Pros: Good Graphics and Fun Gameplay
Cons: Unremarkable Soundtrack, Entirely Contrived, Bad Storyline
The bottom line: Sakaguchi's first Xbox 360 game is fun but disappointing.
Hironobu Sakaguchi is the father of the world's premiere role playing series of video games known as Final Fantasy. He was one of the major factors behind the early games, and since he's been gone Final Fantasy just hasn't been the same, and I'm beginning to doubt it will ever return to what it once was. Sakaguchi has since moved on to create his own studio, and it is when I heard that Microsoft snatched exclusive rights to all of his next generation console titles that I warmed up to the Xbox 360. Blue Dragon is the first game Sakaguchi has worked on since leaving Squaresoft, and it's a very fair show of what made RPGs so great in the past.

Shu is an ambitious boy living with his friends Jiro and Kluke in the rather small desert village Talta. This particular township is plagued by what they call the 'land shark' - a creature who terrorizes them from beneath the soil. The game begins as purple clouds suffocate the sky signaling an attack from the shark. During the attack young Shu hitches a ride on it only to find the real source of the problem - an evil purple skinned wizard known as Nene. Knowing this, Shu and friends set out for revenge. They gain the power of magic after swallowing mysterious orbs granting them blue shadows which are the primary source of all their abilities.

The characters themselves are extremely bland and cliche. Jiro and Kluke fit into the story as your typical hero support - they never step out of this rather cliche role which is rather disappointing. Shu's claim to fame is that he never gives up. This character trait comes into play so often that it will have you cringing just minutes into the game and it doesn't let up until you're two thirds the way through the story. The characters who join later on aren't very interesting either. You've got Maromaro - the obligatory 'cute' character who also serves as the loudmouth. Then we've got Zola the cold and calculating fighter with way too much attention brought to her chest. Sakaguchi definitely dropped the ball when it comes to the cast.

The gameplay is also quite old-fashioned, but being the fan of classic style RPGs that I am this was one of the aspects that drew me in. Blue Dragon is a turn based, monster fighting, experience point earning romp across a vast fantasy world. It is in this world that you travel around to towns and dungeons interacting with NPCs, shopping for new equipment and searching for treasures all the while advancing the storyline. Your party even acquires an airship quite late in the game which makes travel much more fun and painless.

The battles are quite standard for this type of game. Monsters are in view outside of battle and you'll find them wandering around in the various dungeons and across the world map. Through a unique targeting system you can even choose to encounter more than one monster group at a time. While in battle each character has a list of selectable commands from which allows them to attack, cast magic, use items, run, and perform various special moves. The battle system is perfectly functional and is even quite strategic - you're given a view of the enemies upcoming commands and this allows you to plan your moves accordingly. This is probably the game's strongest card.

Your party consists of five characters but unfortunately that's all you get in the game. In this regard Blue Dragon is quite disappointing given that the style of game it's molded after has been offering party building aspects for decades.

What it lacks in it's cast Blue Dragon makes up in it's character customization options. In battle the characters' various shadows are what are doing the actual fighting. You can customize their fighting styles through the fairly intricate job system. Here you can choose exactly which roles they will play in battle, and as they fight through battles making use of specific classes they will gain attributes which you can put to use. These include the ability to use different types of magic, being able to counterattack, attacking twice, etc. There are also several stat boosting options you can use which are very helpful. At first glance the job system looks shallow but as you progress in the game it blooms into something quite deep and very involving.

Various items are spread throughout the world on various objects. This is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand you can find some pretty helpful stuff such as curative items. On the other hand these little items are hidden everywhere. Any given room you enter will probably have at least ten items hid somewhere in it, and a lot of the time you'll only find gold in such small amounts that it doesn't really help. For the obsessive compulsive this game could last a lifetime simply searching everything.

A rather small issue is the game's difficulty. Blue Dragon is a rather easy game. On my first playthrough my party was only defeated a handful of times, and that was across fifty hours of playing the game. Thankfully Microsoft offers a free patch via Xbox Live Marketplace which unlocks an optional Hard Mode. This is great for players looking for a challenge.

Despite it's flaws Blue Dragon's gameplay is actually very fun. The major problem I have with the game is that it's too derivative. The scenario and basic gameplay just feel so... borrowed. It's disappointing because there are some moments where the game really shines, and had it been allowed to stand on it's own two feet more often the game could have been a lot more special.

Blue Dragon certainly raises the bar when it comes to RPG aesthetics. A lot of care was put into the visuals - the character models and environments look absolutely fantastic. The game features an extremely stylish blur effect that, while maybe too common at times, is very pleasing to the eyes. The game's frame rate does tend to stutter a bit during battle, but after a while you kind of get used to it. I've never been a big fan of Akira Toriyama's character designs, and honestly, they just don't really fit the game too well. This is one of the rare cases that I feel cel-shading would have been a very good fit.

The soundtrack is a very good fit to the game. With that said, it's also Nobuo Uematsu's (of Final Fantasy soundtrack fame) worst soundtrack to date. While the music does fit the on-screen action and even the game's style there's just not anything particularly memorable about it. Let me rephrase that, nothing memorable in a 'good' way. I say this because Blue Dragon's boss battle theme is a grungy rock song complete with some of the worst Engrish vocals ever. The voice acting is very cheesy but this is another negative aspect that's rather fitting for this title. Sound effects are nothing to write home about, but they are perfectly functional just the same.

There are no real issues with the controls. Moving Shu around feels pretty good and is pretty intuitive. The battles usually consist of just repeatedly pressing the A button, but they are based around timing which does make things a little more complicated than usual. The battle interface was slightly confusing at first because I didn't immediately grasp the command meter but I was up and running in no time, and your average player shouldn't have any long running problems understanding it.

Final Recommendation
Blue Dragon is a well designed game and it's quite a bit of fun, but it just doesn't bring a lot to the table. Still, I recommend it, just don't go expecting it to bring about the RPG renaissance. This is an RPG made for RPG fans and because of it's traditional structure it's certainly not going to sway anyone who generally dislikes this type of game.