Wowed a non-FF fan

I had only played Final Fantasy IV growing up, but that soundtrack alone encouraged me to look into Theatrhythm. I didn't know the complete-and-collectathon I was getting myself into. This game is jam-packed with content. There are soundtracks from at least 16 titles right off the bat, amassing 200+ songs total, with 3 different difficulty levels. That's just for starters. You unlock characters from the games as you go along, quests to obtain said characters and rare items, and rigorous ingame achievements. I've played for 20 hours and I have yet to scratch the surface of what's left to complete. The rhythm gameplay itself is satisfying and easy to pick up; it is both addicting and challenging to 100% each given song. I have mixed feelings about the way the controls handle, even though there are 3-4 different control schemes. You need to be very deliberate when using the circle pad versus using the stylus for directional strokes, and the game can be very picky on the timing of each note on certain stages. You begin to think about the best way to handle a fast string of notes when it seems like a counter to the control scheme. Still, it is exciting when you do nail every note to a melody, the combo allowing characters to use attacks and spell. The options in the game are hit-and-miss. For a music title, it is a shame that many of the unlockable replacement sounds are out-of-place and distracting. Also, there does not seem to be a happy-medium sound level for the player hits. There will be songs where you struggle to hear the song over the sound effects, and vice versa. I was surprised that you could not create presets for your teams, meaning you had to manually change around characters and their abilities when you want the optimal set-up for a song. Overall, the collectathon and completionist nature of the game is enticing and the quantity of music is outstanding. The game is held back by attention to detail for player options, though this is still a solid title given that the 3DS rhythm library is relatively slim. I would recommend this game to FF and music fans alike, as well as those that enjoy casual, collectathon, or mechanically challenging games.Read full review

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