Final Fantasy I for iPhone has landed on the App Store, just 23 years after first launching on the NES. Promising extra dungeons, spruced up graphics and touchscreen controls, is this the RPG we were hoping for to wean us off our Tower Defense addiction? Read on and find out in our full Final Fantasy I for iPhone review.
Final Fantasy I for iPhone certainly fills a hole in the gaming selection on the App Store. Even now, the gameplay is addictive, and you’ll find yourself itching to jump back in, level up and make it through the dungeon to the next boss.
The turn based fighting system (If you’re the sort who can tolerate random battles) is also well suited to the iPhone. Because you have to double tap on an enemy you won’t accidentally make any wrong selections, and although that can mean slightly slower battles when you get stronger and end up facing weak enemies, it’s beneficial more often than not.
The controls have been ported to the touchscreen remarkably well in Final Fantasy I for iPhone. The on-screen d-pad works fine, and the menu has been smartly tucked away so that it’s only accessible when you stop moving. and doesn’t invade the small screen real estate otherwise. We did however notice that buttons and options were surprisingly unresponsive for an iPhone app, with prods often going unrecognised.
Read our Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars for iPhone review now
Unfortunately though, unless you hold the original dear in your heart, you may be unimpressed by how the game has aged. While the Final Fantasy I for iPhone graphics are absolutely lovely, and a long way from the 8-bit, pixellated NES version, the story doesn’t stand up to much. Knights and mages, collecting crystals and rescuing a princess? Call us pretentious, but we expect more sophisticated narratives in our adventure games these days, regardless of screen size.
We’ll say it, we want Final Fantasy 7 for the iPhone. Now. Square-Enix, we’re not down with this approach to re-releasing the Final Fantasy back catalogue: how come the PlayStation Network gets the later games while the iPhone gets the older ones? We know jailbroken iPhones can run them with emulators. Make it happen for all the law abiding blowers out there too.
In the meantime, Final Fantasy I for iPhone should keep any RPG fans happy on the train for many commutes to come.
