Square Enix - 2014 - 3DS
See Also My Top 10 Final Fantasy Games List
Finally back with my first review of 2015! Hope everyone out there had a fun and safe holiday break. I happened to take my 3DS with me while visiting family and got a chance to play some Theatrhythm Curtain Call. It's a rhythm game whose soundtrack is made of compositions from nearly every Final Fantasy game to date. Curtain Call is a sequel to the first Final Fantasy Theatrhythm game which came out in 2012. I actually got a chance to play the first game earlier last year, but didn't write a review on it. Both games are basically Square Enix's attempt to try to capture the audience of Final Fantasy fans who love the soundtracks for the series. And as someone who is a huge Final Fantasy and Nobou Uematsu fan, this game is a great tribute to the series and its music
The gameplay in Curtain Call basically consists of listening to a Final Fantasy song and then tapping along on your DS screen with your stylus, guided by on screen tapping prompts. The game scores you on how well you did or if you perform too poorly, you can fail a song a la Rock Band or Guitar Hero. But as long as we're comparing rhythm games to one another, Curtain Call is much more similar to Elite Beat Agents gameplay wise. There are also some light RPG elements which I guess are obligatory because Final Fantasy. You can choose a party of Final Fantasy characters from pretty much every game in the series, give them skills and items and level them up. Your character's level and skills can give you point bonuses or extra health or other helpful things while playing, but the RPG elements of Curtain Call can really be ignored if you're not into that sort of thing. If you're just playing the game for the music and rhythm parts, not micromanaging your party won't hurt you. Or if you're really into maxing out your party for the highest points and most health, that's cool too. But I guess it doesn't speak too well about the importance of Curtain Call's RPG system if you can completely ignore it while playing the game
Let me just say that having played both games, Curtain Call is completely superior to the original game in every way. If you want to try this series out, go straight after Curtain Call and don't bother with its predecessor if you have the choice. Curtain Call has every single song from the original plus way more. It also has more unlockable characters, a slightly more complex RPG system, a hefty growing library of DLC, and more gameplay modes than the original including a multiplayer mode.
Summary:
Curtain call is the the perfect type of portable game for me. Gameplay sessions can be short - you don't have to commit a huge amount of time to playing the game and you can save pretty much at any point. It's also quite easy to pick back up after not having played for several weeks. It's a great tribute to the quality musical compositions in the Final Fantasy series and seeing all of the FF characters be cartoonized was actually kind of adorable. There's also now some DLC out for Square Enix games other than Final Fantasy. Hooray for Chrono Trigger DLC! It's a nice addition to your 3DS library if you're a Final Fantasy fan or a fan of rhythm games. It's a must-buy if you're both!
The gameplay in Curtain Call basically consists of listening to a Final Fantasy song and then tapping along on your DS screen with your stylus, guided by on screen tapping prompts. The game scores you on how well you did or if you perform too poorly, you can fail a song a la Rock Band or Guitar Hero. But as long as we're comparing rhythm games to one another, Curtain Call is much more similar to Elite Beat Agents gameplay wise. There are also some light RPG elements which I guess are obligatory because Final Fantasy. You can choose a party of Final Fantasy characters from pretty much every game in the series, give them skills and items and level them up. Your character's level and skills can give you point bonuses or extra health or other helpful things while playing, but the RPG elements of Curtain Call can really be ignored if you're not into that sort of thing. If you're just playing the game for the music and rhythm parts, not micromanaging your party won't hurt you. Or if you're really into maxing out your party for the highest points and most health, that's cool too. But I guess it doesn't speak too well about the importance of Curtain Call's RPG system if you can completely ignore it while playing the game
Let me just say that having played both games, Curtain Call is completely superior to the original game in every way. If you want to try this series out, go straight after Curtain Call and don't bother with its predecessor if you have the choice. Curtain Call has every single song from the original plus way more. It also has more unlockable characters, a slightly more complex RPG system, a hefty growing library of DLC, and more gameplay modes than the original including a multiplayer mode.
Summary:
Curtain call is the the perfect type of portable game for me. Gameplay sessions can be short - you don't have to commit a huge amount of time to playing the game and you can save pretty much at any point. It's also quite easy to pick back up after not having played for several weeks. It's a great tribute to the quality musical compositions in the Final Fantasy series and seeing all of the FF characters be cartoonized was actually kind of adorable. There's also now some DLC out for Square Enix games other than Final Fantasy. Hooray for Chrono Trigger DLC! It's a nice addition to your 3DS library if you're a Final Fantasy fan or a fan of rhythm games. It's a must-buy if you're both!
