I recently got my hands on Theatrhythm Final Fantasy for the Nintendo 3DS. Here are my thoughts on the game so far:

I've had my eye on this game for a while, mainly because of the chibi art style of all these Final Fantasy characters. While it may turn some people off, these cutesy characters fit well with this style of game where you use your stylus to tap, swipe and slide your way to the music.

There are three main modes of play offered: Series, Challenge and Chaos Shrine. Series will take you on a musical journey through all 13 main Final Fantasy games where you'll play through five songs from each one. The beginning and ending themes are kind of boring since all they are is tapping bubbles once they hit the center of the top screen. The field, battle and event music stages are the most fun and offer different variations of gameplay.

Challenge and Chaos Shrine are where the real meat of the game is. In Challenge mode, you can play each song individually on either Basic or Expert difficulty. Do good on Expert and you unlock Ultimate, which literally is the ultimate test. Basic is very easy and Expert is a little harder but manageable. Ultimate is just crazy fast with so many stylus commands all smushed together. Chaos Shrine has you play two different songs in the form of Dark Notes.

There are more than 70 songs available, although you'll be hearing a lot of the same when unlocking Dark Notes in Chaos Shrine mode. Square Enix is offering add-on songs that can be purchased for $1 each, which are played in Challenge mode. It's kind of pricey, but if you really love Final Fantasy music I guess it could be worth it.

Check out for my full review soon at www.theoaklandpress.com.

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