GameLight - Theatrhythm Final Fantasy (Released)

Official Site: http://www.theatrhythm.com/#!/us/
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

Almost a year ago, I made mention of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.  It was released today for the Nintendo 3DS with promising scores so far.  Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is a music rhythm game that is an obvious lure towards long time Final Fantasy fans who have played the games of the series since the first one.  Despite the nostalgia trap, critics and gamers that have tried the game thus far like the concept and praise the mechanics of the music rhythm genre.  Last year, I was under the impression that the game was going to feature remixed versions of the songs from the series; however, it seems that the Crystal Theme was the only remixed one used for the Title Screen as all the songs were left in its original form.  It's probably for the best for fans who know the original songs, but non-fans of Final Fantasy may have a harder time stomaching through some of the chip-tunes pre-FF7 or even the MIDI-tunes pre-FFX.  Much like other Music Rhythm games (Rhythm Heaven/Rhythm Tengoku Gold or Elite Beat Agents/Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!), an animation is run in the background or the top screen.  Unfortunately, some of the backgrounds that contain texts uses captures from the Japanese versions of the game and may not have that same nostalgia for those in the Western market.  From IGN's review, it seems to have light RPG elements; however, they don't have much depth to them that adds in that extra dynamic layer to the gameplay.  Also, there's already news that 8 additional songs is on the way as DLC with each song costing $0.99.  As much as that infuriates me that Square-Enix is once again abusing the power of DLCs and nostalgia, there are probably those out there who are delighted to have "extra content" available (even though it should have been in the main game to begin with...).  Still, with the fact that it's based around Nobuo Uematsu's greatest works in the past 25 years, this is a sure buy for me.  Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is out now for $39.99 retail exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS.