Chrono Cross, the long-awaited sequel to Chrono Trigger stars Serge, a young man who finds himself in a parallel dimension in which he died ten years ago. When he's attacked, a young adventurer by the name of Kid comes to his aid. From that point on, he's slowly drawn into a deep plot by the enigmatic demi-human Lynx.

Once again, Square has managed to produce a beautiful looking game. The graphics and character design are top-notch. The environments are lush and colorful and the character and enemy models are well-detailed. Unlike their efforts with Final Fantasy, though, Chrono Cross isn't slopping over with FMV segments. The gameplay and battle system is a great change of pace from the one turn-one attack method of the turn-based RPG battles. This system allows more plotting and planning of your attacks in even the smallest of fights. The Elements system is reminiscent of the Materia System from FFVII, but much deeper and involved.

Gameplay is the real joy of Chrono Cross. There are no random battles - you get to pick your fights! Also, if you're outmatched in a fight, you can escape and try again. With over fourty characters and multiple endings, Chrono Cross allows the player to move along when and when they like. A good portion of the game in non-linear. Players can go somewhere to further the story along and then spend the next hour or two just going to places that aren't involved with the story at that time. Most places in the game are visitable from early on.

Where the game seems to come up short is the story and character-development. The story is so slow-rolling that player may wonder where it's going. Most characters you can recruit join on a whim with no real background and with very little to have to do with the actual plot. And with the grand volume of characters, very few of them get any real depth and treatment. Most characters can really only be defined by their Elemental color and ability to attack.

Even with the struggling story and weak characters, Chrono Cross is a fun game that's a great change of pace from Square's regular cavalcade of games. It's nice to see a fun game that isn't broken up with FMV or random battles. Chrono Cross is great for just allowing the player go along at their own pace.

- - Kinderfeld