The game sets the theme of the story very well; the introductory CG paints the picture of a massive power struggle across the world of Ivalice between Archadia and Rozarria (think US vs USSR), at the expense of smaller kingdoms, such as Dalmasca, who've been sucked up into the chaos of war. When the, rather long, introductory sequences are over, the player is left in the heart of this mayhem, in a rather short tutorial dungeon, teaching the player the basics.

The main thrust of FFXII is geared around Vaan, a street-smart kid with a hate of the Imperial Empire and very large chip on his shoulder, and Ashe, heir to the thrown of Dalmasca. As with all other Final Fantasy games, the player guides the leading man around sprawling metropolises and vast empty deserts and eventually meets up with other disparate characters, who through choice or circumstance, end up joining the party.

The characters work well as an ensemble, if a little shallow in some cases, and are beautifully realised and well voiced. Sometimes it's great to have the three female forms lead the way simply to gorge the eyes on the feast of animated loveliness: visually this game looks fantastic. The archetypal villains in the game are also excellently positioned: the Judges have a menace that wouldn't be out of place in a prison courtyard. What's even more staggering is the vast and varied lands that fill Ivalice. There are sprawling metropolises, vast desserts, enchanting forests and dungeons whose roofs arc to the heavens, all this accompanied by a musical score which can be charming, breathtaking and purposely menacing.

Where perhaps the stories in other FF games have been rather self indulgent, XII's is much more staid, dealing with the wrangling of political power struggle; it's rooted in theme rather than character. The pace does start to slip a little at the end but at no point does it become boring, and this time around it actually makes some sense.

Something which has been radically altered in this release is the battle system. It may come as a shock to find, particularly for those who've never seen the MMORPG, that the turn based system has been thrown away in favour of a more real time structure. In reality it's still turn based, it's just cleverly disguised by making character actions run simultaneously on screen without the pause for input. It was always going to be a bone of contention, and is a little bit oversimplified, removing the player somewhat from the action; but it's an approach that's quickly adapted to.

Previous games allowed for the player to make a more tactical choice from their arsenal of magic and skills, but gone now are the intros and outros of combat to make up for that; the action just seamlessly moves from exploring to combat to exploring. The player can just point the party towards an enemy, at which point coloured arcs start streaming across the screen to indicate action, and watch as they hack at them for a bit, but for the minor battles this comes as somewhat of a relief.

SquareEnix have introduced a system to help involve the player further in the encountered battles, by way of the gambit system. Whilst this gives a modicum of control by setting up these "if condition X occurs then apply action Y", it's not quite as flexible as needed. This is particularly true earlier in the game when the gambits and gambit slots are somewhat limited. The player eventually ends up with a mass of conditions, from enemy status to highest hit points, and plenty of slots, but the weakness is these can't be applied together. It can't handle any logical combinations which would definitely be beneficial in some situations.

This leads to the player then having to step into the menus, which unfortunately pauses the action. This interrupts the flow a little, but thankfully the different magic areas have been split up intelligently, and for the whole, selections are easy to make. This does mean though, that combat can end up being melee biased, as there's no prompt to take action, instead the gambits must be organised and swapped about for the desired effect.

Experience (except in boss battles) and Licence Points are earned every time something is killed by the main team; it's with these that the player expands the party's skills and magic. When the points are spent on the licence board (think chessboard), a number of paths become available to follow, flowing out of the fog of war. Some may find that further having to buy these abilities in a shop that sells them before they can be used a little jarring, but the required cash is there from the loot gained when slaughtering monsters. The availability of abilities is revealed relatively slowly through the story, so it's never a case of not having something when it's needed.

If combat is avoided more often than embraced, there can be issues with difficulty spikes when meeting the bosses. This leads to the odd grinding session, in order to gain a couple of levels to get past the fight and move the story on. Usually the save points are well placed, so there certainly shouldn't be the need to re-visit vast sections of the game over and over.

SquareEnix have added some really neat features that work quite brilliantly in the game: visible enemies and hunting rare monsters. The former is a very welcome change, considering the often frustrating nature of random battles. Visible enemies make it easier to avoid fights if so wished, although it can't be said to be truly non-random as some fights are unavoidable.

The second of the notable features, the hunts, are part of an epic side-quest that places the player in-front of rare mini bosses, to be killed for fun and profit. There are dozens of them, each with its own mini-story to go with it. It's very easy to forget the story simply to defeat and complete any active hunt, something that can add a massive amount of time to an already bulging and epic yarn, without even realising it's happening. Along with the hunts are "Rare Game" to seek out; these are randomly appearing enemies that are stronger and harder than the usual fare, and form a whole mission of their own. Many of other the side-quests often require some obscure conditions and might be missed without an FAQ, but there are quite a number of them to distract the player from the main quest, should they be so inclined. The rewards often lead to very powerful equipment, so for the completist, are worth seeking out.

Without doubt, Final Fantasy XII is a game that is graphically and sonically excellent, with a story set in massive vibrant world, that's just waiting to be explored. Whilst the combat system might not suit everyone, it by no means detracts greatly from the overall experience. The strong narrative and cast mix well to the addictive levelling of strengths and powers, leaving the player more than satiated. The only problem being that the PS2 is awash with so many great RPGs, where are you going to find the time to fit this one in?