Final Fantasy XIII-2 for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

After hearing some bad things about the first XIII and also that this game tries to fix a lot of them, I decided to skip that game and start here. There is a summary of the first games story (in the main menu, I think), but not much of it matters for this game. That which does is explained at length.

Gameplay Showcase!
The XIII battle system is at its best when you keep it simple. Swapping your party's roles is the main thing. Picking a target is the second thing. Triggering your beast's special move is a distant third. If you're doing it right, that's going to be 99% of what you do in battle. Don't use items. Don't select any specific spells or actions. Those are relics from previous games and really don't fit with what they're doing here. Battles are too quick to do anything but the three things I said. Heck, you can't even see most of what's happening on screen. The menus and outside-of-battle controls are okay. The customization and leveling up of your party is pretty deep, and I enjoyed the hours I spent there.

Part of why I was glad I skipped FF13 was because the plot was very unappealing. At least here they are working with the idea of time travel which is much more fun. Unfortunately, the structure of the game work against this. If I am traveling through time, changing things, then why do only a few select actions make any difference? Is time passing in these places even when I'm not there, or am I coming in at the same moment each time I visit? The game does it both ways. It really is an awful story. The main characters say unbelievably stupid things. The graphics are technically impressive, but very uninspired. Almost every location is very cramped. I enjoyed being a monster hunter, but I did give up on one of the many end bosses because I'd grown kind of bored and looked forward to nothing that would come with winning. I enjoyed it very much for a couple of weeks despite everything.