The App Store isn't exactly wanting for Final Fantasy experiences, with four distinct games released to date, though everything we've seen thus far – Final Fantasy I, II, and III, and Final Fantasy Tactics – has been a revised port of some previous console release from several years back. Recently announced for a planned release this summer, Final Fantasy Dimensions bucks that trend, serving up a retro-stylized title that hasn't previously been seen in the States, giving die-hards a new entry in the long-running series to savor on the run.
That's not to say that Final Fantasy Dimensions is a wholly original iOS game. It actually started life on other Japanese mobile devices as Final Fantasy Legends in 2010 via an episodic release structure, which may still linger in this iteration; the official blurb on the game promises "additional scenarios" for the game, leaving the approach a bit cloudy at present. Square Enix hasn't said much about the post-translation storyline, but notes that it's "a classic story of light, dark, and crystals"--all standard fare for the franchise.
Both aesthetically and mechanically, Dimensions owes the most to the 16-bit era of the series' Super Nintendo entries, with traditional sprite-based characters and worlds, as well as the kind of turn-based battle systems that came to define such retro releases. Naturally, the game runs at a much higher resolution than any decades-old title, with the brightly colored characters, monsters, and summoned creatures looking crisp and clean on the iPad we tried the game on at the E3 expo this week. And the music has that same kind of iconic feel to it, with the battle music in particular striking familiar chords from past titles.
Expectedly, the menus are all touch-driven, letting you tap a battle option--like attacking or using an item – to execute it, or scroll through lists by swiping upwards. One element that didn't feel touch-ready, however, was the massive directional pad, which can either be fixed in one spot or simply appear under your thumb. Seemingly due to the size of the navigational option, moving in any direction required a pretty significant thumb movement resulting in a lot of awkward and unrefined movements around the map. Perhaps it'd work better on the smaller screen of an iPhone, but I can't imagine playing a lengthy RPG with such cumbersome controls.
I didn't play much of Final Fantasy Dimensions, thanks in part to the frustrating inputs, but from what I saw, it's very much built in the mold of the classic entries. The question remains, however, as to whether it'll capture the magic of those enduring hits, or simply mimic them in form without that hard-to-pin-down winning essence found beneath the pixel-centric shell. With a robust job system promised with what seems like a continued episodic approach, it's likely that Dimensions will prove a meaty role-playing option for iOS players, though with luck, a better control option will make the final release to help warrant such investment.
