Infinite Undiscovery is a new RPG developed by tri-Ace and Square Enix. Usually when two superpowers of the RPG gaming community come together, gamers expect greatness to follow. Many times player’s expectations are met, but there are times when a game really disappoints. The most common thread among these “could have been more” games is the developers never realized the full potential of its creation or they do not give it enough polish. Unfortunately for gamers, Infinite Undiscovery is a game that falls under the “could have been more” category, due to many different facets. The point is that if players are looking for the next epic RPG, they will have to wait a little bit longer or check out what is currently on the market.

The story for this game is interesting, but still relies heavily on this genre’s stereotypes. Deep in the forest in one of “The Orders” prisons, a young boy named Capell is being held captive. The guards call him “Liberator” and he has no idea why. One day a young girl named Aya comes and rescues him calling him Sigmund the Liberator. After their short meeting she realizes he is not Sigmund, but still helps him escape. Soon they run into the real Sigmund, and he is shocked to realize that they look identical. It is from this meeting that Capell has the chance to save the world as well as his life.

3 Hit combo!

Unlike most JPRG (Japanese RPG) games, Infinite Undiscovery combat is in complete real time. Even though players will love the freedom of real-time combat it is a double edged sword. For instance, when players enter the item screen, the game does not pause. This means that it is nearly impossible for players to actually heal themselves during the course of a battle. Thankfully the computer-controlled characters will always be casting healing spells and throwing healing items towards players. There is even a button where players can call out to get healed.

Since the game is all in real time, there is no direct way for players to tell their party members what to do as in turn-based RPGs. In order to overcome this obstacle there is a way to “connect” abilities with the other characters. This allows players to tap into the other characters abilities and use those abilities solve more complex situations. The problem with this is that it does not perform effectively most of the time. Many times players will swell with rage as they try to connect to the person, thinking they have done so, but in the end die. Another outcome is having to retry that particular problem multiple times.

Like all RPGs there are many side quests for players to embark upon. The main problem is that most of these missions turn out to be nothing more the “fetch” quest. A fetch quest is where a NPC will ask the player to find their missing dog or give a certain letter to another character in another town. These missions are redundant and extremely disappointing, especially since the rewards are not that impressive.

Meet someone who actually went to his music lessons

One of the biggest annoyances in this game is the amount of characters players will have to keep track of. This is made even more noticeable since the game is really short in length. Throughout the game, players will add around 18 additional party members. This is not bad in itself; the problem becomes apparent when there is no easy way to manage them. Unlike most games that have numerous characters, there is not “auto configure” option to give them the best weapons, armor, magic stuff, and more. Players will have to manually go through all the characters and equip them with the necessary items. This is made even worse since players will have to purchase a ton of items if they want to make sure their characters are properly equipped to take on the enemy. This was a very poor gameplay decision by the developers and will really frustrate many “RPG perfectionists”.

The graphics in this game are decent, but they are nothing to get overly excited about. Everything has a very generic feel to it, where nothing really stands out. The character models are nicely done as are the various locations players will go through, but there have been games released previously that look much better than Infinite Undiscovery. One thing that really hampers the graphics even more is the framerate issues players will have. At times the game gets almost unplayable, and it is during this time where players can actually have the time to really look at the graphics and see how average it looks.

Players will also be shocked by the lack of presentation that this game has. Square-Enix games are known for the wonderfully crafted CGI sequence that really carry the story forward. Strangely, Infinite Undiscovery is really lacking in this department. There are a few CGI sequences placed throughout the game, but not as many as players expect, and they do not have the “pizzazz” that other Square-Enix and tri-Ace games possess.

At least she is faithful

The musical score in this game is great! While it may not stand toe to toe with the likes of the Final Fantasy series, this score will find a special place in the player’s hearts. The sound effects the developers used are very good and flow well with the rest of the game. This helps during the course of the many fights players will get into. The voice acting on the other hand leaves something to be desired, as there are two things wrong ... To being with, the English dialog is not very great. The voice actors are just above average in their delivery, which makes some of the key scenes lose its impact. Since the English delivery is poor, players might expect to just switch over to the Japanese dialog, but they will be surprised and disappointed that the option isn’t even there.

Another huge issue players will have with the voice acting is the consistency of it. At times players will be listening to a cut scenes, and then players take control of the action. Five minutes later there will be another one with no voice acting. The strange thing is the characters mouths are moving with no words coming out. It would be understandable if the talking cut scenes had more story impact, but they really don’t; it appears to be randomized which segments get the voice-over treatment. In the end players will never really adapt to the inconsistency of it, and become more annoyed each time one actually takes place.

Infinite Undiscovery is rated Teen.

Gameplay: 7.5
The real-time combat is really enjoyable and a nice break from the normal RPG combat. The day-and-night cycle was also really nice addition to this game. The game falters with the numerous characters players have to keep up with, but no easy way to manage them.

Graphics: 6.5
The graphics are decent, but easily forgivable. What is shocking is the lack of abundant CGI movies that Square-Enix is known for. Players will really have the time to get a good look at the detail in the graphics with the frequent slowdown they will encounter.

Sound: 7.3
Players will love the musical score in this game. The downside to the sound is the American voice actors are pretty lame, with no option to enable the Japanese voices.

Difficulty: Medium
Like all RPGs this game ranges in its difficulty level, and making sure the players can keep their levels up to deal with the tougher enemies they will face later in the game.

Concept: 7.5
Players will enjoy the real-time combat and the ability to link up with the other characters in order to deal more damage to the enemies.

Overall: 7.2
Infinite Undiscovery is a decent game that has the potential to be more than what it is. This is a great weekend rental game, but nothing more than that.