Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi is finally making his US Mistawalker debut with the Japanese RPG Blue Dragon this week. On a console that is still primarily known as a shooter, sports and “arcade” machine, it’ll be interesting to see just how well this game performs.
Numerous US and UK websites have reviewed the game, generating a 79 percent review score average out of 20 reviews thus far. Ratings range from 90 all the way down to 50.
Next-Gen’s consumer sibling website GamesRadar said that the game wears its Final Fantasy roots on its sleeve, traveling down a well-worn traditional JRPG path, yet executing its goals quite nicely.
GamesRadar’s Christian Nutt gave it a 9/10, writing, “With generally excellent storytelling and competent voices in English or Japanese, though, it's one you'll enjoy for its dramatic tale. And the system of building up your shadows' powers is also irresistible. But the game does lag in pacing when it comes to exploration and battle; a touch more evolution might have launched this from extremely good to indispensable.”
IGN gave the game a 7.9/10 “Good” score, but was more critical of the game’s apparently slow pace. Reviewer Erik Brudvig said Blue Dragon “is not the most original RPG,” adding, “The pacing through the first half of the game is far too slow to stay engaging for all but the hardcore JRPG fan and the story is not nearly as epic as the multiple disc, 50+ hour game implies.”
A second take from IGN’s Hilary Goldstein concurred: “Though it has some nice touches, Blue Dragon’s first disc (which will eat up 15 hours of your life) is a total snooze fest…”
Andrew Fitch with 1UP was clearly disappointed with the final game, criticizing its “poor character design,” lack of intriguing plot and again, poor pacing. He gave the game a 6.5/10.
“I've got a tremendous amount of respect for the men behind Blue Dragon...but at the same time, I can't overlook its massive warts just because three developers I grew up idolizing created the game,” Fitch wrote. “I'm not gonna give these guys a free pass -- and neither should you. If you come into Blue Dragon expecting anything more than a serviceable RPG, don't be shocked if you come away disappointed.”
At GameSpot, Blue Dragon is the 22nd most popular Xbox 360 game (89th overall), 17th for the console at IGN’s GameStats.com (37th overall) and second on 1UP (second overall).
