White Knight Chronicles may have been out in since December of 2008 and is, as such, no longer a new property, but you'd think Sony, Japan Studio, and would have opted for a North American and European release that didn't fall quite so close to a certain title. That being said, not everyone is drooling over Square Enix's latest behemoth so perhaps a punt at providing a different flavour of JRPG isn't such a terrible idea. Or perhaps it is.

The game opens in the lush Kingdom of Balandor, which is on the eve of entering into a long-awaited period of peace with the neighbouring Kingdom of Faria. However, with the rulers of both warring nations assembled ahead of grandiose celebrations, fearsome warrior Dregias and his evil army of Magi storm the palace and slay both men in an effort to preserve international hostilities.

With Balandor's king dead and a royal city in turmoil, humble young wine porter Leonard (the game's central hero) inexplicably finds himself protecting a heartbroken Princess Cisna from the invading hoards. Deep beneath the palace, and cornered in a giant vault, Leonard and Cisna arrive before a mighty suit of dazzling armour - a legendary spirit-imbued weapon that can only be wielded by someone its mysterious White Knight deems worthy. You can see where this is going, yes?

In a last-gasp attempt to save Princess Cisna, Leonard slides his arm into the armour's controlling gauntlet, instantly transforming himself into the mighty White Knight and providing him with enough power to defeat the pursuing Magi soldiers. Yet, Leonard's actions are not enough to prevent Princess Cisna from being accosted as Dregias and his retreating army take to the skies in a fleet of thundering airships. Armed with the White Knight's abilities, Leonard and a ragtag team of rescuers promptly set off to find Cisna, defeat the evil warlord, and bring peace to Balandor.

From a narrative point of view, White Knight Chronicles shamelessly ticks all the boxes on the adventure genre's cliche checklist. Beyond lifting its lazy 'save the princess' plot from any Super title, the game also owes a considerable debt to Tolkien's series insofar that Dregias is clearly styled on Sauron, while the White Knight armour is one of several suits (read: rings) the evil lord is working to amass for his own nefarious gain.

Of course, any videogame worth its salt can transcend an unoriginal plotline if its core gameplay cuts the mustard and not the cheese. Sadly, when it comes to the adventure and battle mechanics so integral to the success of an title, there's an odorous whiff of hot Stilton emanating from White Knight Chronicles. Moreover, while there's no denying the game's aesthetic design strengths - it can be extremely pretty and there are genuine wow factor moments to behold - it's the real-time combat system that cracks the foundations beneath White Knight Chronicles and causes the overall adventure to collapse upon itself when it comes to both excitement and immersion.

When in battle, the player chooses to unleash various physical or magical attacks from a tiered on-screen menu, which can be equipped with any evolving skill or spell unlocked when trading Skill Points during the character level-up process. Each attack is queued behind a circular recharge meter that allows enemies to strike while helping to create a more realistic sense of trading blows and enabling accompanying A.I. party members to also get in on the action. So far everything is all fairly par for the course in RPG terms.

Yet, while the basic battle mechanic works in principle, selecting an (attack, magic, potion or item) during charge meter intervals is annoyingly clunky and the actual on-screen effects are often disappointingly limp. Also, the player has the ability to move Leonard around during combat, which would suggest using charge time to adopt tactical positioning or to simply move out of enemy range. That isn't the case. It doesn't matter how far you move from an engaged foe, Leonard will suffer damage from their attacks regardless of where he's standing. It makes you wonder why the developers bothered to create and laud White Knight's real-time battle system when it's essentially turn-based with pseudo freedom of movement thrown in for no good reason. It also causes no-end of frustration when discovering that Leonard and co. must be physically close to targets in order to land successful strikes - even when using ranged weaponry designed to allow attacks from a distance. Ugh.

Once familiar with the ungainly tiered action menu and having to constantly scramble for different battle commands, players are likely to forge a semblance of combat flow by becoming reliant on the game's biggest failing - the White Knight armour itself. Specifically, whenever Leonard trades accumulated Action Points to become the White Knight (a towering Gundam-inspired killing machine), the desire to use a traditional blend of sword and sorcery to vanquish foes is suddenly quashed. Able to remain in White Knight form for as long as danger lurks nearby (and Magic Points power the suit's attacks), Leonard quickly becomes a flailing blur of destruction against all-but the most formidable of enemies. If you're looking for battles that encourage real-time strategies and the careful consideration of party member selection, you won't find them here. It's all far, far too easy.

Beyond grinding through the single-player campaign, which can stretch to upwards of 50 hours if you can stomach the tedious rinse-and-repeat combat and head-smackingly dull storyline, White Knight Chronicles also has modest leanings. The game's is handled courtesy of special Guild (side) quests that can either be tackled offline alone or with buddies through the GeoNet interface. Although the multiplayer quests offer up a modicum of more worthwhile entertainment thanks to the unpredictability of human party members, the battle component and its faults remain unchanged, which means GeoNet's inclusion doesn't tip the scales of assessment in Level-5's favour.

It's worth noting at this point that braving Guild quests alone removes Leonard from proceedings and hands the player control of a personal character created before the single-player game began. Most players are likely to be disappointed that their crafted avatar, an otherwise silent companion that tags along within the A.I. party, is not the game's central protagonist - not least because the character customisation interface used to create them is impressively vast. Providing a multitude of physical tweaks and detailed nuances to tamper with before embarking on the main story quest, it seems an absolute waste to then shunt the avatar out of the spotlight in favour of Leonard's comparatively bland design.

This wasted opportunity to provide gamers with a personal and unique 'connection' to the story is compounded by the fact that all the difficulty missing from the main game abruptly rears up when attempting Guild quests offline. Each quest comes with a recommended skill level as a warning to budding adventurers eager to complete its tasks and secure its bounty. Players would be well advised to seek multiplayer support or steer clear altogether until they've levelled up accordingly, because lone-wolf ass whippings from seemingly insignificant monsters are not uncommon and quitting a quest renders it inaccessible forever. If only the main story campaign had carried an in-game difficulty level that straddled the White Knight-fuelled single-player quest and the avatar-led single-player Guild missions. If only.

At first glance, White Knight Chronicles appears to cut a fine figure as a worthwhile alternative to Square Enix's hulking 500lb gorilla. It isn't. Pretty visuals and in-depth character evolution fail to gloss over the disappointment caused by a hackneyed story, an annoyingly flawed real-time battle system, and a shocking lack of difficulty. If you like progression without challenge, White Knight Chronicles is just what you've been waiting for. For everyone else, there's Final Fantasy XIII.

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By Stevie Mostyn