Stop: Nostalgia Time. Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy series is pretty divisive. Entire message boards have gone to war over which game is the most fun to play, or has the best story, or the best graphics, and on and on. Fandom clashes are to be expected over a series that’s 25 years old, but the arguments tend to run around in circles, which gets a little wearying. Thankfully, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy for the Nintendo 3DS is a balm of sorts. This light-hearted rhythm/action game hybrid is a blast to play and listen to, and it’s a good showcase for the Final Fantasy series’ greatest unifier: its unwaveringly awesome music.
Developer: indies zero
Publisher: Square-Enix
ESRB Rating: E
Genre: Rhythm/Action
Compatible With: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: indies zero
Publisher: Square-Enix
ESRB Rating: E
Genre: Rhythm/Action
Compatible With: Nintendo 3DS
The Basics: The Sound of Battle
The story for Theatrhythm Final Fantasy involves a struggle between two great entities, Chaos and Cosmos. In between the two, there exists a crystal where rhythm and music are born. When Chaos disrupts life’s balance, Cosmos sends her warriors to restore “Rhythmia” to the crystal and bring it back to life.
Theatrhythm’s story is a bit silly and nonsensical, but it’s mostly unimportant—and the game never takes itself very seriously, anyway. As long as you can accept the fact that keeping in time with Theatrhythm’s music is what advances the game, then you’re going to have fun.
Theatrhythm is, of course, a music/rhythm game, but that description encompasses a wide variety of titles. Its closest relative is probably Elite Beat Agents, a Nintendo DS Touch Generations game that playfully combines music and action triggers with a bizarre premise. Theatrhythm isn’t just about playing along to famous Final Fantasy tunes: you also need to take the appropriate action for every cue.
When a red trigger shows up, you must tap the screen. When a green trigger appears, you need to hold/slide the stylus. And when a yellow trigger appears, you need to slash the stylus in the indicated direction. There are also differently-colored “Feature” triggers that send you into the Feature Zone if you manage to follow them correctly. The role of the Feature Zone differs depending on which sequence you’re playing: Battle, Field, or Event.
When you select a Final Fantasy game to play through on Theatrhythm’s main menu, you’re required to play through three songs from that game. Your game choices range from the first Final Fantasy title on the NES, up to and including Final Fantasy XIII, and beloved SNES classics like Final Fantasy IV.
A single game includes a Battle song (which pits you against enemies on a battlefield, and features fast-moving music), a Field song (a quieter song that plays as you travel across a field and pick up treasures), and an Event song (which highlights a dramatic moment during that particular game’s storyline). Each game also gives you the opportunity to play a low-stress intro and ending sequence that doesn’t rate your performance harshly, but still offers a chance to collect extra Rhythmia.
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy sounds like it’s complicated to play through, but Square-Enix has a tendency to make its spin-off games seem a little more intense than they actually are (the PSP’s Dissidia Final Fantasy fighting series is a great example). If you’ve played the likes of Elite Beat Agents, Gitaroo Man, Parappa the Rapper, or even Rhythm Heaven, you shouldn’t have any problem getting the hang of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.
Theatrhythm’s story is a bit silly and nonsensical, but it’s mostly unimportant—and the game never takes itself very seriously, anyway. As long as you can accept the fact that keeping in time with Theatrhythm’s music is what advances the game, then you’re going to have fun.
Theatrhythm is, of course, a music/rhythm game, but that description encompasses a wide variety of titles. Its closest relative is probably Elite Beat Agents, a Nintendo DS Touch Generations game that playfully combines music and action triggers with a bizarre premise. Theatrhythm isn’t just about playing along to famous Final Fantasy tunes: you also need to take the appropriate action for every cue.
When a red trigger shows up, you must tap the screen. When a green trigger appears, you need to hold/slide the stylus. And when a yellow trigger appears, you need to slash the stylus in the indicated direction. There are also differently-colored “Feature” triggers that send you into the Feature Zone if you manage to follow them correctly. The role of the Feature Zone differs depending on which sequence you’re playing: Battle, Field, or Event.
When you select a Final Fantasy game to play through on Theatrhythm’s main menu, you’re required to play through three songs from that game. Your game choices range from the first Final Fantasy title on the NES, up to and including Final Fantasy XIII, and beloved SNES classics like Final Fantasy IV.
A single game includes a Battle song (which pits you against enemies on a battlefield, and features fast-moving music), a Field song (a quieter song that plays as you travel across a field and pick up treasures), and an Event song (which highlights a dramatic moment during that particular game’s storyline). Each game also gives you the opportunity to play a low-stress intro and ending sequence that doesn’t rate your performance harshly, but still offers a chance to collect extra Rhythmia.
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy sounds like it’s complicated to play through, but Square-Enix has a tendency to make its spin-off games seem a little more intense than they actually are (the PSP’s Dissidia Final Fantasy fighting series is a great example). If you’ve played the likes of Elite Beat Agents, Gitaroo Man, Parappa the Rapper, or even Rhythm Heaven, you shouldn’t have any problem getting the hang of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.
The Good
The game’s content unfolds at a decent pace -- When you first begin playing Theatrhythm, you have access to three songs for each Final Fantasy game that you play through. Given how many iconic songs the series gave birth to, that number may seem a little lightweight. Don’t be fooled, though: there are over 70 songs to get through. It’s just a matter of unlocking them as you play, or taking them on as part of the special “Dark Notes” challenge. The game’s extras become available to you at a steady clip, so you always have a reason to come back to Theatrhythm.
The ability to level up keeps things interesting -- The Battle Songs in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy are fast-paced and can be extremely tricky to master at higher difficulties. If you miss notes, the enemy takes a bite out of you, and if your hit points hit zero, you’re done for. However, your party levels up as you play, which improves your stats and can help you pull through a tough fight gracefully with the aid of higher hit points, better defense, stronger attacks, and magic spells. You can also find and equip single-use items to pull you through a scrape. Essentially, if you’re having trouble with a particular section of Theatrhythm, you can grind your warriors’ levels by playing easier songs until they’re strong enough for the really tough stuff.
The mesh of action and rhythm work well -- Games like Theatrhythm Final Fantasy demonstrate that rhythm/music games aren’t dead, but are simply at their best when the music is a driving force for something greater—say, a battle to take down a snarling Behemoth.
You can download new content -- Nintendo has been slow to embrace downloadable content (DLC) on its systems, but hey, here we are. If you have a little spare change lying around, Theatrhythm lets you download and play through songs from its online store.
The Chaos Shrine will make you sweat -- The Chaos Shrine is where you can take on the game’s Dark Notes. The challenge level can get pretty intense, so if you ever feel like the game is coddling you, know that there’s a place where you can get thoroughly whipped. Enjoy.
The music is wonderful, of course -- The Final Fantasy series has boasted consistently epic soundtracks over the past 25 years. It’s just nice to hear old and new favorites gathered in one spot, especially if you feel like the series’ direction has become fragmented over time.
The ability to level up keeps things interesting -- The Battle Songs in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy are fast-paced and can be extremely tricky to master at higher difficulties. If you miss notes, the enemy takes a bite out of you, and if your hit points hit zero, you’re done for. However, your party levels up as you play, which improves your stats and can help you pull through a tough fight gracefully with the aid of higher hit points, better defense, stronger attacks, and magic spells. You can also find and equip single-use items to pull you through a scrape. Essentially, if you’re having trouble with a particular section of Theatrhythm, you can grind your warriors’ levels by playing easier songs until they’re strong enough for the really tough stuff.
The mesh of action and rhythm work well -- Games like Theatrhythm Final Fantasy demonstrate that rhythm/music games aren’t dead, but are simply at their best when the music is a driving force for something greater—say, a battle to take down a snarling Behemoth.
You can download new content -- Nintendo has been slow to embrace downloadable content (DLC) on its systems, but hey, here we are. If you have a little spare change lying around, Theatrhythm lets you download and play through songs from its online store.
The Chaos Shrine will make you sweat -- The Chaos Shrine is where you can take on the game’s Dark Notes. The challenge level can get pretty intense, so if you ever feel like the game is coddling you, know that there’s a place where you can get thoroughly whipped. Enjoy.
The music is wonderful, of course -- The Final Fantasy series has boasted consistently epic soundtracks over the past 25 years. It’s just nice to hear old and new favorites gathered in one spot, especially if you feel like the series’ direction has become fragmented over time.
The Bad
No preview option for DLC -- At the time of this writing, there’s no option to preview the tracks you can download from Theatrhythm’s online store. Uncool!
The graphics are a little lackluster -- The super-deformed “chibi” style that illustrates Theatrhythm is adorable, but the background images in the Field portions of the game repeat more often than an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Given the legend and legacy behind every Final Fantasy game, it would have been nice to see more effort and creativity go into Theatrhythm’s visuals.
Background videos are left untranslated -- The Event portions of the game often take place on a video backdrop, and many of these feature untranslated Japanese text. If you’re familiar with the games, then you should have no problem remembering what’s being said, but leaving the Japanese text intact indicates that Square-Enix simply didn’t want to go that far with the localization process. Frankly, it comes across as lazy.
Some unlockables are super-hard to grab -- Once it gets started, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is a pretty challenging game! There’s lots of content to unlock, but some of it requires a superhuman performance. If you’re determined to grab everything the game has to offer, be prepared to get lots of practice in.
The graphics are a little lackluster -- The super-deformed “chibi” style that illustrates Theatrhythm is adorable, but the background images in the Field portions of the game repeat more often than an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Given the legend and legacy behind every Final Fantasy game, it would have been nice to see more effort and creativity go into Theatrhythm’s visuals.
Background videos are left untranslated -- The Event portions of the game often take place on a video backdrop, and many of these feature untranslated Japanese text. If you’re familiar with the games, then you should have no problem remembering what’s being said, but leaving the Japanese text intact indicates that Square-Enix simply didn’t want to go that far with the localization process. Frankly, it comes across as lazy.
Some unlockables are super-hard to grab -- Once it gets started, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is a pretty challenging game! There’s lots of content to unlock, but some of it requires a superhuman performance. If you’re determined to grab everything the game has to offer, be prepared to get lots of practice in.
Conclusion: Sweet Music
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy doesn’t have the humor or personality of rhythm games like Elite Beat Agents or Rhythm Heaven, but it’s still a wonderful trip down memory lane for Final Fantasy enthusiasts. If you’re a fan of the RPG series’ music, grab it without delay. If you’re not big on the games, though, you probably won’t get much out of Theatrhytm’s performance.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
