Spanning more than a dozen core titles and a quarter of a century, Final Fantasy’s musical roots are nearly unparalleled. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy , Square Enix’s new Chocobo-fueled release for 3DS, aims to draw upon this rich musical legacy to create something of a celebratory rhythm RPG hybrid. The merging of these two genres is ambitious, to say the least. The result of this fusion is a rich and wholly enjoyable rhythm experience, albeit one that doesn’t utilize its RPG roots to the fullest.

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Like most music games on DS systems, Theatrhythm’s gameplay largely amounts to tapping and sliding the stylus on the touch screen. That said, the developers went to great lengths to keep players engaged with a variety of different play options. Theatrhythm is split into three different types of gameplay, each defined by the pacing of the songs. Battle Music Stages feature a faster beat, and task players with defeating as many enemies as possible by correctly responding to the given rhythm “triggers” (the circular prompts that tell you how and when to tap and slide) that scroll across the screen along four separate lines. Field Music Stages are a bit slower, and have the player moving the stylus up and down along a continuously flowing line - similar to a conductor’s baton controlling the beat of the song. And lastly, Event Music Stages revolve around an important moment in each Final Fantasy game. Rather than the triggers scrolling from the left as they do in the other two stage types, here they consume the entire top screen, forcing you to keep a close watch at all times.For Theatrhythm’s visual presentation, Square faced the interesting challenge of trying to effectively bind 25 years of wildly varying graphical styles into one cohesive package. The result is the “chibi-fication” of the franchise’s most notable characters. Small, stylized versions of Squall, Cloud, Lightning and Cecil - along with chibi Chocobos, Moogles, Summons, enemies, and the like - all populate the colorful world of Theatrhythm. Depending on the mode, the background will feature a bright, scrolling world (the chibi take on the FF universe), actual in-game cutscenes, or bits of gameplay. While it’s a shame the Field segments all use the same background, the whole production offers an amazing, unique tribute to the franchise, an experience that should prove quite nostalgic for longtime fans of the series. The only downside here is that the footage is often repeated over the course of a song, which takes away from the otherwise great presentation.As a music game, Theatrhythm is top notch, with varied play options, great backgrounds and just about the best song selection you could ask for. The developers also incorporate some RPG elements, which FF fans should be rather familiar with. After choosing a party of four, your chibi team of notable FF characters marches into battle. If you miss a trigger or execute one poorly, the team’s shared HP bar goes down. If that hits zero, it’s game over, meaning you’ll have to start that segment over from the beginning. You can equip your team with an item, like a potion or Phoenix Down, which will automatically be used once certain conditions are met. Each character also has customizable abilities, such as Weapon Break (which reduces enemy attack power) or HP Up (which increases your HP).

The incorporation of RPG elements could have set Theatrhythm apart from other music games in a meaningful way, but unfortunately these aspects aren’t as integral to the experience as you'd think. While leveling up in a rhythm game is a fun notion, in truth, playing with a level 1 character feels no different than playing with a level 65 one. Having a higher level simply allows you to get more and rarer items by defeating more enemies, but the items themselves don’t do much either. Items and abilities may come in handy when you’re trying to survive a particularly grueling song on the highest difficulty, allowing you to make it to the end and get a higher score, but most of the time their presence makes no tangible difference in how you actually play the game. In fact, they’re completely optional (you even get a point bonus for not using items or abilities), further adding to the feeling that their presence was a bit forced. Theatrhythm is still an incredibly fun music game even considering the somewhat bizarre RPG integration, but it’s a shame more wasn’t done with this fusion concept.

One of the best parts of Theatrhythm is how it offers something for everyone. Music game novices can stick to the Basic Score of each song and simply enjoy the music and the backgrounds, while those looking for more of a challenge have the Expert Score and the blisteringly hard Ultimate Score to flex their skills. Each song also features a practice mode so you can work on getting to the end without worrying about your HP.The fun isn’t just limited to the main game either. In addition to having three difficulty settings for each of the three songs for 13 Final Fantasy games to master, there's also a Chaos Shrine where you can collect Dark Note rhythm challenges. These are additional songs of varying difficulty that you can complete alone or play with up to three friends locally. Extra touches like additional characters (unlocked by collecting special shards from bosses), the ability to swap stats via StreetPass, and the Museum (where you can unlock cards, music tracks and movies) give Theatrhythm plenty of bang for its buck. Overall, the game is a more than fitting celebration for the franchise's 25th anniversary.