This game is a work of fiction. Any similarities to actual people, locations, organisations and events are purely coincidental.’ The disclaimer that appears each time you boot up Tri-Ace’s latest RPG is probably unnecessary. This is, after all, a game in which you assume the role of a flautist on a mission to, quite literally, unchain the moon. The plot pivots on a Kagemusha-esque case of mistaken identity – your character, the pacifist Capell, is the exact lookalike of a notorious rebel leader – but other than this worn plot motif, it’s self-evident fantasy.

Likewise, there should be few concerns over copycat mechanics because, while this action-RPG inhabits one of the narrowest and most conservative of niches, it’s bursting at the seams with fresh ideas and brave new interactive directions. Boasting the involvement of designer Yoshiharu Gotanda, the man behind the Tales, Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile series, ahead of release Infinite Undiscovery has become something of a poster child for genre reinvention.

However, it’s precisely this weight of expectation under which the game caves, so eager to try new things that, for the first few hours at least, ideas are thrown at you at a manic, unsatisfying rate. A ropey chase scene through a dungeon is followed by an incongruous stealth section through a forest, before leading on to a tedious escort mission and, finally, a convoluted and poorly designed dungeon puzzle. This large range of player situations, designed to give the game’s opening pace and breadth, falls flat for lacking excellence or gracefulness.

Nevertheless, after a faltering start the game settles into a steady rhythm, in part due to a strong fight system, which eschews random out-of-context battles for free-flowing encounters in the field. In contrast to Final Fantasy XII’s similar approach, you have direct control over your character’s sword, while your three teammates look after themselves, adhering to general behaviours you specify such as ‘save MP’, ‘push forward’ and so on.

A touch of the Y button will issue a heal call, and one of your teammates will respond with either an item or a spell directed at whoever the AI deems to be in most need.
This system is effective, and needs to be: entering a menu screen does not pause the onscreen action meaning that, should you ever need to root around for a potion during a fight, your character is wholly vulnerable while you do so.

But despite a solid battle core, the game falls short of expectations. Where Tri-Ace succeeded in its Valkyrie Profile titles was in creating tight artificial boundaries for the experiences and then exploring the space they created in deep and interesting ways. By contrast, Infinite Undiscovery broadens its borders both technically, with fully 3D environments to explore, and conceptually, with multiple mechanical threads. In doing so, the game’s ambition reaches further than perhaps its budget could reach, thus failing
to either deliver or explore its ideas as they were no doubt envisioned.

6/10