Chrono Cross (PlayStation) review "Depending on what choices you make, you'll meet different characters, and complete different sub-quests. With multiple endings and paths you can take, this game has tons of replay value."

Introduction:

5 years ago, an RPG was made which is considered by most RPG fans one of the best RPGs to date. It featured great graphics, an awesome storyline, and deep and innovative gameplay. 5 Years later, a sequel was made. Chrono Cross does just as good as it's prequel in every way! And even a bit better in some ways.

Pros:

+ Great graphics which have pre-rendered backgrounds, and detailed polygons. A good amount of FMV cutscenes (but not as many as Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8), excellent lighting effects, great textures, smooth animations, nice character design, stunning spells and battle effects... Chrono Cross could be THE best-looking Playstation game yet.

+ A complex storyline dealing with two seperate dimensions. Be prepared to be doing quite a bit of world-switching. I can't stress how awesome, and innovative the storyline in this game is.

+ Around 40-some playable characters, all with personalities and battle styles of their own. All the characters play a key part in the storyline. This multi-character idea was first introduced with Suikoden, but Chrono Cross took it further, and perfected it, giving all the characters a realistic feel.

+ A new battle system which is based on an innovative design where magic and items are replaced by elements. The game actually is kind of turn-based, but not exactly. The opponents attack after a certain amount of time, while your characters take turns attacking, and can attack as many times as possible, as long as they have enough stamina points, and the opponent isn't attacking. Stamina points are basically points which are replenished when your character is defending, or when the opponent is attacking. Three main attacks are possible for each character light, mid, and aggressive. Light does the least damage, but has a greater chance of hitting the opponent, while aggressive is the most powerful, but has the lowest percentage of hitting the opponent. Each attack uses a certain number of stamina points, and after each attack, the percentages of the other attacks go up temporarily. It's a fairly complex system, but once you get the hang of things, it's like no other!

+ Non-linear gameplay with several different paths you can take through the game. Depending on what choices you make, you'll meet different characters, and complete different sub-quests. With multiple endings and paths you can take, this game has tons of replay value.

+ In Chrono Cross you can see the enemies, and in most cases, you can avoid them altogether. Not to mention you can instantly escape from any battle--boss battles included!

Cons:

- It's not actually a true sequel to Chrono Trigger. There are a few similarities scattered through the game, but the main characters are different, and instead of time travel, it's dimension travel, which may disappoint fans looking for a ''true'' sequel.

Conclusion:

I'll be honest. Chrono Cross is one of my all-time favorite RPGs, on the shelf with Xenogears, FF8, and FF7. It is a worthy sequel to Chrono Trigger, even though it's not a true sequel, but then again, how many RPGs are there that do continue directly off of eachother? Not many, that's for sure. CC is a gaming wonder, and has very, very few flaws.

Staff review by James Gordon (Date unavailable) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.