Fresh FFXIII-2 screens

Showing off towns, exploration, and Chocobo racing.

Square Enix has unleashed another batch of Final Fantasy XIII-2 screenshots upon us, and once again, the game is looking impressive. 

This latest batch shows off some of the new features in XIII-2, as well as a couple of returning friends. Being the kind folks that they are, Square Enix has also prepared a complete talkthrough of each of the screenshots to tell us a bit more about what's going on.

• The first 3 screens highlight FFXIII alumni Hope, who 10 years on from XIII is now the Director of a research academy that is trying to make the world more reliant on human technology, rather than on the technology of the fal'Cie. The Institute also discovered the spacetime anomalies that are at the heart of FFXIII-2's story.
   
• The next two show Serah and new boy Noel talking about the future - which could see Cocoon destroyed - and surrounded by a pack of l'Cie, teasing us with the question - are the fal'Cie awake again?
   
• Next up, four screens of Academia, a high-tech city built beneath Cocoon and full of neon lights, with more than a hint of FFVII's Midgar about it.
   
• That's followed by eight pics of Serendipity, a Casino packed with all kinds of mini games, including slot machines and - yes - Chocobo races! Though you'll need to find some Chocobo allies before you can race them here, and when they're racing they won't be able to join you on your travels.
   
• Next up are three pics of temporal rift puzzles, mind-taxing turn-based puzzles where you have to collect the crystals and make it to the end of the board.
   
• Finally, we have a couple of pictures to show off the Monster Battle system, which lets you recruit monster allies to join you in combat. Here we see a Chocobo and a Tonberry in action.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is due for release early next year on PS3 and Xbox 360. We spent some time with the game last month and were pleasantly surprised.

Written by :

James Hall