CHRONO TRIGGER – NDS – Review

Next to Final Fantasy, few RPGs mean
as much to gamers as Chrono Trigger. It’s the game many grew up with on the SNES,
the console that best represented RPGs before the genre exploded with the
release of Final Fantasy VII on the PSone. Given the heritage and inevitable
nostalgia, Square Enix can’t simply do what they wanted with Chrono Trigger.
Because one misstep is all it takes to enrage the game’s many fans and ruin a
legacy that has yet to be tarnished.

Thus, when porting the game to
Nintendo DS, the publisher and developer stuck with most of the series’ original
content. The graphics, music and battle system remain unchanged. High-quality
animation sequences – first introduced when the game was ported to PSone several
years ago – are included with the DS version and look stunning when displayed on
the top screen. Chrono Trigger’s journey hasn’t evolved, nor has the story, but
you will notice that some of the text has been re-polished. A very basic
multiplayer mode has also been added (two game cards are required) along with
some additional dungeons.

In other words, this is not a sequel
or spin-off to the original Chrono Trigger. It is not a full-fledged remake or a
mega revision of the classic SNES game. But for those who love it but do not
have a copy in their collection and for those who have longed to have a handheld
iteration, this is an RPG that must be purchased.

Turn-Based Bliss

As many of you are aware, much of
Chrono Trigger’s praise revolves around its inventive and lightning-quick battle
system. Using the Tech attack scheme, players can strike their enemies and heal
their allies with an impressive variety of mixable options.

Individually, the Techs are solid.
Crono, with his Cyclone attack, will leap toward one or several enemies within
close proximity and unleash a quick sword strike. Marle, a strong healer, can
heal herself and others with her Aura Tech. And with his Flamethrower Tech,
Lucca can burn all enemies who fall within a straight line on the battlefield.

Technically, this portion of the
Tech system isn’t that different from every other RPG (the developers merely
chose to give its “special attack” system a different name). But Chrono Trigger
does contain one battle innovation that has influenced many other games: combo
attacks. After more than a decade it is still a commendable feature. When
certain characters’ Techs are used simultaneously, their powers are greatly
increased. Ex: Crono and Frog can combine their Cyclone and Slurp Slash Techs
(the latter of which attacks with Frog’s tongue) to create the X-Strike Dual
Tech. If Crono’s Cyclone is paired with Marle’s Aura, the resulting Tech – Aura
Whirl – will restore HP to all allies at the same time (as opposed to just one
with the Aura Tech alone). Better still, three Techs may be combined to form a
Triple Tech, creating some of the most powerful moves in the game.

The Music of Our Time

Maybe it was that the medium was
fresher at the time, or maybe it had something to do with the quality of the
game itself, which could inspire any composer, but the music in Chrono Trigger
is still impeccable. The DS speakers don’t provide the best presentation, and
without a full re-recording, the quality is … not dated but certainly retro.
That doesn’t hurt the score, which is incredible in any form. The sound effects
are very basic by today’s standards, but there’s definitely something special
about them, particularly for fans of the original Final Fantasy games as well as
the SNES version of Chrono Trigger.

Visually Charming

All good-looking games will once
become dated. But artistic games – those whose visuals are uniquely inspiring –
will retain their charm forever. Chrono Trigger is one such game. The
sprite-based characters and 2D world map view are nothing compared to RPGs of
the last 10 years. But the actual artwork of each character – conceived by
Dragon Ball Z mastermind Akira Toriyama – is excellent.

DBZ fans will notice similarities
between its cast and the stars of Chrono Trigger, perhaps more now than when the
game was originally released. When CT hit the SNES, few Americans knew a thing
about the Dragon Ball sagas. Now that Gohan and Goku are household faces (thanks
to its Cartoon Network run in the late 90s), it’s hard to look at them without
thinking of Crono and vice versa. Vegeta is an even closer match. Still, the
artwork is superb, and with anime sequences being used to enhance the story,
their character development is better than ever.

Chrono Trigger fans that have been
craving a brand-new experience will have to keep waiting…or play Chrono Cross,
if they still haven’t. But even if that’s what you were hoping for, this is
still a worthwhile RPG that you will be glad to own in handheld form.

Gameplay: 9.0
Excellent turn-based combat that uses Square’s trademark "Active Time
Battle" system (if you choose), plus a slightly non-linear quest with objectives
that are not always obvious and puzzles that are occasionally challenging. Touch
controls are now available but may be turned off.

Graphics: 7.0
Older Chrono Trigger fans will love the visuals but it’s unlikely that
anyone else will be able to appreciate them.

Sound: 9.3
Just as grand as you remembered.

Difficulty: Medium
A part of me almost said "easy," but then I remembered that this is 2008 and
I’ve had years of RPG experience since Chrono Trigger’s original launch. It’s
actually one of the more difficult RPGs, even though you can level up to defeat
just about every monster and boss in the game (just like most RPGs, of course).

Concept: 7.0
Nothing significantly new or groundbreaking added to the game; just a grand
port of one of the grandest RPGs ever made.

Multiplayer: 5.0
Nintendo encourages developers to include at least some kind of
multiplayer functionality in their DS games, which explains what happened to
Chrono Trigger, a game that didn’t really need a multiplayer mode. Rather than
have a series of three-on-three battles with two players using their most
powerful, high-level characters, you simply raise a monster (via menu screens)
and throw him into an arena against other monsters. Battles are not directly
playable since you cannot choose your monster’s actions. This mode is not
playable online but two game cards are still required since both players must
raise their own monster.

Overall: 8.8
The must-have DS RPG you’ve like already played through, Chrono Trigger is a
thoroughly entertaining game with a lengthy quest, an excellent combat system,
an unforgettable soundtrack, likable characters and so much more.