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Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers : Wii
It’s been almost a year since my Wii got some serious play time in, and back then it was a Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles game, so it’s quite interesting to see that the next game to really get the Wii going again was another FFCC game, this time Crystal Bearers which I’ve been after since I knew it was coming and haven’t found myself buying it until Saturday where it was in the game shop for £5. You can’t say no to games for a fiver.
The fact that it is Monday and I’m already writing the review for a game I bought Saturday afternoon says two things: one; that it isn’t that long a game, and two; that it’s addictive enough that I burned all my spare time in two days on it. Take that as you will.
The Crystal Bearers is a Crystal Chronicles game which means that though it has the Final Fantasy name stuffed onto it, it isn’t a real FF game, but rather a little side idea that is for generally younger players with a less intense personality (at least, that’s the way I see it). Once you strip away the fact it’s pretending to be an RPG (it isn’t, in any way, an RPG) you realise that it’s actually a lot of cutscenes interspersed with some mini-games, and the mini-games are what make or break your enjoyment - when they are good, they’re great but when they’re not… well…
It starts off with a cutscene followed by a fun falling-shooting mini-game, then a cutscene then a crash-a-ship mini-game, then a cutscene and… you get the idea. There is, ostensibly, combat, but really this is another mini-game and unfortunately for Crystal Bearers, the combat system is one of the poorer mini-games on offer and is the one which crops up most often. Thankfully (and no, I’m not joking) you can avoid all but three combats in the game (I think it’s three, it might be four) by running on past and ignoring them; this, I ended up doing. As this isn’t an RPG, there’s no way to level up or really improve your character (there’s a weird system of accessories, but I never used it and never really understood what the five stats did for me) and this lack of connection to the character progression means you are never invested in the combat or in doing any of the stuff you don’t have to do to progress the story.
It’s more than possible to read the last paragraph and come away thinking this game is junk, but it isn’t. For a start, the storyline is great and pulls you along happily, with good characters, some nice voice acting and entertaining script in places, and though it’s all as predictable as these things are, it’s worth the investment. Then there’s the fact that many of the mini-games are actually fun. After months of ‘serious’ gaming with the likes of Dead Space, inFamous and Dragon Age, it was a sheer delight to play something which was simply fun with no delusions of grandeur. Even the daft and somewhat frustrating knock-the-bikini-clad-girl-into-the-water mini-game ends up making you smile. Finally, and this may be a personal plus that doesn’t affect the greater whole, the graphics look like they’ve been lifted directly from FF XI, and it’s a relaxing joy sitting on a chocobo and running through some beautifully designed territory listening to that tune.
But despite my personal love of some aspects of this game, it’s hard to credibly give it too much of a positive review. The trekking around is difficult and frustrating due to the lack of a decent map or understanding of how one place leads to another, and it’s also pointless as without any combat or item hunting to do on the way, you’d rather the game just teleported you around, and then there’s the realisation which comes slowly that though you thought you were playing an RPG, there’s no RP at all in this G. To top it all off, the final boss fight is a frustrating mess of Wii remote waggling that comes after the stupidest mini-game of hardcore Wii remote waggling I’ve ever seen, so you end up on a downer rather than having loved the last thirty minutes of play. Good job there’s a nice long cutscene to help you forget the pain.
Cutscenes, cutscenes, cutscenes. If Crystal Bearers were to be summed up in one word, that’s the one I’d use. In a way, it’d do better as a feature length cartoon than as a game but that’s a critical viewpoint rather than a true emotional response, and if I’m honest, my emotions say ‘ten hours of fun’. It’s not Final Fantasy, it’s not an RPG, it suffers from being a Wii game and having waggle controls stuffed all over it but it was fun and it was well worth a fiver to break the current difficulty of collecting 100% of the stuff in inFamous (yes, that’s what the PS3 is busy doing). I’m pleased I didn’t spend £40 on this on release day though.
It was nice for the Wii to get an airing, too. It meant (as it was there) that I was enticed to go play Golden Axe for a few hours! I’d write a review for that, but it’s too damned hard to complete on three credits!
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