Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP)
Ten years old and back for more!
1/29/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 2
What's Hot: Beautiful cel-shaded artwork; Deep and rich strategy and tactical options
What's Not: Steep learning curve with little help from the manual; Multiplayer feels unbalanced
It's a shame they didn't bother explaining much in the manual. This game throws players new to Final Fantasy -- or worse, new to RPG/tactical gaming -- to the lions. Gamers were much tougher back in 1998. At least there's a tutorial, right? Well, there is, but it's poorly made and extremely tedious. It barely gets the job done.
Tactical games can be as pretty or charming as they like, but the whole enterprise hinges on the quality of the artificial intelligence and the combat. Battling in
The War of the Lions is tactical war-gaming at its very best. Forget side-quests -- this game offers challenging brain-teasing battle after challenging brain-teasing battle. This is the type of game where party composition and how characters are moved and positioned matters above all else. Side attacks, back attacks, making sure to maximize the power of a certain spell -- all these matter a great deal, and these battles and your progress in the epic story hinge on completing them. Some encounters are made far more challenging if your characters aren't yet powerful enough, making it possible to replay a battle a million times and fail miserably, only to find it easy after one key character gains a new level or ability. All of these options make the game more replayable, and reward fun things like careful play, scrutinizing your every option, and paying attention.
If you get bored of the single-player epic, simply visit a tavern in the game to access both cooperative and competitive multiplayer. I arranged some co-op and some 1-on-1 with a friend and found both experiences work well, smoothly and without lag for the most part. The only problem is that you need a friend with characters at around the same level as your own or the co-op game is hopelessly challenging for both players, and the competitive game...isn't. Even when playing together the wealth of combat options ensures that turns will take a long time to complete.
It's always fun to see a classic game (is 10 years old classic?) rereleased and revamped for today. With tactical RPGs it's also easy to do. Hopefully we'll see a few more.
This review was based on a retail copy of the game purchased by the writer.
