PSP Reboot #4: Dissidia: Final Fantasy

For quite awhile, this game was my favorite on the PSP.  However, the story is bland, cliche, and sometimes needlessly complicated.  But, no one plays this game for the story.

If you look past the story, this game is freaking amazing.  It has added value if you're a Final Fantasy fan boy (which I admit that I am).  This game is a compilation game of all the Final Fantasies to date (Final Fantasy XIII didn't come out yet when this game came out).  The game is centered around a 1v1 fighting system in a 3D world (contrary to Tekken, Streetfighter, or Mortal Combat which are all 2D tournament fighters).  The gameplay is smooth and controls are very easy to get a handle on.  Some elements are destructive as well which makes for interesting fight sequences.  The levels are all based on some of the most iconic areas and worlds of the Final Fantasy series such as The Planet's Core from Final Fantasy VII, Ultimecia's Castle from Final Fantasy VIII, or The Old Chaos Shrine from the first Final Fantasy, to name a few.

Each of the previous Final Fantasies are represented by two major characters from each of the first ten games (one protagonist and one antagonist) plus two unlockable characters from Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XII.  This is a huge deal for Final Fantasy fan boys because we finally get to see how the various characters of the series square off against each other.  For instance, all of us had been itching to see how Cloud from VII and Squall from VIII would square off against each other.  I was also interested in the match-up of Golbez (IV) and Sephiroth (VII).  The characters have a lot of the attacks and characteristics that they had in previous games and are all pretty well recreated into 3D models (opposed to Nintendo's sprites).  Also, the voice casting is well imagined as a lot of the characters have voices similar to the ones that you would hear in your head when reading text boxes in the first nine games.  However, there are moments in cut scenes when the voice acting is laughably bad.  But like I said, no one plays this game for the story.

If you're a Final Fantasy fan and don't own this game, you have no idea what you're missing out on.  This game and its followup, Dissidia Duodecim, are the best spin-offs of the Final Fantasy series, hands down.

Image:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8e/Dissidia_NA_Cover.jpg