Sound:  
Another change is the absence of Nobuo Uematsu, the long-time music composer of Final Fantasy. The man has written some of the most memorable music in videogame history and it's no surprise that live concerts of his music are played in Japan. That being said, his music has felt a bit repetitious lately and I'm glad someone else got a shot at the music.

The music in FFCC is all Celtic-style. It too gets a little repetitious in and of itself, but it doesn't sound like it's being reused from other Final Fantasy games (except for the Moogle theme, which is just there for the fans). The Celtic sounds fit the fantasy setting beautifully- well done, new guy!

Okay, so the Celtic music is good, but what's with that Celtic lady? At the start of every dungeon you get some lady with a half-Irish accent telling you about some fable about the dungeon. The fable has nothing to do with any of the dungeon's gameplay mechanics and usually makes you roll your eyes. You'll want to hear each dungeon's intro once but then skip it the next time you go there.

Multiplayer:  
This game has no multiplayer mode. Oh wait, yes it does. I'm so used to games that ignore multiplayer that it's strange to find a game with that as its emphasis.

So far I've played this game with one player, two players, and four players, and having multiple people is definitely the way it was intended. It may be a hard set-up (see: Control) but it's worth it to play the coolest multiplayer game available for GameCube. Not only do your characters have to work together to defeat enemies, you and your friends will have to work together to play the game. Each person gets his/her own information that can help the group or his/her own selfish needs. It creates a competitive/cooperative play experience where you want to beat your friends at the game while still relying on their help. It's sort of like Survivor. In fact, the game forces you to starve and sweat and will award one million dollars at the end* *Not true.

Control:
To promote connectivity, Square-Enix made the multiplayer mode of this game require the use of GameBoy Advances. This way you can go into your personal inventory screen without disturbing the on-screen action (you are vulnerable to attack while doing this, so work fast). Now, if you want to get creative and have the means to do so, you can still use a GameCube controller in multiplayer, it just requires separate GameCubes with GB Players and extra TVs to act as GameBoys. Or you could just use a GameCube controller in single-player mode, but that's not as fun.

You use the A button as a "hot" button. Its use constantly changes to suit your needs. You scroll through your available commands with L and R and set what you want to A. You can change your command options in your inventory screen. You can charge and aim an attack by holding down A, and this is the only way to cast a spell. This leaves you open to attack so you have to time when you do it or ask a buddy to defend you.

If you and your buddy cast a spell at the same time and place, they'll combine for a more powerful spell with some nice effects to boot.

Gameplay:
Finally, the gameplay is a major departure from standard Final Fantasy fare. This game is more like Gauntlet than Final Fantasy, but uses real communication to create a better experience. The fighting is all in real-time and can come down to hack 'n slash tactics.

A visit to a town is really just to trade items and craft new weapons, but the gameplay is also sprinkled with a number of sidequests and even a few minigames to play on the GameBoy.

Contrary to popular belief, the single-player game does not suck. It's not as much fun as multiplayer, but there's still a sense of exploring a whole world and that against-the-odds determination of playing a multiplayer game alone. I actually found that the difficulty in fighting alone was offset by the easiness of being able to pause the action to heal yourself and collecting all the treasures to craft the best weapons. If you want to build up your character, play by yourself.

OVERALL:
This game is the total opposite of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. FFTA had a strong story, deep stat-watching combat, and was a single player game that you play quietly. FFCC has a weak story (when compared to other Final Fantasys), real-time combat, and is a multiplayer game that you play outloud.

I hope Square-Enix releases a standard Final Fantasy for Nintendo fans soon, but right now you can pick your extreme- they're both loads of fun.

 

The Lowdown on  Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Aesthetics: Awesome Control: Average Gameplay: Above Average Multiplayer: Very Good Sound: Awesome Innovation: 6/6 Lasting Appeal: 5/6 Rating Explanation Overall: Very Good! "A Must-Buy"