Up until recently, Square Enix's biggest Xbox 360 contribution was Final Fantasy XI, a massively multiplayer online game that devours hard drives. Now it has released Infinite Undiscovery, an Xbox 360 exclusive action RPG about a young boy thwarting evil. While not an original concept, we looked forward to exploring a beautiful fantasy world and beating enemies. Instead, it's a bland cookie-cutter adventure spoiled by the usual Japanese role-playing game (RPG) trappings.

Despite interesting character designs and a decent combat system, there's little that makes Infinite Undiscovery unique.

Like most eastern RPGs, Infinite Undiscovery features the same story template but with unique dressings. In this case, you play as a clueless boy and flute player named Capell who must prevent the moon from colliding with his world by breaking the chains attached by evil. He must also defeat enemies that include wolves, bats, cobras, armored guards and ogres. You won't do this alone, of course. Early on, Capell meets up with a small band of rebellious warriors led by a guy that looks exactly like him. This ultimately drives the story, since you'll want to know how (or if) they're related.

For the most part, the narrative held our interest. Square Enix introduces plenty of memorable characters (at least 18) that'll join your party, and up to three can assist you in combat. And like most role-playing games, you'll outfit them and yourself with armor, weapons and use various spells to heal and kill bad guys. Actually, there are so many characters that it's often difficult keeping track. The variety is nice but it prevents you from connecting with them all.

Combat is different from most Square Enix games. Instead of a turn-based system, the developers went with real-time sword swinging that relies on furious button mashing and building combos. While familiar, it's slow moving and hardly addictive, and it wasn't long before we grew tired of repeatedly pressing A and B.

Hitting X and Y, however, is far more interesting. You have the option of controlling a party member's attacks, allowing you to use their weapons to complete objectives, such as firing an arrow to hit a distant enemy or hitting an apple from a tree, but it's not always helpful. At the very beginning of the game, you're instructed to take over another character and use their bow to hit an unsuspecting enemy. Despite pressing the correct buttons, we were unable to perform the necessary action and were quickly discovered. This, however, is the least of the game's problems.

From the opening scenes, Infinite Undiscovery seemed a bit ridiculous. Characters utter cheese ball phrases that their respective actors horribly deliver, and for whatever reason, the game switches between spoken and readable dialogue, which feels like Square Enix was trying to cut costs.

We're also disappointed by the cluttered menu system that takes ages to cycle through and made more difficult as the menu system doesn't automatically pause. So unless you can find a quiet spot, expect to take damage while searching.

There are plenty of cool looking castles and other buildings to explore.

Capell's computer-controlled allies are smart, attacking nearby enemies without command, but they take their sweet time healing you when you fall. Die and you start from your last save point. Unfortunately, you don't run into them very often, so you'll do some backtracking.

In addition, some of the environments are a pain to navigate. Instead of slipping through bushes and climb over hills, the game forces you to take the long way around, not an easy task while an ogre clobbers you from behind.

We're also disappointed with the sneaking mechanics. Early on, you're instructed to creep in the shadows and surprise your enemies from behind. That'd be fine if the game let you crouch or sneak along on your belly. Instead, walking slowly is your best stealth mechanic.

Castles and villages look good, with attractive architecture and various decorations, but dungeons are boring because of the repeated scenery. Characters, meanwhile, are expertly detailed and feature colorful garments and armor. The cut scenes, as expected for a Square Enix game, look beautiful, but make no mistake. For an Xbox 360 video game, Infinite Undiscovery isn't nearly as striking as other releases, especially when the action chugs, due to too much happening on screen. This is made worse by a shoddy camera that doesn't always provide a great view of the action.

Infinite Undiscovery isn't the grand adventure we hoped for. It's an average role-playing game that resembles other Japanese offerings, a majority of them from Square Enix. Whether or not you can tolerate its problems depends heavily on your appreciation of the genre. We, however, needed something fresh and exciting.

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Infinite Undiscovery Game Guide

Our Final ScoreMediocre

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