Chalgyr's Game RoomChalgyr's Game Room
  • Home
  • About us
    • Staff
    • Cookie Policy (US)
    • Privacy Statement (US)
  • Articles
    • Interviews
    • GamingThoughts
    • Game Of The Year(s)
      • Games of the Year 2021
      • Games of the Year 2020
      • Games of the Year 2019
      • Games of the Decade
      • Games of the Year 2018
      • Games of the Year 2017
      • Games of the Year 2016
      • Games of the Year 2015
      • Games of the Year 2014
    • Jaggy’s Corner
    • Memorable Music
  • Review Database
    • Hardware & Software
    • Retro Reflections
    • Beeps and Beers
  • News
    • News Archives
Search Chalgyr's Game Room
DreamController.com – Affiliate

DreamController Summer Sale
Code SUMMER20

  • Full article feed
  • Contact us
  • Cookie Policy (US)
  • Privacy Statement (US)
© 2022 Chalgyr's Game Room All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Final Fantasy XIII – Xbox 360 Review
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
PC Games Show Reveals Puzzle Adventure Backfirewall_!
June 24, 2022
Summer Showcase: Upcoming Titles, Release Dates, and More from Freedom Games!
June 23, 2022
SpellForce 3 – Reforced Review
June 23, 2022
Announcing Demonschool by Necrosoft Games Releasing in 2023!
June 22, 2022
The Amulet of AmunRun Review
June 22, 2022
Aa
Chalgyr's Game RoomChalgyr's Game Room
Aa
Search Chalgyr's Game Room
  • Home
  • About us
    • Staff
    • Cookie Policy (US)
    • Privacy Statement (US)
  • Articles
    • Interviews
    • GamingThoughts
    • Game Of The Year(s)
    • Jaggy’s Corner
    • Memorable Music
  • Review Database
    • Hardware & Software
    • Retro Reflections
    • Beeps and Beers
  • News
    • News Archives
Follow US
  • Full article feed
  • Contact us
  • Cookie Policy (US)
  • Privacy Statement (US)
© Chalgyr's Game Room 2009-2022. All rights reserved.
ReviewReviews and PreviewsXbox 360

Final Fantasy XIII – Xbox 360 Review

Nick
Nick July 7, 2010
Share
6 Min Read
SHARE

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes


I was out for several days due to longer work days and the holiday weekend, but I’m back with a handful of posts to come over the next few days while I’m off work. In that vein, I’m hoping to get more ‘new’ games posted soon when I get my hands on them. I have a few semi-new games on tap though, including Final Fantasy XIII for the 360. I’ve heard that the PS3 version is displayed at a higher resolution and generally the textures look just a shade better, but I haven’t seen that version in action.

However the 360 version looked great and came with three discs. There were quite a few changes to the more traditional Final Fantasy formula. This has been met with mixed results by fans. Looking at the IGN scores, fans rate it an average of 8.3 as I write this, but most of the comments in the review are negative. So, here’s what I thought after about 100 hours of play…

The game is something of a technical achievement. There was stuttering framerate here and there, but only rarely in my play through. What I did experience consistently was a very appealing menu system, quality character models and engaging environments. Also the cut scene movies looked great, but then they almost always do in this series.

The music was good, though usually I find 2 or 3 songs that really catch my ear in the Final Fantasy games, and I go out to try and find them and listen to them outside of the game. I didn’t do that with this particular game. The voice work was pretty good, and really helped to drive the story home. That said, some of the battle sounds and quick voice clips were kind of repetitive.

It’s hard to rank an RPG game on things like precision controls and responsiveness, but the combat system works well enough – though it was one of my least-favorites in the series. There was also a lag in the menu system when you wanted to customize your skill points. Also, the customization never quite felt as good to me as the sphere grid system from Final Fantasy X, though that seems to be the obvious influence for the system used in Final Fantasy XIII.

The story was decent, but it took awhile to become something that was easy to follow. Some of their naming conventions could have been better, because key terms to the story were often named in similar fashion and for a newcomer to the story it could be a bit confusing. There is also a serious lack of mini-games and as someone who sunk a ton of time into things like Blitzball in the past, that was disappointing.

Now, a lot of people complained about the linear storyline, but that did not bother me as much as I thought it would. In fact, the lack of doubling back over places I had already been was kind of nice. However, the game does open up quite a bit in the last couple of chapters, and there are a lot of side missions. You can also improve not only your character’s stats in specific fields but the weapons and accessories they use, though that system became quite a grind in my mind. I spent about 90 hours playing the game, many of which near the end were spent grinding upgrades and abilities. I thought it was a nice perk that certain accomplishments yielded game pics as well.

RPG’s are probably one of my two favorite game genres (the other being sports). I can sink a ton of time into them, and generally feel better about my investment than an action game that tends to be shorter in length like Alan Wake or F.E.A.R. I love the Final Fantasy series, as noted in some of my prior reviews. I really, really wanted to love this game, but I merely liked it a good deal.

Technically the game is very impressive, and overall it tells a pretty good story. But the game itself is just not as strong as prior entries in the series. Combat worked well enough, but it and the systems for improving your characters were not as much fun as I would have liked. All in all though, I did drop nearly 100 hours into the game, and I think that says quite a bit in and of itself.

Score: 8.25 / 10
—–
Graphics: 9.5
Music and sound: 8.5
Gameplay: 7
Intangibles: 8.25

TAGGED: fantasy, final, final fantasy XIII, game, video, video games, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Review
Nick July 7, 2010
Share this Article
Facebook TwitterEmail
Share
Posted by Nick
Follow:
Owner, Founder, Editor in Chief—Currently a reviewer for Chalgyr's Game Room covering all platforms
Previous Article Alan Wake – Xbox 360 Review
Next Article News and Notes from 7-8-10

Stay Connected

Facebook Like
Twitter Follow
Instagram Follow
Youtube Subscribe
Member of
Ad imageAd image

DreamController.com – Affiliate

DreamController Summer Sale
Code SUMMER20

AllKeyShop.com (UK) – Affiliate

You can also check out

SpellForce 3 – Reforced Review

8 Min Read

The Amulet of AmunRun Review

16 Min Read

Dungeon Defenders: Awakened Review

5 Min Read

fault – StP – LIGHTKRAVTE Review

7 Min Read
//

We at CGR are a team from various backgrounds that have come together to bring you what you want to know most about a game. Is it worth it? Or not?

JenEricDesigns – Coffee that ships to the US and Canada

JenEricDesigns Coffee website
Light, Medium and Dark Roast Coffee available.

Renaissance Press

Renaissance Press
Diverse Canadian Voices - Printed, Ebook and Audiobooks available.

Contact us

We try to stay up to date with all gaming news but as you know that can be really hard to do.

So if you think that we could be interested in your title reach out to us at Nick@chalgyr.com!

Chalgyr's Game RoomChalgyr's Game Room
Follow US

© Chalgyr's Game Room 2009-2022. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
Preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?