• Summary: In Final Fantasy XIII, you will embark on a journey through the cityworld of Cocoon and the outerworld of Pulse. Along the way, you will encounter diverse allies who will fight alongside you. Execute powerful attacks with weapons and magic, and summon the enigmatic Eidolons with an evolved Active Time Battle system. Experience seamless transitions between real time gameplay and in-game cinematics. Do you have the courage to face your destiny? Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 73 out of 83
  2. Negative: 1 out of 83
  1. The streamlined, focused structure eliminates potential tedium without dumbing anything down, and the battle system strikes an elegant balance between strategy and fast-paced action. Stunningly beautiful graphics and a pervasively meticulous level of polish throughout only add to the experience.
  2. It's also worth noting that there's a huge difference in visuals when playing this game on the Xbox 360. The game seems to have been made for Blu-Ray, and it's only on one disc, making the PS3 version the more appealing one to buy.
  3. It takes more than graphics to make a game, and Final Fantasy XIII offers very little else other than eye candy. Ultimately, this latest addition to the Final Fantasy series is a pompous and masturbatory affair, created seemingly to promote the developer's ego first, and the player's enjoyment second.

See all 83 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 65 out of 226
  1. FF13 is an average RPG put in an amazing environment. The graphics are hands down some of the best on consoles and the visuals are very nice in a lot of areas. Character models and people look good as well. What's ruined is that most areas are mainly narrow paths which I feel is a step back from FF12. Battle system is unique. Square has been trying to keep Final Fantasy's fresh ever since 1 by adding new elements in every game and the Paradigm battle system is one of the worst idea's I think they've ever come up with. It becomes stressful and confusing mixing , matching and switching these to fight certain enemies, bosses and marks. What was wrong with the whole Attack Magic Item Defend style that they felt they needed to get rid of. The story isn't good. Though I don't think it's bad either. I had trouble getting into it for the first 15 hours or so which was about half of the game for me. I also was highly disappointed by the music it seemed like they used about 4 tracks in the whole game each had some form of rehash remix, which I felt got old after a while. I agree that Final Fantasy 13 is not as memorable as the older FF but it is the prettiest and probably one of the best looking games of this gen. Expand
    • 9 of 12 users said yes
  2. Way too linear as everybody mentions, what happened to the choice in exploring and return visits for necessary missions ? Very limited in this regard. A trigger happy x button child could complete 90percent of the game successfully. Too slow to start and leveling up above level 4 was just painful. This could have been a good game but poor story line and limited choices spoilt it. Glad to complete it and stop wasting my time. In the end feels like they all failed and the l,ice was successful in destroying cocoon after all - what a disappointment . Expand
    • 2 of 2 users said yes
  3. I played this game for 25 hours. I really wanted to enjoy it. Even after i had heard that it was linear, with no real overworld, I still wanted desperately to believe this was a great addition to a great series of games. Once i got to the 25 hour mark, i realized that I could not go on deceiving myself. The story of the game was fairly engaging, but to understand all of the things going on, there was an encyclopedia that was there to basically enhance your knowledge of the world that you found yourself in. As i spent more and more time reading these entries, I did not feel a connection growing with this world, rather it felt like boring reads that added nothing real to the game. When I play RPG's i tend to enjoy overleveling myself. this allows me to enjoy the story of the game without having to worry about the combat as much. When I discovered that there were caps to how powerful your characters could get at any given point in the game, it was upsetting. The combat itself was much less engaging than just about any other game i have ever played. I found myself analyzing my enemy, and selecting auto-attack over and over again, as the game would pick the best abilities to use anyway, and my input was hardly needed. this removed me further from the actual game, and made me feel more like i was watching a movie than playing a game. One of the things that really hooked me when I started the game was the graphics, but once the allure wore off, i began to realize that amazing graphics, while nice, did not make up for horrible story and gameplay. Square likes to change things up between Final Fantasies, and they definitely did that here. I will not condemn that, they did something innovative and new, even though it did not work out. Expand
    • 2 of 2 users said yes

See all 226 User Reviews

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