S&S; Mobile Review: Final Fantasy Dimensions

Title: Final Fantasy Dimensions
Format: iOS
Release Date: August 31, 2012
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Price: $29.99
ESRB Rating: E

If you're into really heavy old school RPG games, and if you only like doing so on your smartphone or tablet, then Final Fantasy Dimensions was made specifically for you.
Story, Presentation, and Core Gameplay:
Instead of continuing with the newer formats and systems the latest Final Fantasy games have been using, Dimensions really pushed all of its mechanics through a time machine.  If you've played FF 1, 2, or even 3, then the game will feel right at home.  The game's narrative follows two different groups of people, the Warriors of Light and The Warriors of Darkness.  They each have to stop the evil Avalonian Empire from the controlling the world's power.  The empire ends up trying to steal the land's magic crystals, causing the world to be split in two.  Each group must recover the crystals in their own dimensions.  The story is actually very entertaining, even though many stories told through the iPad or iPhone gets lost in translation.   The 16-bit style graphics have makes a beautiful transition, especially on the iPad.  Lots of bright colors and a ton of diverse locales will keep your campaign feeling fresh.  The game is definitely clean in its UI, specifically the battle menu, very clean and simple.  As you would have guessed, the music is great.  This is a Final Fantasy game after all, and I've yet to find a FF game with bad music.  I believe they might have reused sounds and tracks from previous games, even the opening title screen sounded very familiar.  Even with that said, the presentation is stellar across the board.  In terms of gameplay, the game has an impressive job system created just for fans of the older games.  You'll be able to assign any party member to a specific job at any time, very flexible to say the least.  The system alone offers a ton of variety options for your party.  It features five character parties, and really encourages you to experiment with the different configurations you have available.  A few gripes I have with the game is with the excessive need to level grind and the massive amount of random battles.  I'm sure seasoned fans will disagree, but will recent FF games, these problems annoyances were eradicated.  Still, if you're looking for a great turn based RPG, Dimensions battles are great and fast-paced.  The game uses the touchscreen perfectly, attacking, healing, and using items are al done with a few touches from your hands.
Final Thoughts:
The game is brought too you in episodic format, you can play the prologue for free, but any more episodes will cost you.  The full experience will run you a pretty penny, but its well worth it given the game will last you well north of 40 hours.  If you're interested in the game, give the prologue a try, but I'm sure you'll be wanting more.
S&S Rating: 8.5/10 @whatsPlay