The Highlight Reel: July 29, 2008

Oh wonder of wonders, what headlines our content on Crispy Gamer today? Well judging by the pretty picture to the left it is a review of something involving an oversized chicken. Today we review Final Fantasy Tales: Chocobo’s Dungeon and NCAA Football 09, with only one of these titles getting our stamp of approval.

Also on tap today is a brand new Games For Lunch featuring Don King Presents: Prizefighter (I played 20 minutes with the Xbox 360 demo and wanted to punch myself in the face - I hope Kyle can endure an entire 60 minutes), and a new edition of LiveWare (Soulcalibur, Schizoid, Ticket to Ride and more covered):

» Review - Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon (Wii): Square Enix’s cute, treasure-hunting duo make their way to the Wii in this action-RPG. Will Harold Goldberg be charmed by Cid and his giant, dungeon-crawling chicken? Or will he serve them up fried? Read on to find out.

» Review - NCAA Football 09 (Xbox 360): Will the ‘09 edition score a touchdown for EA Sports’ college pigskin franchise? Read on for William Abner’s play-by-play.

» Column - Games for Lunch: Don King Presents Prizefighter: Kyle Orland gives Don King the KO treatment for his latest column. Glove up and get in the ring for an hour of play.

» Column - Live Ware: Soulcalibur, Schizoid, Ticket to Ride and more: Does the original Soulcalibur hold its own nearly a decade later? Phil Theobald has the word on this and other recent offerings on Xbox Live Arcade.

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon Released

Final Fantasy fans can’t seem to get enough of that juicy yellow chicken called the Chocobo, or at least that is what Square Enix believes. Expanding on the franchise that made its debut on the Nintendo DS, Square Enix as released Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon on the Wii this week.

Like the DS game, mainstays Cid and Chocobo are on another treasure hunting adventure which once again has something to do with amnesiac townsfolk and finding their memories. The story begins when Cid and Chocobo are mysteriously transported to a town where, with each bell toll of the clock tower their memories are lost. Not long after their arrival, a strange boy named Raffaello arrives and creates dungeons of memories to help the townspeople remember who they are. Now it is up to Chocobo to journey through the dungeons and retrieve everyone’s memories.

The game sees our canary yellow friend exploring dungeons with the help of friends, battlling familiar monsters from the Final Fantasy universe in turn-based combat with what we hope is decent pacing. Those friends will be classic Final Fantasy jobs classes such as the knight, black mage and white mage.

Players can also collect hidden letters throughout their adventure and form special phrases to unlock secret dungeons and jobs and stop at the Mog house for some stylized Wii-centric mini-games. In addition, players can search through the game’s official site for secret phrases to exchange for in-game rewards. Finally, players can duel against friends via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection in card battles featuring popular Final Fantasy creatures.

Source: Square Enix.