'Blue Dragon' diversifies XBox 360 game library

Media Credit: Courtesy of MICROSOFT GAME STUDIOS SHADOW GAMES - Players gain strength and skills from their shadows in this classic role-playing game that follows characters as a monster attacks their village every 10 years. Vivid graphics, such as armor-wearing centaurs and multiheaded snakes, make the simple story line more exciting. Despite the modern graphics and vibrant color, the game's difficulty levels lack consistency, making it hard to know what challenges your character will face.

The original Xbox had a game library consisting largely of first-person shooters and sports games, with only a few memorable exceptions. Now, the Xbox 360 offers a variety of different genres, including the classic role-playing game, as exemplified by "Blue Dragon." In an era where RPGs are declining, "Blue Dragon" is an exciting trip back in time to the roots of this genre.

In "Blue Dragon," a strange creature attacks villages every 10 years, laying waste to them. A team of young adventurers discovers that this beast is actually a machine controlled by a sadistic man who delights. The adventurers traverse the continent to stop the man from causing further destruction.

"Blue Dragon" uses a turn-based combat system, something rarely seen in RPGs anymore. Characters and enemies take turns attacking each other, but the turn order is not fixed. Different abilities take different amounts of time to charge up, and a character's agility statistic also determines who attacks in what order. The combat is fairly fast-paced for a game of this type.

The truly intuitive part of the game comes from the magical shadows, which are the basic components of the entire game. Characters' shadows take on the appearance of an animal and allow characters to become more powerful. Shadows can give your character special abilities and new skills, depending on the type of animal the shadow becomes. It works well as a device to make the game play less linear and give characters an excuse for being strong enough to take on all of the monsters in the world. It also turns out to be a lot of fun, even if the customization can get confusing and disorganized at times.

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