Genre: RPG
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Matrix Software
Release Date: November 14, 2006

Right off the bat, let's get this out of the way: This is not Final Fantasy 3 for the Super Nintendo. That was, thanks to Square's confusing naming scheme, actually Final Fantasy 6. The original Final Fantasy 3 came out for the Famicom in Japan and never saw release in America, so for most US fans, this will be a new game. Second, and more important: Final Fantasy 3 is not a friendly game. Made back in ye olden NES days, it contains none of the features that made recently released Final Fantasy titles easy. Save points are few, inns don't revive dead characters, and monsters can and will kill you in a single turn if you go to the wrong area. If you're one of those people who doesn't enjoy mindless leveling, avoid Final Fantasy III like the plague. It is "old school" gameplay, for all the good and bad that implies.

The original Final Fantasy 3 wasn't a storyline powerhouse. Four personality-less "Onion Knights" were charged by a magic crystal to finds its compatriots and save the world. When it first came out, this wasn't a bad plot, but in the current age of gaming, it comes off as incredibly lacking. Square Enix obviously realized this when working on the remake of Final Fantasy 3, although it ends up with mixed results. Instead of the bland Onion Knights, this new storyline stars Luneth, an orphan from the town of Ur. Along with Ingus, his best friend Arc, and a blacksmith apprentice named Refia, Luneth is .. charged by a magical crystal to find its compatriots and save the world. Here is where the big problem with Final Fantasy III's plot becomes apparent. While the designers attempted to add a bit of backstory and personality to each character, it's like repainting a wrecked car. The improvements only serve to draw further attention to everything that wasn't changed, and the new personalities and backstory are incredibly bland.

As mentioned above, Final Fantasy 3 hasn't really made any major changes to the basic gameplay from the NES days. In fact, many of the changes are simple error fixes that may actually make the game more difficult. Final Fantasy 3 is from a time before the Active Time Battle system, so combat is completely turn-based. No actions are taken until all of your team selects their options, and then battle plays out based on the character's speed – in theory, at least. In actuality, there is a notable variance to the turn order, and it is almost impossible to know if your White Mage will cast cure before or after the enemy kills your ally. To make matters more frustrating, bosses get multiple attacks a turn, and losing an ally quickly descends into a game of "revive the dead hero only to have a living one go down" until you run out of healing abilities. For those who enjoy the "difficulty" of old school games, this is sure to be a godsend, but more casual players will want to break the cart in half.

Final Fantasy 3's big new feature when it was released was the Job system. Similar to that seen in later Final Fantasy titles, each of the four characters begins as a "Freelancer," a supremely weak class with minimal magical abilities. After meeting the first of the Crystals, however, the four gain the ability to transform into various Job classes. Later crystals add more job classes, including improved versions of the earlier versions. Each job has a specific function, from summoning powerful monsters to using items at twice their normal efficiency. Beyond special skills, each Job can also equip certain items and has different stats. Of course, each job also has its own unique design for each of the four characters.

In theory, this adds a nearly infinite number of available job combinations to the game, but things don't work out quite so well in function. Unlike later titles in the franchise, each Job has a designated function, and that can't be altered in any way. A Monk is only a Monk, and a White Mage is only a White Mage. Beyond that, many of the Jobs are poorly balanced, so there is very little reason to switch job classes unless you get a notably superior version. This is made significantly worse by the inexplicable way that weapon upgrades are made available. There is a notable portion of the game where some magic-using classes are much better physical fighters than the dedicated fighter classes due to the scarcity of good weaponry.

Final Fantasy 3's graphics look fantastic … in still shots. In motion, things are not quite so great. While combat animations are very smooth, it's also worth nothing that Final Fantasy 3 returns to the "swing your sword at air" style of animation. Something that hasn't been seen since the early PlayStation days, this looks extremely strange among the rest of Final Fantasy 3's graphics, making the game feel less like a remake and more like a slapdash patch to an NES title. The "damage" numbers also have a strange jerky motion to them, as if they are skipping two frames for every one they play, furthering the NES parallels.

While combat animation is smooth, the same can't be said of towns and dungeons. From a distance, most of the map graphics look fairly good, but things get significantly more unattractive when you get closer. The character models are good, but the backgrounds are blocky, pixelated and extremely low quality, especially easy to note with the high-quality character models right next to them. This would be a minor gripe at best, except that the game requires the player to zoom in the camera to find hidden "sparkles" in various towns and dungeons to activate secret paths. Since the sparkles are nearly impossible to see otherwise, it means a cautious player will zoom in on every suspicious area. I also came across a small but notable amount of slowdown in some busy sections of town.

These graphical qualms would be an insignificant problem, but that isn't the end of them. Final Fantasy III has loading times. They're not quite up to the PSP level of loading times, but they're significantly more than I've encountered on other Nintendo DS titles. It tends to take five or more seconds to move from screen to screen, which wouldn't sound like much, but considering the small size of areas in Final Fantasy III, it really begins to add up. Battles also take a significant amount of time, and what should have been a 10-second battle quickly approaches the one-minute mark when you have to sit through all the pre-and-post battle setup. When combined with the pure amount of level grinding that the game encourages, this can turn a fun experience into an incredibly tedious one.

Now I come to one of my biggest gripes: For a DS title, Final Fantasy 3 doesn't make much use of the DS' capabilities, and for a good percentage of the game, the top screen is just off. It's off in battles and in dungeons unless you're using the menu, and while you're in towns, it shows the world map. In a select few cut scenes, it uses both screens, but otherwise, it just remains … off. For all the complaints people have about using the second screen as a map, Final Fantasy 3 is one game where a map would have been a welcome addition. It's frustrating to quick-save and then forget where you were. However, anything would have been fine on the top screen, but leaving it dark really is bothersome.

The touch-screen's implementation isn't much better. Players can use the stylus instead of the face buttons to move around, but it's more awkward and uncomfortable than simply using those buttons, and most players will probably just pass on it. Final Fantasy 3 also uses the DS' Wi-Fi capability for "Mognet," a sort of e-mail chat you can send to friends who also have the game. This would be a bland yet inoffensive addition, except for one major problem: There are a number of hidden features that are inaccessible without using this. If you don't happen to have a friend with the game, all you can do is trawl Internet message boards looking for someone else with the game, or miss out on the exclusive new content.

Thankfully, Final Fantasy 3 sounds good at least. Most of the songs from the original game return, although remixed to take advantage of the DS' audio capability. Final Fantasy games never disappoint in the music department, and Final Fantasy 3 is no exception. Although many of the songs may appear to be repeats of older Final Fantasy songs, keep in mind that when Final Fantasy 3 came out, these songs were brand new.

Final Fantasy III is a title for hardcore gamers – those who've been playing Final Fantasy since the days of the NES and who are willing to overlook a gussied-up port of a NES game. As a fan of challenging games, I found Final Fantasy III to be a mixed bag. While the game is challenging, it's because it lacks many of the improvements of recent games, not because of good design. Those hardcore faithfuls looking for a nostalgia trip will be pleased, but more casual fans are strongly encouraged to look at either Final Fantasy XII or Final Fantasy V for their Final Fantasy fix.

Score: 6.5/10