Ever since playing Final Fantasy X on the Playstation 2 I have been hooked on Final Fantasy games. After playing Final Fantasy IV on the GBA, I was real excited to hear they were remaking it again for the DS. Once I finally got the game I started to play it right away, and before long I was hooked on the game. To find out why this game is so great keep reading.

Story

The story starts off with Cecil, who is Lord Captain of the Red Wings of Baron. Cecil had just came back from stealing a crystal that the King of Baron wanted him take. Cecil was starting to doubt his King's orders, because his King has never told him to kill anyone in his way just to get a crystal. After finding out that Cecil has been doubting his orders, he strips Cecil of his command of the Red Wings and sends him and Kain to deliver a ring to the town of Mist. This is when the real story begins as Cecil fights to shed off his dark armor off and begin a new life.

Gameplay

All the characters that were in Final Fantasy IV for the GBA are back of course, and no new characters. These characters are: Cecil -Dark Knight, Cecil -Paladin, Kain -Dragoon, Rosa -White Mage, Rydia -Summoner, Edward -Bard, Edge -Ninja, Yang -Monk, Palom -Black Mage, Porom -White Mage, Tellah -Black and White Mage, and Cid -Engineer. In Final Fantasy IV your characters will gain abilities as they level up,for example, Rydia learns the black magic spell sleep at level 8 and learns the black magic spell Firaga at level 40. Not all of the characters can actually learn spells, like Kain or Yang. New to Final Fantasy IV the DS version is the Augment System. Augments are abilities left behind by characters that leave the party. Augments appear in the Key Items list and they are used to teach a single character a new ability. Once an ability is learned it can't be forgotten or transferred to another character.

The Main Menu can be accessed by pressing the X button, while you are exploring towns, dungeons, or the overworld map. When you open the Main Menu, the bottom screen shows the status summary of the characters in your party, and to the right of the main menu a thought bubble appears. The thought bubble displays what the current lead character is thinking. The options on the Main Menu are: Inventory, Magic, Equipment, Abilities, Status, Party, Settings, Quicksave, and Save.

The Inventory option of course is where all your items and key items are stored. The Magic option is where all your characters magic spells are listed. The Equipment option of course is where you can equip or un-equip your characters. The Ability option lets you check your characters abilties and switch the abilities around. The Status option of course is where you can view your characters atributes. The Party option of course is where you can reposition your party. The Settings option is where you can adjust various different game options. The Quicksave option is used to temporalily save your game when you are in a dugeon and you need to quit. The Save option can only be used when you are in the overworld map.

Just like in all other RPG's your characters will gain exp everytime they kill an enemy, and once they gain enough exp they will level up. In the beginning of the game the enemies are real easy, while the bosses are a little bit harder. Once you get farther in the game the enemies of course get harder and harder, especially the bosses. Unless you change the Battle Mode to Wait time will constantly flow through the battle, which means they will attack you even you when you are in the middle of choosing a command. If you go into the Setting on the Main Menu and change the Battle Mode to Wait, time will freeze while you are choosing items, spells, or abilities.

Controls

The controls in this game are fairly easy just like Final Fantasy III. This game also uses in the stylus, and you have the choice of using the stylus or not.

Graphics

The graphics in Final Fantasy IV are a little better than the graphics in Final Fantasy III. There are actual cut scenes in this game and they are real good. The graphics in this game are real colorful and there is a lot of detail in the game. The characters in Final Fantasy IV have a bit for detail then the characters in Final Fantasy III. The enemies and the landscapes also have a bit more detail then they did in Final Fantasy III.

Sounds
Unlike in all the other handheld Final Fantasy games Final Fantasy IV actually has voice overs. The music for Final Fantasy IV is tipical Final Fantasy musics that has been used throughout all the Final Fantasy games. The sound effects in the cut scenes are real good but there aren't that much sound efffects in the battles. The music during battles and boss battles are still real good too.

Overall Final Fantasy IV is the best handheld Final Fantasy game to date. I recommend this game to any Final Fantasy fan who has a Nintendo DS.