During the 1990s, the Square brand was synonymous with the role-playing video game.

A generation of gamers got hooked on the challenging quests, quirky characters and sweeping story lines of Square RPGs like Chrono Trigger, The Secret of Mana and, of course, the Final Fantasy series.

Over the last decade, though, the Japan-based company – now Square Enix – has ceded the RPG crown to Western developers.

Still, as a gamer who's devoured almost every Final Fantasy chapter, I've been eagerly awaiting Final Fantasy XIII. And it breaks my fanboy heart to acknowledge how disappointed I am with it.

The adventure begins in the floating city of Cocoon, where humans are protected by a mysterious race called the fal'Cie. A rogue fal'Cie from Pulse, the world underneath Cocoon, breaks loose, and some humans are branded as l'Cie, servants of the aliens.

There are six primary characters, and they are some of the most irritating people ever to appear in a game.

For the first 25 hours (really), the characters are split into groups of two or three as they explore Pulse. The story is strictly linear, with no towns to visit, no interesting side characters, no off-the-beaten-path missions to pursue. XIII settles quickly into a dull rhythm: fight, walk, fight, watch a non-interactive cut scene, fight, save your game.

XIII does have its rewards. This series has long delivered on the eye candy, and Square has pulled out all the stops for its first instalment on the current generation of high-definition consoles.

The landscapes, whether urban or bucolic, are breathtaking, and the character animation is vividly lifelike.

The battles are built on an innovative engine. You control one character, while the others in your party are computer-operated. But you can change your teammates' specialties on the fly, so if you're taking too much of a beating, you can have one character focus on healing rather than on fighting.

Final Fantasy XIII does pick up steam about two-thirds of the way through, as the characters' stories coalesce and the action branches out beyond the straight-ahead path. Unfortunately, I suspect many players will lose patience long before then.

 

- Final Fantasy XIII. Out now on XBox360 and PS3 from Dh225