Final Fantasy XII (PS2) Compare Prices

Game Review & Description: The UK has always had a very unique taste in games, never comparable exactly to either the U.S. or Europe. As such, Japanese role-playing games have never been very successful here, even such worldwide blockbusters as the Final Fantasy series. No matter how fancy the graphics, most Britons just can''t be having with the tedious, randomly initiated, turn-based combat. So it''s a bit of a shock to find that Square Enix has finally come around to our way of thinking, because this game completely ditches the usual battle system for a semi-automatic design that actually has you looking forwards to fights rather than dreading them. Although you can still take manual control of a character the game invites you to set-up a series of tactics and rules for your allies before a fight, so you only have to intercede directly in combat if something goes wrong. Character customisation is also much less regimented than before and the storyline has none of the teen angst emoting that made previous games so hard to stomach for some. In fact the only major feature remaining from the other games is the stunning graphics (and they really are stunning too - probably the best ever seen on the PlayStation 2). So thorough has Square Enix been in revamping and refining every aspect of the series'' formula that the only people not likely to enjoy it are die hard fans of the originals. Other than that the only real criticism you could level against it is that it doesn''t exactly rival Wii Sports in the accessibility stakes, but with a game of this length and depth that''s a small price to pay. HARRISON DENT