Final Fantasy III review

For most English-speaking gamers, Final Fantasy III will be a whole new game. It was originally released on the NES in Japan and never saw an official localisation. Rather than a straight re-release, the move to the DS has seen it spruced up with 3D graphics, new music, an optional touch screen interface, and a few bonus features too.Gamestyle had hoped this makeover would rekindle the lost magic of the PSone era Final Fantasy games, but despite the lush CGI introduction video, FFIII is rooted even further in the past. Architecture rarely varies from town to town, with similar placements of key buildings (inns, shops, etc.). Dungeons are quite basic in their construction, barely surpassing half a dozen rooms, usually with a breezily introduced boss character at the end, and no save points. Your quartet of characters come together within the first hour of play and remain together throughout, and their back story doesn't go much further than to identify them as orphans and the true Warriors of Light. In battle, the 3D characters follow their 2D equivalents by stepping forward to attack, but they never visibly come into contact with the enemies, nor do the enemies move from their spot either. There is some attempt to spice up the presentation with new camera angles, but the game is mostly very faithful to its source material.The world map is cleverly constructed, offering new routes upon acquiring new modes of transport. You're free to roam wherever you can, and are often given clues in dialogue telling you where you should be heading to next and what sort of thing to expect. The game is also quite challenging, but not annoyingly so. For instance, wander off somewhere where high level enemies lurk and you'll probably be slaughtered and have to go back to the main menu; but because levelling up happens pretty quickly, it's extremely satisfying to come back and overpower tough foes. The important thing is to remember to save frequently, try to escape if you're in trouble, and bring lots of items with you into dungeons.You can build up your team of warriors any way you like, favouring magic over strength, or defence over speed, and there's equipment for all job types in the shops. When you purchase new weapons or magic spells, you'll be itching to try them out. Unlike many entries in the series, magic spells are actually quite powerful here and can easily hold their own alongside physical attacks; but to compensate, MP (magic points) are scarce and need recharging often. The balance is pretty good, and if you attack with the right elements, keep mages in the back row, assign specific roles to all four characters and keep your equipment up to date, you'll cruise through the game without a hitch.Job classes are free to assign and reassign to any character; you could have an entire team of white mages if you wanted to (although don't expect much success with such a combination). Any advancement through a job type will be saved and resumed if you go back to that job later, and the only penalty for swapping is a brief transition phase before you're back at full strength. Spells can be learned, unlearned and swapped between characters as easily as equipment is, so they're all totally customisable. Each character's 3D model visibly changes for each job, which is a nice touch. Some of the jobs are a bit gimmicky and won't be useful unless you work at them solidly, but there's a lot to try out and more become available as the story progresses.FFIII's 3D graphics may be basic and pixelated, but the art style does a good job of disguising the fact. The characters all look similarly young and wide-eyed with disproportionately large heads, but there are some unique-looking non-playable characters along the way too. A combination of polygons and 2D sprites make interiors look nice and detailed, unless you zoom the camera in too close, and the colour palette offers up a pleasing range of hues. The music consists of modernised reworkings, but does succumb to repetition if you wander around the same areas for too long.Two noteworthy features bolster FFIII's repertoire, namely a touchscreen interface and an online communications system. The former is a logical enough inclusion given the amount of menu-navigation and can be used exclusively for leading your character around too. The WiFi feature serves to enhance the game's internal mail system by allowing you to send letters to people on your friends list, whether they're simultaneously connected to the servers or not (something Animal Crossing never managed). There is no online gameplay, unfortunately, although given the level-dependant nature of play, Gamestyle wonders how a battle mode could work fairly.Final Fantasy III is old - some might say ancient or outdated - but there's no getting around it. Random battles can occur every few steps and dungeons can lead you around in confusing circles. In one case of particularly archaic design, Gamestyle wandered unwittingly into an instant death booby-trap, with no prior warning of what might happen. It's the sort of design that gamers have wanted to see the end of for years, but its presence here somehow sparks off a dormant impulse to beat it at its own game, to persevere and be better. Somehow, Final Fantasy III is still amazingly enjoyable and as addictive as any in the series, despite its age.