in the ways of tricks and turns that will keep individuals playing through until the end, what I feel to be the key contribution of Infinite Undiscovery would have to be the fact that the successes or failures that players have in battles have an effect upon the larger environment. Actions matter, and it is this shift to a closer interpretation of reality that, despite the fantasy elements of the game, make Infinite Undiscovery one of the best RPGs to come out this year. While it seems that there are not too many new “dynasties†of games in much the same way as Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, and the like are, subsequent additions to Infinite Undiscovery would be great additions to the corpus of the RPG genre.
Rating: 9.0/10
Infinite Undiscovery (Xbox 360) / 2008 Square Enix / http://www.square-enix.com /