Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS)

Revenant Wings flies high, but not quite high enough.
1/31/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 2

There's an embarrassment of riches in the game from the get-go. You can play Revenant by using the touch-screen only or by adding the familiar controls of the DS. You can call up weapons and summon more magic than I've ever seen on the DS, something like 51 spells. To say there's a lot here within the three methods of battle (melee, fighting from afar, and flying while shooting) is a sorry understatement.

The epic story begins just one year after Final Fantasy XII. Vaan is a full-fledged pirate feeling his oats as he and his crew steal a sophisticated yet old-school-looking sky ship. The locale? A floating continent called Lemures where the mysterious stone, Auralith, rules the roost. You and your crew (in the game, your unit) will defend the continent from an onslaught of pirates who are on the prowl for Lemures' great treasures. You'll manage the health, weaponry and battle abilities of these young adventurers as you're whisked though mission upon mission. As you complete the varied exploits, Vaan picks up something called the Ring of Pacts, which allows you to draft monsters into war with him.

You'll want to speed up your characters' movement, but that's one thing that can't be done. You can wish all you'd like, but these guys move slowly -- this ain't no shooter. At points during the game, there are so many characters on the screen, you'll marvel and wonder how the developers managed to fit them all there. But this presents its own difficulties, as it's a pain to draw a box to control any particular unit at any particular time.

When it all gets to be a little much, I take some time just to listen to the inspiring orchestral music in the game. Soon, I get back in the fray and move through the utterly beautiful worlds to fight the odd and the strange. Overall, the game has its own kind of wisdom, law and societies. It's the stuff of which sprawling fantasies are made. Having said that, there so much going on at a time, you wish the game were being played on a bigger screen. And because of the minor flaws -- everything from the hard-to-read typeface to the occasionally uncontrollable units -- this isn't one of the great games of 2007. Still, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings is a very good, sometimes enthralling game that will have you thinking about the fantasy within even when you're not playing -- however un-final that fantasy may again be. Alas, you won't be thinking about it for years to come.

This review was based on a retail copy provided by Square Enix.