We review Final Fantasy XIII-2 for Xbox 360

I’ll admit it. It’s been years since I have logged a decent amount of hours on any Final Fantasy game. However, I have fond memories of the series. So when I saw that a sequel to Final Fantasy XIII was set to come out, I knew I had to play it.

If you haven’t played FF in a while, you’ll notice how much things have changed. Basic stories and rudimentary graphics have been replaced by beautiful cut scenes with stories to match.

In the latest game, you play Serah, the younger sister of FF13’s heroine, Lightning. Lightning is stuck in Valhalla, and now it’s up to you and Noel to rescue her. The story is well written and told in a manner that kept me captivated for hours.

After hearing how much people hated the gameplay in FF XIII, I was surprised to see how fluid the controls in part two were. Moving Serah from time to time and world to world is wonderfully easy thanks to the Historia Crux system. Jumping was somewhat cumbersome, but if that’s the worst I can come up with, it must not be that bad.

My biggest complaint lies with the battle system. Paradigms (offensive and defensive strategies for those that don’t know) make it almost impossible to lose and lead to most battles being quite boring.

Much like the original, you can still collect monsters that will fight to the death at your side. This element, which pairs with character leveling, adds an extra level of depth to the game that I found to be strangely satisfying.

While I really enjoyed playing FFXIII-2, it left me feeling a little empty when I finished playing. Maybe I’m just old fashioned and love classic Final Fantasy, or maybe the game was missing something. Regardless, I’ll pick up the next game in the series as soon as it comes out.

Rating: 7/10