FINAL FANTASY X
While this kind of gameplay is not everybody's cuppa tea (except a good couple million fans around the globe!), you have to admire it on several levels - its ambition, design, grand scale, ingenuity, originality, digital artistry, its varied thematic approaches, history and sheer longevity. This is the 10th installment of Japanese videogame creator Hironobu Sakaguchi's Final Fantasy saga which started with crude 8-bit graphics back in 1987 and has become a fluid 3D culture unto itself - one of other worlds, dimensions and creatures. While the games have all taken very different shapes in story, character, look and design, there are significantly characteristic elements that are just so very "Final Fantasy", you just know it when you see it. With this installment Squaresoft takes us along the adventures of Tidus, a young Blitzball playing champ who finds himself amid incredible events. A large hovering liquid mass known as "Sin" destroys his city of Zanarkand, deposits vicious creatures and sweeps him up. Tidus' father Jecht disappeared ten years before and an acquaintance, Auron, seems to know far more about this destructive inexplicable event. Tidus finds himself in an unfamiliar place with people known as the Al Bhed (with a secret language which you get to learn as you collect knowledge on it). He seemed to have been time-warped a thousand years. Interaction with Sin can poison and disorientate you, affecting your memory. In the area of Spira (as with all of the areas and people you encounter, becoming an integral part of proceedings), things start to become more clear. Enemies, allies and incidental bystanders can either teach you things of importance or trivia, offer gifts, try to destroy you or get utilized in the gameplay proceedings. Tasks need to be fulfilled as you progress, chests containing handy (and essential) bits & pieces scattered about. The regular turn-based battle sequences are present and while the more hands-on of us sometimes find this a laborious action technique, the potentially stagnant action gets alternated with well integrated cut sequences in stead of a one-for-you-one-for-me fight till someone's stuffed. Special moves and overdrive techniques come in handy with offing multiple assailants. The Node system is an intricate grid where the multiple characters involved can get upgrades, be it Power, mana, Speed or Ability. You can learn new skills, gain strength and magic. Ability points are earned via successful battles and the more spheres you gain, the more moves you can make on the Node grid. Sounds intricate, but you'll get the hang of it. Maps lead you to your destinations where you can buy or trade items and find out more about how Sin destroyed everything that became too reliant on Machina - enough fiends encountered along the way to keep you on your toes. A range of sub-games adds to the depth. The water theme is very prominent with a lot of the action taking place in, or underneath its surface. Final Fantasy X is an engaging role playing exploration adventure which can be entered into without having played the previous games (while it is recommended) - and if you've seen the movie first, it is not exactly as related as you'd hoped. FFX is also so vast and intricate that reviewing it could simply be preaching to the converted, while elaborating some details may seem pointless - still, we can't merely state "go buy it" without giving you some idea of what you're in for.

5 / C
- PB