Final Fantasy XIII-2 PlayStation 3
Metascore
79 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 53 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 48 out of 53
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 53
  3. Negative: 0 out of 53
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  1. TheSixthAxis
    Feb 16, 2012
    90
    I absolutely love the game, and found myself totally absorbed in everything it has to offer.
  2. DarkStation
    Feb 16, 2012
    90
    Despite it's poor pacing during the second act and its less than satisfying end, Final Fantasy XIII-2 can hold its head up high as a large improvement over its predecessor in the places where it counts.
  3. NZGamer
    Feb 12, 2012
    90
    New players may find all the back story and references from XIII a bit confusing, however with the inclusion of a "beginner's primer" in the menu, there's no reason why longtime fans of the series as well as complete newcomers won't get a brilliant gaming experience out of this title. Two thumbs up!
  4. Official PlayStation Magazine Benelux
    Feb 2, 2012
    90
    We were relieved to discover that FFXIII-2 had much more to offer than its sterile CGI-driven predecessor. Not only are there some great mini-games in the form of time paradox puzzles, there are also plenty of side quests. It goes to show that Square Enix truly listens to its fans. [February 2012, p.84]
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  5. Cheat Code Central
    Jan 31, 2012
    90
    Story gripes aside, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is just hands-down better than Final Fantasy XIII. It has more replay value, a more compelling battle system, an open world, an innovative exploration premise, and much more. If Final Fantasy XIII's laundry list of flaws turned you off to the Final Fantasy franchise, then Final Fantasy XIII-2 will get you back in.
  6. GamesRadar
    Jan 31, 2012
    90
    If FFXIII was an exercise in form over function, its successor is exercise in working with what you've got – and doing a brilliant job of it (for the most part). It does some things better than its predecessor, some things worse, but what's most impressive about Final Fantasy XIII-2 is how much feels new and different, despite sharing most of its guts with XIII.
  7. PSFocus
    Feb 6, 2012
    89
    This is definitely a step in the direction of that old Final Fantasy feel we've come to know and love. It feels like what the original Final Fantasy XIII should have been.
  8. Worth Playing
    Mar 15, 2012
    88
    FFXIII-2 earns its score with aplomb, and I'd go so far to call it a sleeper hit. It's a genuinely great-playing game with an imperfect story, though to its credit, it eventually engages and justifies the wait. Its greatest battle now is escaping from the shadow and stigma of its big brother, but you should ignore the anti-hype, take a leap of faith and give it a chance.
  9. GameTrailers
    Jan 29, 2012
    88
    Unequivocally better than the original in almost every single way, XIII-2 presents a rehabilitated spin on one of the most polarizing Square-Enix releases in recent years, as well as a promising way forward for the franchise. It may not be enough to undo what's already been done, but for what it's worth, XIII-2 may just change your mind about the future.
  10. GamingXP
    Jan 30, 2012
    87
    Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a step in the right direction. There were too many innovations in Final Fantasy XIII and now the developers incorporated all the feedback from the community to improve the game and offer all the Final Fantasy fans a better gaming experience. This strategy worked – the gameplay is pretty cool, the atmosphere as well as the effects (graphics and sounds) are stunning and the well-known setting is a nice bonus for fans of FF XIII.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.9 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 402 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 99 out of 159
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 159
  3. Negative: 33 out of 159
  1. CincyJosh
    10
    Without a doubt this is worthy of a main FF game number. If it had different characters they could have named it FF 15. Do yourself a favor and buy this game, play it, and judge for yourself. I loved XIII very much, however many griped about the linear story line...well part 2 is far from linear. I am glad that SE listened to their fans and made adjustments. Enjoy it and happy playing.… Full Review »
  2. dharma
    7
    FInal Fantasy used to be the pinnacle of 'next generation' videogame during the PS 1 era.....but something along the way was lost...Square Soft seemed to lose their connection with their own customers. I remember back in the PS1 days, Square was the best game developer there is...Every game that they made were gold, even outside FF! Yes, FF 13 part 1 and 2 looks amazing, but it feels 'awkward'. They're not immersive...You don't get sucked into the worlds as you used to. There's too much cut scenes. Better yet, learn from the best JRPG of last year, XENOBLADE Chronicles. For now, FF feels like a shadow of its former self… Full Review »
  3. GigaHz
    5
    Is it me, or are the vast majority of the top 10 most helpful reviews written in broken English? I wonder if SE pulled a Bioware and pushed their employees to create accounts for the sake of bringing up the user score. Yes, I'm being ridiculous, but I'm not joking about the poor English. Take a look for yourself.

    As for the game, I couldn't even endure the demo. I've tried to give it a chance (3 to be exact) but I would always end up quitting, mostly due to boredom. I've tried playing the game with and without auto-battle to see if it made a difference but to no avail. Even if you manually input the actions, with such a limited amount of abilities, you end up performing identical or similar move sets. So it seems like the more time efficient method is to select auto-battle. There's also paradigm shifting, but really, it just hot swaps your class. It doesn't make the game any more interesting, varied, or challenging. My impressions of the story were not positive. I'm not a fan of the two main leads. Having recently found out that these two are the only human (playable) main characters in the game I was immediately turned off. For every terrible FF character in recent games, there were usually a handful of other more decent characters to focus your attention on. This game doesn't offer you that luxury and if it was their intention to have you focus on these two characters, they should have taken better care to ensure that their personalities had more depth. Instead, they are bland as bland can be. Completely forgettable. The story segments I experienced were laughably bad. Pretentious, cryptic dialogue returns to give you a sense that the FF13 universe believes its own depth. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the game doesn't have a clue what its talking about at times, or that could be an instance of poor translation/writing. Apparently, the story for the full game is not as strong as previous titles so I take it my impressions were not far off the mark.

    What's worse, this game will sell. People will eat this game up because it's Final Fantasy. That's what bothers me. This game would have been acceptable in 2007, when showing off a systems graphical potential was fresh, but this is 2012. Many recent game releases already exhibit amazing graphical capabilities for severely dated consoles. Graphics are no longer a selling point, but a standard. And while this game does look and sound pretty, it doesn't bring anything else new to the table and it barely refines the source material it has to work with. It's a shame, because the artists and sound designers/musicians could be working on much better projects as opposed to being reduced to another 'phoned in' Final Fantasy title.

    Also, the old fans of Final Fantasy will not just 'move on'. We are the reason why the series got as far as it did in the first place. True fans give praise where it is due and critique on things that are either flawed or dated. They don't just say to themselves "WELL HURP DERP! It's Final Fantasy and made by Square Enix. Therefore, whatever they make I'll have to love and treasure without question". That may be why things got as bad as they are now. I don't know for sure. What I do know is that I was a fan of Final Fantasy and I'm not anymore. The series had its ups and downs, but now I only see downs. With every bold step forward (ff12) comes a cautious step back (ff13 and ff14). I really do hope that the fan base starts to take a hard look at the obvious decline in the quality of SE's recent games and take appropriate action. That is, unless you're perfectly content with slop and mediocrity.    … Full Review »
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