Xenogears

PlayStation (Squaresoft 1998)

The big G-S-G-S-G

General opinion: Possibly the best console RPG ever
Story: Amazing
Graphics: Good
Sound: Great
Gameplay: Great

Total:

The Review

Squaresoft (now Square Enix), best known for its Final Fantasy franchise, is arguably the greatest producer of console RPGs the world has ever seen. There are many who might give the title of greatest RPG to a game like Final Fantasy VII, and they wouldn't be far from the mark, but to me the culmination of the genre is another Squaresoft masterpiece: Xenogears. I might even go as far as to say that this is my favourite game, ever. (And you might want to keep this biased position in mind when reading my review.)

Though fantasy elements aren't entirely lacking, Xenogears is, unlike many other RPGs, primarily a science fiction game, involving giant humanoid fighting machines called Gears. The main character is a young man called Fei, who has lost all memories of his childhood. For the last three years he has lived in a small, quiet village on an otherwise war-torn continent known as Ignas. It is no surprise that he is to become involved in the age-old struggle taking place around him. The fact that he stumbles upon a mysterious Gear that everyone appears to be after does not help...

The beginnings of the story might sound cliched when put like this, but the truth is far from it. The epic story of Xenogears escalates into a massive, intelligent tale of war, greed and the dangers of organized religion, which goes on to question the very nature of Man and God alike. It is, in fact, hard to tell much of the plot without spoiling it... However, if you don't like lots of long, deep dialogue sequences, then this is not the game for you.

Despite being very plot-heavy, gameplay has not been forgotten either. The game features a sophisticated battle system, or two, in fact, as you will fight both with your Gears and your characters. Character battles draw influence from martial arts and anime. You can combine attacks of three different strengths, and pull off impressive special attacks (called 'deathblow skills') by using certain attack combinations. When fighting in Gears, different attacks require different amounts of fuel. Bosses and 'dungeons' are plentiful, and challenging enough. You also need to worry about getting the best equipment for your Gears. Lots of fun for an RPG fan, in fact. The game is also quite long, providing a solid 70 hours of gameplay.

Unlike many Square RPGs of the period, which tend to use prerendered backgrounds, the environments of Xenogears are fully 3D. The additional dimension is used too, and you often need to jump to reach certain places, as well as rotate the camera in order to get a full view of the scene. This has also, however, lead to few platforming sequences that can be more frustrating than fun, and are in my mind the weakest link of the game. Thankfully they aren't very many.

Graphics may look crude by modern standards. This is, however, mostly because of low resolution, and the 3D environments are in fact quite detailed and well designed. The characters (apart from Gear battles which use polygon models) are actually 2D sprites. Although they look fine most of the time, and are well animated, they can look very pixelated when zoomed up close, which is probably the weakest point of the graphics... The game also features some beautiful anime cutscenes (beautiful apart from absolutely horrid lipsync in the English version, that is), although these aren't quite as many as one might hope, and occur mainly at the beginning and the end of the game... Lastly, the game's soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda is superb, and one of my all time favourite soundtracks.

Considering how much I admire this game, I'm actually surprised at how short this review turned out to be. But, in the end, there is really very little one can say about a game like this. You either love it or you don't. All in all, Xenogears follows the trappings of the Japanese console RPG tradition, but, in my mind, excels in every area, both in gameplay and story. It is a unique work that stands its ground well beside such giants as Final Fantasy VII, and I am sure I will return to it many times in the future.

Sadly this game was never released in Europe. I had to use a modded PlayStation in order to play it, but it was worth it... That's a message that all game (and movie) companies should get. Nothing good can come out of area restrictions, as it will only lead to fans having to resort to questionable practices in order to play the games (or watch the movies) they want to...

Ben B. Bainton, 8 May 2006