Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles was one of the few GameCube games that showcased the infamous GBA/GCN Connectivity, and for some, it was one of the best ways the feature was used. For others, however, it simply wasn’t as good -- but it didn’t matter -- because it was the first time the franchise had appeared on a Nintendo console for over eight years. Either way, the game was solid enough to guarantee a sequel -- two actually -- and one is heading our way in the form of dual-screened worlds with Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles – Ring of Fates.

From the get go, you’ll notice a significant improvement in story-telling, something that wasn’t a focus on the GameCube original. It begins with a cut-scene that shows the two main characters (Yulie and Cherinka, as named in Japan), who are twins and want to know the “way of the sword” but can’t, because they are too young to do it. A couple of scenes show some monsters -- setting the tone for the trouble that will eventually arise in the Final Fantasy land.

The Final Fantasy world doesn’t look too shabby either. Square Enix has proven with Final Fantasy III that they can really milk the Nintendo DS hardware to the fullest and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles -- Ring of Fates (ugh, such a long name) proves that they’ve still got it. The graphics are surprisingly colorful and full of details, and the presentation screams high production. The cinematics are also very close to what was presented in the console versions, and the characters are both very detailed, and very well animated.

The gameplay looks to be very basic Crystal Chronicles action, but we can already see that there’s much more meat in this version than what the GameCube iteration had. The level design has also improved greatly over Crystal Chronicles for GameCube, which -- as beautiful as it was -- featured worlds that were a bit on the shallow side. The new levels feature enough monster crawling action, and of course, lots of puzzle and switch ingredients. The controls are also easy, you attack with the A button, and you carry items with the B button. You can also jump now, which is something that was not present in the prequel. The touch controls are also featured for easy item selection and menu navigation. It is also used in conjunction with the attacks, like sliding an item on top of your character (automatically healing it, if that were the case), or slide against your enemy and attack it.


The graphics are very detailed.

Multiplayer is sure to be the focus again, but this time, without the hassle of finding four Game Boy Advance systems and four cables (four friends too, but we don't want anyone feeling bad). Thanks to Wireless (and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection), multiplayer should be dynamic and more fun (they ditched that darned Crystal Chalice too, woo!), and while this mode is still pretty much under wraps, we can only imagine how deep and satisfying it is going to be with the new additions.

Basically, Square Enix isn’t doing anything that wasn’t done in the GameCube version of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. What they are doing, however, is taking everything they learned from that experience, trying to make it fit inside a smaller system, and upping the ante in every possible way. And guess what? It just makes the wait even more painful.