{"id":5212,"date":"2010-11-01T23:47:25","date_gmt":"2010-11-02T05:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamesanityblog.com\/?p=5212"},"modified":"2010-11-01T23:47:25","modified_gmt":"2010-11-02T05:47:25","slug":"game-review-final-fantasy-the-4-heroes-of-light-ds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/01\/game-review-final-fantasy-the-4-heroes-of-light-ds\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Review: Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (DS)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Despite its conclusive-sounding name, Final Fantasy is one of the longest running role-playing game series. With more than 20 years under the belt, the Final Fantasy series has undergone a lot of changes. But what about those of us who miss the more \u2018old-school\u2019 FF titles? The 4 Heroes of Light for DS is supposed to fill that void.<\/p>\n

Everything about this game screams \u2018old-school sensibilities.\u2019 Right off the bat, the simple storyline doesn\u2019t waste any time and puts you right in control. You play as boy who is set to meet the king for his rite of passage into manhood. But when he gets to the castle, the king informs you that the princess has been kidnapped by a witch, and it\u2019s up to you to rescue her. Along the way, you\u2019ll meet three other brave heroes and together you\u2019ll end up saving the world.<\/p>\n

Gameplay is standard RPG fare. Gather clues and items in towns and explore a vast overworld map and dungeon mazes to battle monsters and gain experience points to level up. One gameplay aspect is similar to the old FF \u2018job\u2019 system. You can equip \u2018crowns,\u2019 little hats that give you special abilities like different attack skills or magic spells. The charming 3-D graphics are very cartoony with unique earth tones and a \u2018rolling log\u2019 view that reminds me of the Animal Crossing games. My favorite \u2018old-school\u2019 feature is the music, a mix of catchy 8-bit melodies mixed with more modern instruments.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, while the game carries all the good aspects of an old- school RPG, it also has the bad aspects, too. Goals can be a little unclear sometimes, and the game is very challenging. You only have a limited number of spaces to hold items like healing potions, spells, and armor, and item management in this game isn\u2019t very fun. Plus, the multiplayer mode only advances the story in one player\u2019s copy of the game. And finally, while this game has the Final Fantasy name, it doesn\u2019t feel much like an FF title at all. They could\u2019ve called it something else entirely and no one would be the wiser.<\/p>\n

Even so, if you enjoy old-school RPGs, even their more frustrating aspects, Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light can be a very rewarding adventure if you take the time to play it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kid Factor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light is rated E-10 for Everyone 10 and up with ESRB descriptors of Alcohol Reference, Mild Fantasy Violence, and Mild Language. The alcohol references and language are used sparingly in the text only. In battle, you attack monsters with swords and spells, but enemies only disappear when defeated. Reading skill is a must, as everything is text based. Kids will love the cartoony graphics, but the high challenge level may frustrate younger or less experienced gamers. If you have older kids who have mastered Pokemon, they may enjoy this more robust adventure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite its conclusive-sounding name, Final Fantasy is one of the longest running role-playing game series. With more than 20 years under the belt, the Final Fantasy series has undergone a lot of changes. But what about those of us who miss the more \u2018old-school\u2019 FF titles? The 4 Heroes of Light for DS is supposed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}