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‘Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced’
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Nintendo
Rated
Grade: A
The Christmas rush has begun and there are a variety of titles among the top requested games for this holiday season. Some involve racing around with everyone’s favorite plumber, others involve military intelligence and some even involve swinging a rabbit as a weapon. If you are planning on asking Santa for a “Game Boy Advanced-SP,” you need to add “Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced” to your Christmas wish list.
Nintendo’s GBA-SP has already made a huge splash this Christmas season. The GBA-SP system alone has brought in more revenue than the biggest movie this year. As one of the most addicting games for the handheld, “Final Fantasy” is to thank in part for the system’s sales.
The setting is unlike any other “Final Fantasy” game. You start off with a character, who you can name on your own at the start of the game, in a world that appears to is similar to a small town similar to Amherst. From there, things get weird for the small group you are introduced to.
The tactical system still provides a more interesting game play than randomly having to deal with enemies. The game involves more strategy as you plot how you can attack one target without being hit by another.
Younger players may have a tough time understanding exactly what to do with the fighting system, but it gets easier to understand as you continue to play.
You also have the option of changing the jobs and abilities of the characters within your clan. This is yet another helpful part of the game as you can equip certain types of fighters with specific weapons to gain special abilities. One of the more powerful is the Monk character, which has a range of abilities to attack various foes. Other characters include a ninja, dragoon, assassin, sniper, archer, mage and soldier.
This is also a game where you will need to pay close attention before you begin the battles. You need to abide by the laws during fights. At times you may not be able to use an ice spell on a fire enemy or else you will find your character penalized or sent off to jail. During a battle a fight judge acts kind of like a soccer referee. He gives characters yellow cards for minor offenses, which are called R1s, and red cards for big offenses like an R2 or R3. Being penalized will bring down stats of your players and if you keep disobeying the law, your character will become much weaker.
Eventually you learn how to get by the laws, but it takes time to learn the process of how to stop the laws with what are called anti-law cards. To use them is a tricky process at first, but then it soon becomes second nature.
“Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced” is definitely a hard game to put down. You may find yourself distracted with battling rival clans Christmas morning and ignoring that football, because you know a football doesn’t make a very good Christmas present.
The game makes a good stocking stuffer for someone you know is getting a GBA-SP for Christmas. It is currently available in stores, but it’s been reported as one of the fastest selling games for the Christmas season.
“Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced” is currently available at game retailers for around $34.99.
Reid Davenport is a Collegian columnist.
