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Game Synopsis
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates - Nintendo DS
Multicart Multiplayer - 2-4

If you were a gamecube owner who had at some point in the previous decade or so in 2004, you couldn't have helped but notice the excellent Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles on gamecube; only to have realised how much of a disappointment the multiplayer was. Don't get me wrong, me and my friends spent many hours ploughing through dungeons; but the fact that every time we wanted to play, we all had to remember to bring our GBAs, the relevant cable, and fifty or so spare batteries.

Thankfully, Nintendo clearly didn't receive enough negative backlash to prevent them from making a sequel, something I am personally incredibly happy about. This also shows Square-Enix's total lack of faith in Sony - after all, why isn't it on PSP? Not that I'd care, the PSP would have to teleport Shigeru Miyamoto into the room before I could even begin to start paying an interest in it - but then again if my PSP just teleported Shigsy into the room I'd probably be more interested in talking to Shigsy before sending the PSP to the Ghostbusters or MI5 or something.

Ring of Fates doesn't deviate from the standard hack-and-slash adventure too far, and feels a lot different to Crystal Chronicles on the gamecube. Clearly they realised that people generally don't like having to lug around a 120-lb chalice around the levels with them just so that they don't die of Miasma poisoning, and have such scrapped the whole concept altogether - which makes Multiplayer a much more enjoyable experience.

The Single campaign is as 'meh' as I've come to expect from a game that's multiplayer focused - see also the the Unreal Tournament series, the mario kart series and that incredibly average yet inexplicably popular joke calling itself the Halo series.

You play as a clavat with his totally nondescript sister who does so little she actually disappears from the face of the Earth during all of the actual combat; you get a sense of how little the writers liked the character by the fact that she is actually rendered mute for about a third or so of the game - but that doesn't stop her from communicating through telepathy... somehow. Anyway, so you have these two rosy-cheeked youths who go gladly about their day until oh noes! An incredibly camp villain has killed their father! Sorry to break a spoiler to you but you would've figured out within minutes that the dad would die - I've come to call them 'Final Fantasy Families' where one or both of the parents are either killed, missing, turned into an animal, or otherwise in any situation other than healthy.

After teaming up with a rather camp Yuke and a Lilty who inexplicably really annoys me, they go on their quest to go out and get revenge an- Oh, who really cares? If you're playing an action game, even a Final Fantasy one, for the story, then you're probably one of those people who has memorized the entire lord of the rings books and complains that they didn't get the dialogue spot-on in the movie.

Enough about boring story, let's talk about Gameplay. It's actually very solid. Each character has a definitely different feel to them - the Clavats can get combos with their sword, the Selkies get a gameplay-unbalancing double jump and use bows, the Lilties have a hammer and can make magicite, and the Yukes have a projectile attack using the magic stat.

Now, if you played Crystal Chronicles, something about that last paragraph should've rung alarm bells in your head; namely Lilties have a hammer and can make magicite. That's right. For some reason, Square-enix decided they didn't like the idea of midgets going around cutting up the enemy with spears and have as such been reduced to lowly support characters who's sole purpose in the party is to make magicite and roll around in a pot every now and then to solve the obligatory puzzle designed for a ten-year old; despite the fact that most final fantasy fans are typically around 16-18.

Well, something else should be ringing in your head now, too. Making Magicite? That's right. It seems that Square-Enix decided that if you had an infinite use of each magicite you picked up - such as in, say, the last game, that the game would be too easy; so they decided to make magicite disappear after use. This doesn't do anything to make the game any more challenging or difficult, but it sure as hell makes it a lot longer if you have no Lilties in the party.

So, I was playing a Yuke and my friend a Clavat, and we're stuck in this room that needs us to cast a spell on the switch. Unfortunately, neither of us had any Blizzard magicite at the time, so we were forced to backtrack through the level and grind ourselves stupid until finally an enemy coughed up a blizzard magicite (which is the size of the actual monster) and we could progress.

Another irritation is the inclusion of enemies that are invisible; except they're about as invisible as a twelve-foot neon green monster hiding behind a two-inch sign saying 'you can't see me' in an attempt at some reverse psychology. The monsters are black with a glowing red spot, and unless you cast one of the three healing spells on it (Cure, Clear or Raise), it will take less damage from your attacks. Owing to the fact that the AI in the single player mode has the mental capacity of a stuffed owl, you end up using the cure spells quite a lot; so that your allies provide a useful distraction if nothing else; and you don't want to be wasting your healing spells on enemies so you can actually deal damage.

So is this a bad game? No, of course it's not - and give yourself a Falcon Punch if you were getting that impression. Right in the face. The game is, as is expected by now of Square-Enix, very good. The controls are fluid, gameplay is adequate (if a little on the repetitive, grind-until-you-die-then-grind-some-more we've come to expect from square-enix) and the graphics and sounds are excellent. Character's equipment changes in appearance when they change it - something that not even some later Final Fantasy games did - Yes, I mean you, FFXII. Go sit in the corner like a bad game.

One thing I like is the inclusion of (annoyingly sparse) cut scenes that include full voice acting. The graphical style remains in most of these scenes, but the characters actually say their lines, adding just another little touch that makes this a good game.

Overall, I would heartily recommend this game, but try to get yourself a couple of friends who can play it with you first. The thick AI will anger you to frustration - especially as you need all four of them alive for the final boss fight. But even if you don't have any friends who are interested, check it out anyway. It might be the hand held hack-and-slash you've been looking for.

Chachamaru V2 gives this game: