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Blue Dragon is the first game developed by Mistwalker Studios, the group famed for being some of the biggest influences in Japanese RPG History. The Company is in fact new to the gaming realm but includes some of this world’s biggest names in RPG creation like Hironobu Sakaguchi (Creator of Final Fantasy), Nobou Uematsu (Final Fantasy Score Composer) and Hideo Minaba (the man behind Chrono Trigger). These three together have left Square Enix to take on a new approach to RPG gaming, and their first finished work is Blue Dragon.

As Blue Dragon is the first truly exclusive RPG from Japan ever to grace an XBOX Console it makes you wonder why no one had done it before. Yes, we had Fable which was great for showing off the XBOX brand at the time but the lack in Japanese content was a big miss. Microsoft seems to have sorted this issue by basically buying out the rights to Blue Dragon sending it to the XBOX 360, this will anger many PS3 and PC Fans as the game could easily have worked on those platforms also.

Blue Dragon is the first Next-Generation Console Game to break the one-disc limit by bringing 3 fully packed discs of adventure, Cinematic’s that remind you of a Pixar movie and over-the-top customisation. The game feels very much like a Playstation outing of Final Fantasy games disc-wise as the splits prompt you to save and insert the correct disc. The Cinematic’s over the full gaming experience span almost half of the discs, basically prompting the thought that if the Cinematic Scenes weren’t there the game would probably have managed to fit on one disc.

In Blue Dragon you play as Shu, but are joined by his friends Jiro and Kluke. Every year a Land Shark returns to cause havoc and mass destruction of their small village of Talto, so all three of them take it upon themselves to rid of the Land Shark by capturing it in a large net, but once the Land Shark is caught, it basically goes nuts and free’s itself with the net still over it. From there, Shu grabs onto the trailing net, Jiro grabs onto Shu and Kluke grabs onto Jiro offering them one hell of a ride into hidden mysterious caves. From there, their journey begins to find out why their Village was attacked and who was behind the awful actions.

To start with, Blue Dragon is rather slow and I can see people criticising this fact. There’s at least a 5 hour slow period in which you’ll possibly find yourself just running around in absolute boredom. This is quite normal for Japanese RPG’s but it’s seldom seen in US / UK built RPG’s. The game does pick though after you reach a certain point and from there the 3-disc spectacle brings to life exactly what you wanted to see from a Hironobu Sakaguchi game, good graphics, a killer storyline and best of all an open-ended world which you can explore.

People have been talking about comparing Final Fantasy and Blue Dragon because of the Creator of both being Hironobu Sakaguchi. In all seriousness, Final Fantasy wipes the floor with Blue Dragon, but that’s because it’s a legendary series and has had much tweaking over a 20 year lifespan. What Hironobu has done is laid a start for Blue Dragon to fall into its own category of Gaming, it may one day face-off against Final Fantasy, but it certainly isn’t this time around although it does prove to be a game of great prospects.

The in-game graphics are great, but are far from stunning. The best factor here is the Artwork was provided by Akira Toriyama (the Creator of the Dragonball series) which is famous for being one of the worlds most defining Anime’s ever made. Mr Toriyama has also worked on many Square Enix games in his time which feature Chrono Trigger and Dragon Quest. Immediately, anyone who knows of the Dragonball series (be it from the Manga or Anime on TV) will automatically make the connection with Mr Toriyama and his famous artistry style.

The in-game action from Blue Dragon is spectacular; the sheer depth of control offered to you throughout the game is enough to make any RPG lover gleam with awe. The game offers full control over what class(es) your characters are and there are plenty to choose from. There’s also quite a few that must be unlocked before they become playable. Basically, through choosing specific classes, your characters grow particular skills, like magic, defence, attack, support items and others. Each class helps build up an aspect you think will help within your personal battle formations. Choosing an enemy to fight is easy as the enemies walk around freely, so you can jump them from behind giving you a head start of face first giving you a slight advantage in hit ratio. The fighting style is turn-based and shows which characters turn is when, there’s also plenty of menu’s to explore and items to learn about.

Gameplay in Blue Dragon is great, you can run around freely and take in the sights, sounds offered throughout the game but a big issue with this game is it just seems really easy. For those with an RPG Gaming history, Blue Dragon may seem like a stroll-through game. Once you get past the first disc, you’re pretty much a high enough level to beat anything lying in wait for you. It’s rather frustrating that there’s no real challenge and that EXP levels are quite low while the in-take for EXP is rather high. Most RPG Gamers will manage to look past the easiness for the story and general gameplay experience which are perfect in all respects.

Blue Dragon isn’t without serious faults and some of them are rather tedious. Monsters walking around on the surface are fine, but when they’re casting elemental spells and other voodoo, the game lags quite a bit until you either pass them or face them. This issue has been said to have caused a few XBOX 360 issues, so it’d be advisable to watch the Console’s acting correctly at those times. Another issue is the Cinematic’s. Most are perfect but every so often, one may seem to slowly load causing frameskips. It’s not a big issue but it can prohibit important information from being said leaving the player somewhat disorientated about what to do next.

Basically, if you’re looking for an RPG experience on the XBOX 360, then this is the only real choice at this time. The game offers enough for all RPG lovers to reach out and enjoy plus fans of Dragonball will probably buy it just to witness Akira Toriyama’s Artwork. The game plays out well and offers around 30-40 hours worth of gameplay in between the Cinematic’s. This game is also a gem for Anime lovers as it’s very Anime-Orientated.

If you’re willing to give Blue Dragon a chance, I’m sure you’ll find it an enjoyable experience. I may recommend for those who have read this and not liked the sound of the game to either rent or borrow the game before committing to buy.