Balla

Last year's Final Fantasy III remake on the DS was a beautiful introduction to the game for North American players. The fourth game in the series has already been made available on the PlayStation and Game Boy Advance, but this DS version is getting the same 3D graphical overhaul its predecessor did. Stylistically it looks a lot like FFIII, and developer Matrix seems to be putting just as much care into IV as it did with its last effort (Matrix also handled FFIII DS).

The game opens with a cut scene involving two knights, Cecil and Kain, one blue and one purple, marching out of a castle past rows of guards. After some brief dialogue we get a shot of the fortress from a distance in a very hand drawn, Final Fantasy style on the bottom screen while some back story is provided on top. This all leads into the title screen. The music, by famed composer Nobuo Uematsu, is instantly recognizable and will have you humming along in no time.

Then you take control of things and are dropped into the world map. You'll begin with five characters in your party: Cecil and Kain, two female magic users, and a mechanic-type fellow with goggles and a wooden hammer. Only the party leader is displayed on screen, but you can switch leaders with the X button. The overall map is displayed on the bottom screen, but you can't see where you haven't yet explored. A town sits right next to your castle, so let's check it out, shall we?


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In classic RPG fashion, you can run around town (hold down B) and talk to NPCs, barging right into their homes with no regard for their privacy. When talking to V.I.P.s, the camera will zoom in to indicate the significance of the conversation. When in a town the action plays out on the top screen while the bottom displays a map of the area. Although we had no idea what anyone was saying to us, a girl in back of the village would do a sexy dance for us when we spoke with her. We think we understood what she was trying to say pretty well.

Out in the countryside we took on some of the local wildlife in a few random battles. We encountered goblins, flying eyeballs, giant porcupines, and lava blobs. Battle plays out like you expect it to in classic Final Fantasy, with your party on the right side of the screen and the monsters behaving well on their side. But when you cast a spell the camera will dislodge itself and zoom into the battlefield for dramatic effect. Enemies are well animated, and the battleground sometimes features moving fog. Menus and stats are displayed on the bottom screen. FFIV was the entry which introduced the active time battle system, and you can gauge each character's recharge time down there.

Eventually our travels brought us to a cave (much like the first Final Fantasy did, actually) where we found someone lying injured on the ground. A brief dialogue was exchanged, and we wish we could share with you its contents. Instead, we hope you will enjoy this little detail: the dungeon map lets you know the percentage of the cavern you have explored.

Even if you've played FFIV a million times before, if you like classic Japanese RPGs this is another remake you'll want to keep your eye on. It is quite impressive to see these old 2D games rendered in 3D, plus Takashi Tokita, who worked on the original game, is adding in new scenarios that had to be cut from the 16-bit version. Final Fantasy IV ships on December 20 in Japan.