Final Fantasy IV
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Final Fantasy IV
Almost two decades ago there was one game I annoyed my parents to buy me for my Super NES and that was Final Fantasy IV. Everything I had heard about the game pointed to a fun, epic adventure and finally they relented and bought it for me for Christmas. On Christmas morning I unwrapped the box, ran into my room, dropped the box on my floor and turned on the game I had already taken out of the box and re-wrapped a couple of weeks before and continued playing one of my favorite games.
Even all these years later I still recall that great story of betrayal, love, grief and destruction as Cecil is betrayed by his king and sent to kill a mighty beast in the Valley of Mist but ends up causing death and destruction. Forcing him to turn from everything he knows and loves.
One of the best stories of all the Final Fantasy titles, second to Final Fantasy VI in my opinion and Square Enix has brought this epic tale to the DS in great form with full CGI cut scenes, new 3D Graphics, voice over’s, enhanced musical score and more. This is the best version of Final Fantasy IV we have seen since the original.
Gameplay
Being a Japanese Role Playing Game the basic gameplay is fairly straight forward and easy to describe, with you controlling your party’s actions in combat, when to attack or defend and when to use an item or special ability. You are attack at random and can not see who is going to attack you and most of the time you can not tell if you are going to be attacked and the general rule of thumb is to save often because even an easy fight can turn bad and you can end up dying fast.
Final Fantasy IV DS does change things around slightly by offering the standard wait battle system (turn based basically) or the ground breaking Active Time Battle system that keeps the action moving fairly quickly and deadly if you are not on your toes.
Every character you have access to in the game brings with them a special set of abilities that at sometime are going to be useful to you, from healing, magic, ability buffing, stealing items and more, discovering when is the best time to use each players ability is important because some do have consequences, such as your main character can use Darkness a great ability that does double damage attacks but it also hits you for some hit points and at the wrong time you can end up dying.
On the multiplayer side of things the game is actually fun, I expected it not to be, but was surprised that it was a good way to pass the time with a nephew who was bored. If you both have trained an Eidolon, a creature you train during the single player game via mini-games and you can then battle another via a wireless connection. The battles are usually very quick and can allow for some strategy with the use of items. One nice feature to this is also you can fully customize your Eidolon’s looks by painting with the stylus, adding features, colors and more.
Graphics
The graphics of this version of Final Fantasy IV are certainly better then we could have hoped for, from the introduction CGI movie which looks incredible on the DS screens, to the in-engine cut-scenes and just the overall game graphics everything has this nice polished and well put together look, except for the very rare time where the actual graphics just do not seem to look good, but they are rare.
During the game if you are observant you will notice small effects from puddles of water in dungeons to the way the map system opens up through travel and even the main games menu system graphical background, these small additions to the game add much to your experience.
The characters, especially the main characters all look impressive in their 3D glory and when you move from the rendered CGI movies, to the cut-scenes to even the small battle scenes you still can tell each character apart easily, something that earlier and similar RPG titles on the DS had issues with.
The bottom screen on your DS is used for your map and battle information most of the time and is clear enough that even with a full group, with various battle effects on your party you can see what is happening to who and know how to easily fix or change things around.
Audio
Final Fantasy IV DS has some impressive audio through out the entire game, from the over all theme music, game music, sound effects and voice over work for a Nintendo DS title the audio is higher then I expected and was used to for the average or above average DS game. Square Enix went above and beyond with this title proving the Nintendo DS is a very capable handheld console audio wise in the right hands. Nobuo Uematsu’s classic sound comes through beautifully in the game adding emotion to an already stirring epic title.
Value
Overall value is fairly high because of the fun nature of the title, length of the actual game and if you want to do the small but actually fun at times wireless battles.
Bottom Line
A worthy title to own for RPG fans who like a challenge and if you played the original it is still worth owning as you will love to play it and see the cosmetic changes made to the game.
Pros
* New graphics, sound, voice over work and cut scenes are great
* Fantastic and Epic Story
* Same great Final Fantasy IV we remember, but it is nice to return to it on the DS
* Mutliplayer battles are fun
* Makes me want the best FF game (FF VI) on DS now, hopefully Square/Enix will do the same treatment to FF V and VI soon.
Cons
* Still a very hard game at times
* Needed to use more of the DS’s strengths
Final Verdict
Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.
PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)
GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.
AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?
GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.
REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.
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