Review: Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales

The only thing more I love more than Final Fantasy games is the cute little Moggles and Chocobos in the Final Fantasy series, so when I heard SquareEnix was releasing a game based around the Chocobos, I couldn't help but buy up the game like it was on sale for $0.99.

Chocobo Tales follows the story of a young Chocobo trying to save the world and his friends from an evil being trapped inside a book. You must travel through the world finding picture books to enter to complete mini games. Each mini game has several levels and objectives you must complete to either gain special battle cards, release your friends or change something in the real world to help you in your quest. I loved the variety in the games and how you could play them seperately from the main storyline game.

The game also contains micro games that have silver and gold objectives that once complete will provide you with more battle cards. These battle cards can be used to defeat enemies you come across in the game. At first I thought the card battle system would be confusing but after I played the tutorial, I found it was very easy to understand. You can even battle enemies after you defeated them the first time to gain more cards. You can even download cards for the game from download stations at specific locations. Each card contains enemies and allies from previous Final Fantasy games and each spring out of the card to defend you against your enemies.

The main storyline was short but the mini games and micro games contain enough objectives and levels to achieve that you could spend hours just trying to finish them all. I finished the main quest in a week but I still have not rescued all the Chocobos or finished all the objectives. Plus you can go online with your friends to compete with each other in the mini games and card battles and you even send them a game they haven't found yet.

The mini games and micro games provided a great challenge for me, some so much in fact that I couldn't even pass the second level. I like a good challenge but I also want to be able to actually to finish the games too without throwing my DS across the room a couple of times.

The entire game is played with the stylus and the microphone, so I found the game was easy to play unlike Harvest Moon DS where you have to keep switching back and forth between the stylus and buttons.

The storybook graphics were created as if the characters had been cut out of the pages to come to life. The main story graphics were cute and simple much like Final Fantasy III on the Nintendo DS. The music was actually taken from different games in the Final Fantasy series, so there were many old favorites to listen to while playing.

I would definitely recommend buying this game. It has replay value with the online features and multiple mini games and micro game objectives. I personally couldn't put the game down and that's probably why I finished the main storyline so quickly. The mini games were fun but expect to find a game or two a little difficult to pass.

Rating: 8 out of 10.