Infinite Dunamis (Nintendo 3DS) Review

Infinite Dunamis practically plays itself, and that's not really a point in its favour from the get-go. Using a slightly modified version of Final Fantasy's Active Time Battle system, the combat is going to be familiar to anyone with experience playing a role-playing game. The combat itself isn't particularly challenging, so the automatic battle mode is a pretty solid option for those just looking to advance the story.

The plot follows Luke, a rather unlikeable mechanic who discovers a unique, part human, part android, named Estelle, while traveling through a cave. After fixing her up, he initially sends her on her way before eventually joining her on a quest that spans the entire globe. The plot progresses agonisingly slow at first, and doesn't really ever manage to be captivating. The characters are one-dimensional and a bit annoying, and the amount of animations that make up the very text-heavy cut-scenes drags them out far longer than necessary.

Frequent interruptions are second nature to Infinite Dunamis. The world map often stutters when moving from tile to tile, and the frequent battles and oddly long loading times don't contribute to making the gameplay an enjoyable experience. There's nothing overtly awful, but they core systems could have used a significant amount of polish. Given the relatively simple nature of this title, it really shouldn't lag as much as it does.

In combat, characters gain experience to learn new skills through equipping weapons, and they can use the skills in combat to master them, although they'll also master themselves over time. The time it generally takes is quite short, therefore, the system comes across as feeling more than slightly redundant. Similar to Alphadia, another Kemco title, characters can also make use of rings to align themselves to certain elements, enabling them to cast different spells. It's one of the more interesting features overall, but still nothing particularly amazing.