Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
The Final Fantasy series has seen a few diversions and spin-offs in its time, and Crystal Chronicles has been quite a polarizing one. When the series made its debut on the GameCube, many complained that it was too difficult to enjoy the full experience that the game had to offer due to the burden of the need for tons of hardware to make it happen. Well, with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, Square-Enix has drastically simplified the process for getting the maximum players involved in the game, and finally the series will get a fair shot. The game takes place thousands of years before the GameCube version and delves deeper into the series' rich history while providing a similar, yet customized for the DS, gameplay.

What's HotPresentation is always a strong point in the Final Fantasy series, and Ring of Fates is no exception. The game is stylish, beautiful, and full of cutesy charm. Textures are sharp, character models are highly detailed, and the game's environments are both lively and varied. One thing is for sure, Ring of Fates is a gorgeous game.

Luckily, it's not only the graphics that impress in Ring of Fates. The gameplay has been refined from the original, partly in fact to accommodate for the DS hardware and partly to clean up nagging issues that plagued the formula. Instead of the slow, plodding pace that was present in the first game, Ring of Fates offers action at a more brisk pace. Ring of Fates is a great dungeon crawler, and it stands alone at the top of the genre on the DS.

The single-player mode is more than worthwhile. With the console experience, Crystal Chronicles didn't offer much for the lone wolf, but on the DS, the experience is a deep, satisfying, and lengthy adventure. To be honest, the single-player mode is more fulfilling than the multiplayer.

Even if the focus of the game is on the single-player affair, the multiplayer mode is a lot of fun. Now that it's easier to gather buddies for a nice crawl session, getting the most of this mode is pretty simple. Just gather three friends with their DS handhelds, and get cracking.

The game is pretty deep, so hardcore gamers should be able to dig deep into the game's magic and combat system. There is a lot of tutorial to push through, but it's truly helpful for getting the basics out of the way so you can experiment effectively with the spell creation system. Learning the intricacies of the game is definitely rewarding and makes Ring of Fates a smarter and more captivating title.

What's Not
While it is nice to see such a great single-player experience in Ring of Fates, it's a bit of a bummer that you can't push through the story mode with friends. Multiplayer is relegated to just selecting maps to play through from the single-player campaign, but without the storyline adding any cohesion to the experience. The action is fun, but unlike with the single-player campaign, players will have to deal with occasional framerate hiccups during frenzied moments.

Ring of Fates is complicated. As always, this is a true double-edged sword. The hardcore crowd love the depth, but newcomers to the genre may get chased off or find themselves limited in their accessibility. Also, if you choose to mix experienced players with the inexperienced, there's guaranteed to be loads of hand-holding for the first few hours of play. Luckily, this is one barrier that is only a matter of time to get past, and it's not inescapable flaw.

The biggest issue we found with Ring of Fates involves the sketchy and somewhat incapable AI. You'll often times find yourself rushing into danger alone, simply because your teammates can't keep up or they took a longer, and more illogical path than you did. To put a bandage on the flaw, you can call your teammates to you immediately with a button, but it appears cheesy after a while when you realize you're doing nothing more than making up for the developer's failing. In addition to poor path finding, the AI often makes poor decisions with magic usage or attack patterns, so again, you'll find yourself adjusting your play to accommodate their failings.

Final Word
Despite the dodgy AI, Ring of Fates is easily a big step up from its predecessor. The action is more satisfying, the multiplayer is easier to get into, and the story mode is a huge leap forward. The game has a very strong presentation to go along with a rich overall gameplay experience. Those who enjoyed the GameCube version will undoubtedly find a lot to like in Ring of Fates; and skeptics may be swayed to a more favorable opinion.