The moon is a fascinating thing. It controls the tides, occasionally blocks out the sun, and once a month causes some people to sprout lots of body hair and run around the nearest moor on all fours, savaging anybody out on a midnight ramble. Infinite Undiscovery's moon is an even more potent celestial body, being an abundant source of energy which has been harnessed and tapped by the Order of the Chains.

It might sound like an underground London bondage club, but the Order of the Chains is actually a nefarious set of meddlers who have literally chained the moon to the planet. Your mission is to escape from them - you begin in a prison - then discover exactly what they're up to, and thwart it. The plot unfurls in a third-person anime style world, complete with the obligatory mini-skirted maidens and gigantic swords.

While Infinite Undiscovery is an RPG, complete with the usual character stats and loot, it's very action oriented. Levelling is pretty much handled automatically, although you take control of some elements, such as which special skills your character uses (you also select these for the computer-controlled members of your party).

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The focus is on the combat, which plays out in real-time like a simple beat-'em-up. The controls consist of a quick attack, power attack, a parry and the aforementioned special moves, with the emphasis on chaining attacks together to produce damage boosting combos. Expect to juggle monsters in the air with multiple blows just like in your favourite sword and dagger fighting game.

With the intelligent CPU-controlled party members joining in, combat becomes a veritable whirl of sparkling sword trails and spell effects, alongside monsters spewing poisonous gas and what-not. At times the larger melées can get quite confusing, and we noticed a definite tendency for matters to devolve into desperate button mashing (particularly when low health meters start inducing panic).

Don't get us wrong, there is still a level of tactical depth here. Knowing the right combos to aim for and timing special moves correctly makes a big difference. Stealth can also be used to great effect, and those who can stick to the shadows and inch along quietly are rewarded with the opportunity to inflict surprise attacks on unsuspecting opponents.

The interface boasts some other neat touches, such as a heal button that quickly calls for your party's priest to lay down some hit-point boosting magic. And party tactics can be quickly changed with a swift press of the D-pad, instructing the computer-controlled characters to concentrate on your target, conserve mana and so on. However, there's also a rather ropey side to the controls. For example, trying to drink a health potion in battle involves clumsily opening menus, and likely death. Whatever happened to hot keys?

Infinite Undiscovery's central story is interesting but it's linear, and the level design very much channels you around from one point to the next. Couple this with the fact that the combat sometimes boils down to luck as much as judgement, and the game feels a little underwhelming despite some of its clever ideas.

Infinite Undiscovery spins a fairly novel tale and it's a decent action RPG, although the fighting tends to devolve into manic button mashing at times.