Blue Dragon (Xbox 360)

A shiny, next-gen exterior reveals masterful classic gaming beneath.
2/12/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

There are a million reasons to take a pass on Blue Dragon. Nobody's blaming you for being sick of turn-based combat. Or maybe you just can't stand Akira Toriyama's character design. Perhaps you just don't have the time for an epic-length role-playing game. Despite Blue Dragon's gorgeous next-generation visuals, the fights do feel decidedly old-school. And there's really no arguing when it comes to matters of taste. Toriyama's anime art style, seen most notably in the Dragon Quest series, is bound to be divisive -- especially among those burnt out on "One Piece" reruns, or for grumpy "grown-up" gamer types who bear a grudge towards anything that looks remotely like it was intended for children. And, yeah, the game spans three game discs. It's no Portal, that's for sure. But to dismiss Blue Dragon out of hand is to overlook a modest, but sparkling nonetheless, gem.

For the uninitiated, Blue Dragon is the first game from Mistwalker -- a studio founded by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. The veteran designer brought in legendary videogame composer Nobuo Uematasu (also a Final Fantasy alum) to provide the soundtrack. With Toriyama onboard to cook up the look of the characters and monsters the game's retro credentials are damn near golden. And despite their age, it seems like all three members of this Japanese role-playing game supergroup still have creative juices to spare. Sakaguchi's plot sticks closely to the tried and true coming-of-age template. Shu, Jiro and Kluke, youthful residents of a village under siege by monstrous, mechanical land sharks, set off on a journey to master newly acquired magical powers and put a stop to supervillain Nene and his robotic army. So, yeah, those labeling Blue Dragon as "kid's stuff" have a point. The game's plot tells a universal story that resonates particularly well with the young. It's about kids mastering their lives -- about standing on your own two feet and becoming captain of your own fate. It's a story that stands up to multiple retellings. That's why people still love Star Wars and why the Final Fantasy series still uses the motif as its primary thrust.

The game plays like most classic RPGs. Players guide their party across overworlds and through dungeons, beating the crap out of the meanies they encounter. Blue Dragon's major diversion from the formula is that it does away with random encounters. This isn't a new feature by any means, but it immediately makes the game feel more sane than most of the Final Fantasy re-releases we've seen in the past year or so. A couple of minor details make fights a little more interesting. Players can ambush creatures from behind for a "back attack," which catches the enemy off guard and puts the good guys first in the game's initiative lineup. There's also an Achievement for nailing a hundred back attacks -- a decent enough motivation to try mixing it up when cracking skulls. A second minor tweak to starting brawls adds even more variety: When multiple jerks are within the player's "encounter circle," they can opt to fight both monsters at once. Dragging the right two beasties into a dustup triggers a Monster Battle, where enemies will fight amongst themselves before focusing fire on the heroes. The fights themselves are classic one-button matchups. Players select their actions from a menu and they go off in turn. Some attacks can be charged for maximum effect. A micro-game that lets players try to hit a sweet spot peppers in a dash more involvement. This game also determines where in the turn order a spell or a melee attack will go off. Strategy-minded players can bunt their powered-up moves to make them go off sooner or overshoot to further postpone the action.