Infinity

• Genre: RPG
• Spoiler Free Review: 
• Time Played: 22 Hours
• Too Short/Long: No complaints on the run-time total, but the end does feel like it comes fast.
• Did I cry: No.
• Soundtrack: Honestly pretty good for a Game Boy Color game.
• Why I played: Due to it's unique circumstances, I felt like I needed to play it. It's not often a canceled game gets released years later.
• Jank: Any change in it's design I think could mostly be attributed to it being an older game and the limitations of Game Boy Color. It's not really that janky, but some things it may feel like it's "obviously missing" may make it feel janky. The controls could be a bit janky because of it's commitment to something of a unique UI and combat system. The attack icon that overlaid enemies could be hard to see, and aiming diagonally - which was required often, was very sensitive, so I often "moved up" instead of "attacking diagonally"
• Difficulty: It's not too difficult, but it definitely requires a certain amount of grind to finish bosses. Your movesets aren't varied enough that it can be purely won on strategy. Each character has their own moves and most can only do damage, and most moves that do the most require more SP. You don't have to grind a lot, battles are frequent enough that normal traversal can feel like the grind.
• Something I liked: The writing was surprisingly good for a Game Boy Color game. I feel it outclasses even some Game Boy Advance titles.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I'm pretty pleased with this one.
• Recommend to others: I'm not too likely just because of how niche it is, but it's definitely easier to obtain than some other recent Game Boy titles I've played. The physical is a bit much for most people to be interested, but you can also buy it digitally as a rom. Not digitally on modern platforms mind you, but as a rom to play on a PC or other device's Game Boy emulator.

Infinity is such a unique case. It's a game that was actually in development when the Game Boy Color was a modern platform. Over 25 years ago. The problem is, as far as I am aware or can presume - development went well into Game Boy Advance's release and they canceled it because of the shift toward that platform. I assume they thought that spending more money on development and production would not yield any profit a couple years into GBA's life and it was best to cut their losses. They were probably right considering how few Game Boy Color games were released after Infinity's cancelation.

Not many canceled titles end up seeing a release so many years later. Star Fox 2 immediately comes to mind as one of the very few. So I was interested to experience the rare opportunity. I know Infinity wasn't fully finished when it was canceled so some work had to be done before releasing the version I played, but what's interesting is it manages to capture both aspects of that. It's both nostalgic, and feels like it is playing on nostalgia.

It feels like a modern game someone would make to capitalize on nostalgia, despite being a game mostly developed 24-27 years ago. Maybe it has something to do with some of the choices/adjustments those who finished the game made, or maybe it was just a head of it's time. I can't say I've played too many Game Boy Color rpgs specifically, but when compared to Game Boy or Game Boy Advance, as silly as it sounds - I would say it fits right in between them. Wow. Imagine that. That is to say, I was surprised by the writing and how at times it was clever and others it was compelling.

The game tries to be a little more unique than your standard turn-based RPG and that probably helps with it not seeming too dated. Each battle is on a small field in which you can reposition yourself, and this is relevant for most the game - until you start being able to rely fully on skills as they don't have any limits to range. End-game bosses also, for the most part, don't have limits to range on any of their attacks, so positioning unfortunately becomes irrelevant in those battles. Still, that combined with it's "unique" systems made it feel at least somewhat refreshing, even if in the end it's still kind of functionally basic.

Still, they threw out a couple unique moves and mechanics and I appreciate and respect that. Overall, I really enjoyed the game and even though I already started Final Fantasy Resonance, a game that is far more impressive in almost every aspect, Infinity had enough that it made me want to go back to it and finish before continued Resonance.