While a bit rough around the edges, Infinite Undiscovery is a decent time waster if you're looking for an affordable RPG
GAMEPLAY (7.5) - IU is an Action RPG with a combat system similar to the Star Ocean and Tales games. Encounters are fought in real time, and combat action takes place on the main game screen with no pause in gameplay.Your character will have two attacks, essentially a weak attack and a slower, stronger attack. You can have up to three other party members (fighters, healers, wizards etc.) that will be controlled by the game. It makes things simpler as there's no need to juggle many characters at the same time during a boss fight; especially as the AI is reasonably good. However, you are also worryingly reliant on them as the commands you can give is limited to pressing the Y button to signify healing is required for one or more members of the party. If you die, you lose that power and have to watch helplessly as your comrades continue to fight, and hope that they revive you within the time limit otherwise it is game over. It can get a little frustrating, naturally, but fortunately I didn't run into that situation very often. The real negative to this system is that the menu can only be accessed in real-time. There's nothing more annoying than trying to use a healing item while avoiding blows from your enemies, and hoping that your companions might cast a healing spell in time to save you. It's something you get used to but I'm really not sure why it was deemed to be a good idea in the first place. The game occasionally attempts to try something different, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but the timing might have been a mistake in that IU throws some of these ideas at you near the beginning of the game before you really have much of an idea as to what's going on. Fortunately once you get past a few annoying areas the game does settle down into more traditional JRPG gameplay.
GRAPHICS (7.5) - Mixed reactions here. IU does occasionally offer some impressive visuals, including explosions, attack and spell effects, and there are some good looking, detailed environments to explore. Character animations are reasonably realistic; subtle gestures and the occasional facial expression combine to bring each one to life, although synchronisation of speech and lip movement is terrible, and the characters can have a rough, blocky look to them compared to the better looking characters from games such as Fallout 3 and Fable 2. Surprisingly enough the only CGI scene I remember seeing in the game was during the title screen, as everything else used the in-game engine.
AUDIO (7.0) - I came away with the impression that the developers simply didn't finish their work when it came to characters's speech. First, there is unfortunately no option to have Japanese speech with subtitles so you are forced to listen to English voice actors. These are not terrible but certainly not exceptional. There are sections of dialogue where characters can be heard conversing but there's nothing in the animations to suggest this. Also, cut scene dialogue often switches between speech with no text, and text with no speech. On the other hand the orchestral background music is terrific, good enough to warrant a soundtrack purchase.
Value (7.0) - I completed the game in approximately 25 hours, which is quite short compared to most other RPGs. I will say that I spent almost no time level-grinding, which is a positive for me. There are a large number of sidequests available, most of which I didn't pursue so the game could certainly go beyond 30 hours for completionists. Also, at the completion of the game there is an optional dungeon available to add some more gametime. The short time may be a disappointment for people that bought this game at full price but for those of us that purchased it at today's reduced price it's not a bad investment.
STORY/SUMMARY - IU does offer a somewhat unique story, as the good guys are attempting to destroy chains that have shackled the moon and brought it close to the planet. The evil people are harnessing magical powers from the moon, but the close proximity of the moon is causing disasters to the common people. The cast, while typical of a JRPG group, is a decently interesting collection of characters and each has their own unique story to be told. For me this game basically gave me what I was expecting, which wasn't much. If you're a JRPG fan and just looking for an average, sometimes pretty good game to play in between the bigger-hyped titles, Infinite Undiscovery should give you enough enjoyment to make it worth your while.