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Not quite so infinate!

INTRODUCTION
I've been wanting to play the Infinity games for a long time. Developer Nick has recently released images from the up and coming Infinity IV, so I've decided to finally get to playing them. The concept of the open world, vast, do whatever you like RPG is something that I love. Also with plans of making my own game in the genre, I wanted to see how it was done from someone with three of these gargantuan projects behind them. So, where better to start than the first one?


Just a Trainer on a bike on a roof talking to a nun with an airship parked behind him...

STORY
Now obviously, the point of the Infinity series, is that you create your own story. So one could say that the story is only as good as the player makes it. One would be wrong to say that. Even in this case, it's up to the developer to create an enjoyable experience, and that a story will create itself and stay exciting throughout the game. This task is probably even harder in an RPG that has no concrete story-line.

You can choose from a vast range of characters, and even unlock others from Star Wars, Pokemon, Link, Harry Potter and others in-game. This however, seems to have no effect on the actual game; everything happens exactly the same no matter what you look like. At one point there is an NPC that asks you where you come from and you have a choice between a couple of towns, but there's no real back-story. As the title hints, there is no real aim or end to the game.


One of my favorite rooms!

GAMEPLAY
After all I'd read about the Infinity series, and the concept of the game, I was expecting to play about six hours before having experienced enough of the game to write a review. It turns out that in the end I managed to accomplish pretty much everything there is to accomplish in about forty-five minutes! I've robbed the bank, got married, bought everything there is to buy, taken every drug there is to take and visited every island there is to visit! I was generally disappointed by what the developer announced.

I also felt a bit let-down about a lot of the other features promised. Dating was just a Sims style choose what you want to do and get married affair. Most of the NPCs had uninteresting one-liners. Nothing I did really seemed to change anything; even after having robbed the bank under the full glare of three security cameras the police failed to recognize me as I just strolled into the station a couple of minutes after. I wasn't very engaged! Why take a room in an Inn when all it changed was your bank balance?


DON'T YOU SAY ANYTHING ELSE!? WHY DON'T YOU TALK TO ME!? We used to talk... :'(

DESIGN
So we've got one massive world map with a beach, ocean, islands and arctic region. It's all done with RPG Maker 2003 RTP plus a few extra tiles. Obviously the graphics aren't anything to get excited about. Some maps are even rather poorly designed, but everything ties in well enough to the general quaint, game boy atmosphere of the game. I just feel that seeing as the game isn't actually that huge a little more effort could have gone into it.

We find our usual old friends as far as sound in RPG Maker 2003 games stand. They were however well placed, and gave a good feel to their consequent maps (even if the town map music was a little too aggressive for my taste). The fact that the you could switch between black and white or color at your will was a nice little touch also.


Shit, it's the pigs! ... Hello?

CONCLUSION
So overall, I do feel a little disappointed with this first installment. It just didn't in my opinion live up to it's promises. But, this is only the first episode. You can feel the inexperience in the game design. I am on the other hand confident that it can only get better from here. It wasn't a bad game, I don't regret playing it, but I know the Infinity series has so much more to offer. I can't wait to play the next ones. Thus, I mark it three, for average.