Final Fantasy Theatrhythm Gets A Pitch Perfect Encore in Curtain Call

If you’re reading this review, I assume you’re a fan of the Final Fantasy franchise, and so welcome to you, my friend. I also assume you likely already know something about the Theatrhythm universe, and are wondering if this stylus tapping and swiping rhythm game is for you. As someone who is generally not a huge fan of rhythm games but is a huge Final Fantasy fan, I can pretty sagely say after missing some sleep in order to play this game for eight hours straight last night that if you’re a true fan of the franchise, the sort of person who melts inside because the tunes of Nobuo Uematsu and his peers evoke powerful memories of those formative Final Fantasy emotions, then yes, this game is for you, and if you were a fan of the original Theatrhythm and are wondering why you should drop your hard-earned gil on this one, there might just be enough new content to keep you happy as well.

STORY

The premise of the game is simple, if unnecessary. Primeval forces Cosmos and Chaos are having a row, and attract heroes to their side in order to win a war, the FF heroes to the former and enemies to the latter. The war will be resolved with a dancing contest… is what I’d like to say. Who wouldn’t want to see Kefka and Squall in a dance off? Really though you choose your preferred control scheme, stylus or buttons and circle pad (I tried this second option and it’s much trickier so I’ll stick with stylus for the purposes of this review), to tap out the rhythmic cues set to Final Fantasy songs from all across the franchise’s history. In doing so you collect ‘rhythmia,’ an element that will give the forces of Cosmos the strength to beat Chaos at his evil schemes.

MUSIC

As a game with music at its heart, it does fantastically well at bringing together twenty-seven years of music in one package, from the chilled out 8-bit groove of Matoya’s Cave from Final Fantasy I, to the rocking orchestral score of the yet to be released Final Fantasy Type-0, and even the film Final Fantasy: Advent Children. The game has more than 200 songs from the franchise, and the Nintendo 3DS does a great job broadcasting these tunes to your ear-holes, with lossless encoding that will make you swoon with delight. Attacking the cues on screen during play makes noise, but you can choose to change the sounds, lower the volume, or turn them off altogether to fully appreciate the music. The game comes replete with a music player that you can listen to with earbuds even when the system is in sleep mode, though you have to really work your thumbs off to unlock all the tunes specifically for the music player by collecting rhythmia. It would have made a lot more sense to have tracks unlock as you play them in the Music Stages mode, but let’s not have you think I’m afraid of some hard work.

GAMEPLAY

Rhythmia is collected throughout all of the various game modes in which you assemble a party of four from more than 60 FF characters and set off on a musical adventure. You start off with a handful of characters to choose from, and unlock more as you go. The game mechanics are fairly simple: cues from the left side of the screen roll towards the right, and at the correct moment you either have to tap, swipe in a specific direction, hold or drag your stylus on the touchscreen. Hitting cues direct on results in a “critical,” slight mistiming results in a “great” or “good,” and a miss is “bad.” Missing too many cues depletes your party’s collective HP and you’ll get Game Over. Your score depends on how well you manage to keep the rhythm, keeping track of the frequency of your crits as well as your longest consecutive chain. Each song in the game can be played on basic, expert, or ultimate difficulty modes. The learning curve is not demanding and I found myself rocking expert in no time, and while I can sometimes get a perfect chain on expert (some songs are certainly trickier than others) and damn is it satisfying, it will take a real speed demon to be able to keep up with the demands of ultimate mode. The cues fit strongly to the music, and as you play you get the intrinsic feeling of helping move the music along, as if you are a part of it. Rhythm devoid as I am, I still find this game attractive as it allows you to feel strongly as if you are an important member of the FF universe.

Returning from the original Theatrhythm are the three categories under which all songs are organized that offer slightly different gameplay:

Field Music Sequence (FMS): This mode represents all of the map and dungeon songs of the game, in which your party marches across familiar backgrounds. All the cues appear in a single line, but when you get a cue to hold, you will have to move your stylus up or down to keep up with the squiggling green line. Doing well during the “feature zone” of this mode changes you into a chocobo. New airship FMS tracks have the cues start tiny and enlarge as they move toward the right.

Battle Music Sequence (BMS): This mode represents all of the battle music from the games. Your four member party is lined up from top to bottom a la Final Fantasy I – VI, and the cues appear in four lines, one for each character. Enemies from all over FF appear on the left and scoring hits and chains results in damage against the enemy. Doing well in the “feature zone” of this mode summons an esper causing major damage.

Event Music Sequence (EMS): Draped over SquareEnix’s gorgeous FMVs, this mode has you tap or swipe the cues which appear all over the screen. Unfortunately I did not find the stylus response as sensitive in this mode, requiring you to get hits fairly head on or you’ll get what I consider to be an unwarranted miss.

In the Music Stages mode you can play each track from the game individually to practice or work on beating your high score, and the game includes a handy bookmarking feature so you can make a list of all your favourite tracks. Characters level up as they progress through each song, learning new abilities that assist you as you play, and doing well during any track can result in you earning items and CollectaCards that you can use to buff your characters. You might think “I don’t need a skill which allows me to recover health if I miss, because I’m a pro!” Well, you’d be wrong there sir. These buffs and skills come in particularly handy helping you survive the game’s two new modes, ‘Versus Mode’ and ‘Quest Medley,’ in which Curtain’s Call versatility and replayability are really made apparent.

In Versus Mode you can challenge AI, friends, or players from all around the world to a head on battle using your party and items in which you both play a BMS simultaneously, and by scoring hits and destroying enemies you build up your EX Gauge to send one of nine random status ailments towards your opponent. This might sound easy, but the challenge is definitely real, as ailments sent to you cause effects such as negating any hit except a critical, or making your cues invisible until the last second. For those who fancy themselves rhythm experts, this mode will definitely keep you on your toes as you always have to keep up with varying conditions. The game plays smoothly, and offers an intelligent ranking system so you can proudly display your glorifying wins to the world. Playing this mode also exchanges profiles with the people you fight (also possible through StreetPass), which allows you to share maps for Quest Medley with each other.

In Quest Medley mode, you pick either a short, medium, or long course, and are placed on a map with different pathways containing both FMS and BMS challenges, keys and locked doors, save points, and bosses that drop crystal shards you need to unlock new characters. You can see where the rewards are on the map, but not how tough each FMS or BMS is going to be or which music track they are. Maps are graded with a level and the potential rewards, and harder maps will offer better drops but the chance of falling into an “ultimate” difficulty battle that, if you’re me, you can not win. Shortcuts abound however, and you can even use your 3DS play coins to buy airship tickets to bypass certain challenges. The number of maps is staggering, and the random nature of the music tracks means you are always surprised as you play. Earning new maps from other players is a smart incentive to encourage players to get out of their single player shells and challenge others via online play.

Overall, the game has more content than you can shake a stick at. I keep finding myself challenging people online, and inevitably losing, but ultimately earning new Quest Medley maps to play (suckers). In Music Stages Mode I keep going back and replaying my favourite tracks, attempting to beat my high score but really just happy to be tapping along for the ride. The game also has a museum mode lets you watch the game’s FMVs, view your CollectaCards with character history, view your achievements, and of course listen to your music. You unlock more and more content as you collect rhythmia including some special bonus tracks, so even as far as single player goes you’ll be hooked on this one for a while.

VERDICT

Final Fantasy Theatrhythm: Curtain Call is a love letter to the Final Fantasy series that I will affix my lipstick print to. The staggering amount of music and gameplay in this game means that you’ll never truly be done with it. If you’re stuck at the airport you can always whip out your 3DS for a Quest or two, and if you’re lucky maybe you’ll find someone there to challenge to a versus duel. While I don’t mind unlocking content, I do wish that the music player tracks would be available to you right off the bat, rather than have to play for a good solid chunk of hours to unlock the music from each game. EMS tracks could have been implemented a little bit better, and unfortunately the game lacks an EMS for Final Fantasy Games prior to Final Fantasy X-2 (but the Advent Children one sends chills down my spine). Minor quibbles aside, if you’re a fan of the franchise and the music causes you to glaze over from joy, sadness, or shell shock, this game was made for you.

Tune in to Gamer Headlines tomorrow where I will list my top ten tracks from the game.