While most fans of Square Enix should be rightfully concerned with some of the recent Final Fantasy mobile offerings, one area competently executed are their ports of preexisting console FF offerings. Final Fantasy V [$15.99], the latest port to grace iOS, thankfully continues the trend of offering improved versions of the classic RPG series. Offering one of the better implementations of the main series’ job system, FFV is a great game in its own right, successfully makes the transition to iOS and should be added to the collection of any nostalgic RPG collector.

Originally released in 1992, Final Fantasy V wouldn’t grace the US until its inclusion in the PSX Fantasy Fantasy Anthology in 1999 (and wouldn’t see a mobile release until the 2006 GBA Version). It’s a shame that US FF fans had to wait so long, because Final Fantasy V was a pretty good entry in the series. The overall story, which centered on a sealed evil looking to destroy the elemental crystals holding its bond in place, features a lot of themes and character development that would be utilized in later entries in the series.

There’re a lot of folks that have probably played FFV in some previous iteration and are wondering what the differences are between this iOS version and previous ones. Content-wise, FFV for iOS features the same additions as found in the GBA version. This means that players will find an additional end-game dungeon as well as four extra job classes that weren't in the original. While the additional content is purely optional, the additional job classes add some variety for players that haven't experienced the GBA remake.

The one area that does change significantly in this iOS port is the art style. Instead of using the classic, highly pixelated models of the original, FFV on iOS has a very smoothed art style, with the game looking closer to the recently released Final Fantasy Dimensions. In addition, the game features more artwork from original artist Yoshitaka Amano at a much higher resolution than previous versions. While I welcome the additional Amano art, I'm on the fence about the rest of the visual improvements. There's a lot of nostalgia and charm lost in the move away from the pixel graphics and the current look feels a little bland.

The rest of the additions, meanwhile, are positive in my book. The music, which is classic Nobuo Uematsu, has been remastered beyond the chiptunes of old but still retains everything that made the original soundtrack great.  FFV for iOS also includes an auto-battle mode, which speeds up the wait time between turns and automatically uses the previous commands issued for every character. This one little addition does a lot towards speeding up the grind, which is always a concern with these early RPGs. Little additions such as the ability to pinch-zoom the in-game map are also nice touches.

It's always hard to review these classic FF titles on iOS because they're always essentially ports of ports of the originals. Just as was the case with the previously released iOS ports, Final Fantasy V is a no-brainer if you're an RPG fan and have not had the pleasure of playing it. The story, job system, and classic Final Fantasy gameplay are strong in this title and showcase the golden age of  Squaresoft 16-bit RPGs.

At the same time, the changes to the visual engine and minor gameplay tweaks probably aren't enough to justify a purchase for fans that have already completed the game (especially on GBA). Although, there's still enough nostalgic appeal that odds are you'll probably buy it anyways.

I credit Square Enix's Final Fantasy IV as being the first game to really make me see the wonders of the role-playing genre. Just as FF4 ushered in the golden age of 16-bit RPGs on the SNES, it also began an interest in me that continues to this day. Thus, one could imagine my excitement when we found out a few works ago that Square Enix would be porting over the DS version of Final Fantasy IV to iOS. Just as was the case with Final Fantasy III [$15.99 / $16.99 (HD)] when it debuted in 2011, FF IV [$15.99] for iOS should be considered the definitive version of a classic title and is a must-have for any RPG aficionados.

Following the trials and tribulations of the Dark Knight Cecil, Final Fantasy IV is the first game of the series heavily driven by narrative. The story is also pretty engaging (for its time) with themes of genocide, betrayal, atonement and sacrifice, along with a few twists. While the game does offer the opportunity to deviate from the storied path set before you with side quests and optional dungeons, those adventures are few and far between. Still, I'm a huge fan of the epic tale weaved in Final Fantasy IV and I'm glad to see it stand the test of time and succeed even on iOS.

Meanwhile, FFIV employs the same, classic turn-based random battle that has been a staple of the series. Rather than the customizable job-based system found in FFIII, each character in FFIV has a pre-defined class that can't be modified. However, characters that come and go from your party can impart augments, items that can bestow that particular character's special ability to another character. While this offers some ability to customize, the augment system in general is rather unnecessary and feels tacked on (which it is, considering augments didn't exist in the original SNES version).

Similar to the iOS port of Final Fantasy III, FFIV enjoys a number of improvements over its DS predecessor. For starters, the visuals are nicely improved, taking advantage of the higher graphical and processing prowess of iOS devices. The music has also been upgraded, with each remixed song of the classic Nobuo Uematsu soundtrack sounding exquisite. The difficulty has also been tweaked, with two difficulty modes available (a pretty unique addition for classic FF games). I'm particularly pleased with the changes to difficulty, as the game seems to require less grinding than previous versions. This change goes hand-in-hand with the ability to auto-map dungeons, a feature sorely missing from the original and a welcome addition to this version.

In addition, FFIV also employs the same touch-based revamp of the menu system found in FFIII, allowing for much easier touch-based navigation. Despite these improvements, menu navigation can still be a bit cumbersome, especially during battles with characters that have a large amount of spells. Still, the inclusion of an 'Auto-battle' mode (along with some simple command customization) alleviates most of the annoyance.

While we've mostly focused on what has and hasn't changed in this port, what's more important is the simple fact that Final Fantasy IV is still an amazing game to play. The overall story, character development and pacing are excellent. The modifications to the core gameplay, whether they were changed from the US SNES version to the DS version or created exclusively for the iOS port, make the game more accessible to a wider audience. While the 3D visuals don't illicit the same feel as the original sprites of the SNES version, they still do a great job preserving the look and feel of the overarching tale (iffy voice acting notwithstanding). With so many RPGs feeling unfinished or superficial on iOS it's nice to actually play one that hits all the notes and demonstrates why it was, and still is, a classic. Sure, there's a lot of nostalgia in play here, but there's a reason why Final Fantasy IV is so memorable. I'd suggest checking it out to see why.

I distinctly remember the feeling of unwrapping and loading up Square Enix's Final Fantasy Tactics on my Playstation as a kid, unsure of exactly what it was, but I knew it had something to do with the Final Fantasy series and it was enough for me. I was, to say the least, confused and disappointed for the first couple hours of the game. But I got used to it and ended up purchasing it again on PSP and yet again on iOS as Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions [$15.99]. I had the same feeling loading up the iOS version as I did the first time on PS1 -- puzzled and unsure of exactly what to think about it.

First, a quick primer for those who haven't been following along at home since 1998: Final Fantasy Tactics was originally released for Playstation and created by most of the team behind the Super Nintendo classic, Ogre Battle. It was the first of what would end up being a billion Final Fantasy offshoot titles and subsequently, for a confused sixteen-year-old consumer, a strange, turn-based strategy version of Final Fantasy. It has since spawned a Gameboy Advance version, a DS sequel and finally, a PSP remake of the original, with the added War of the Lions subtitle. The PSP version is the one ported over to the iOS. It is often cited as one of the best turn-based strategy games in existence for its complex RPG elements, intelligent AI and its labyrinth of tactical options.

Gameplay wise, you'll be taking over a squad of characters and battling on grid-based maps in a turn-based system. As you play through, you'll be able to level up your characters, equip weapons and effects and change jobs. Since the iOS port is based on the PSP version, you'll also get an updated story, a better translation than the PS1 version and a few fancy cutscenes.

For those who haven't played it, that's really all you need to know walking in as there are plenty of reviews that go in-depth into the game's systems out there. If you're already a fan, you're probably playing it right now, possibly still cursing under your breathe about the price point and the wide range of issues. Those issues can make or break the experience depending on how dedicated you are to getting something out of it.

Your enjoyment is going to come based partially on which generation of device you own. On a 3GS, performance is incredibly sluggish and the tiny text can be difficult to read at times. It looks and plays better on an iPhone 4, but lacks dedicated retina support, so the text is still blurry and hard to read. You'll likely still experience some slowdown during more complicated bits. Double-sized on an iPad is probably the smoothest experience, but if you're going to do that you might as well hold off for the HD release this fall. Still, both the PS1 and PSP versions suffered from the exact same slowdown, so for those who played every iteration, it should come as no surprise Square Enix still hasn't cleaned it up.

As far as the touch implementation is concerned, it's a mixed bag. The game features a rather horrendous user interface, accented by the fact everything is so small. It really could have benefited from redone or resized menu screens. The same goes with the newly added camera movement, which, although you can pinch and zoom and slide to move, it doesn't feel like a lot of thought was put into it. Movement works about as well as you'd expect on the small screen, meaning you'll occasionally be tapping the wrong square or hitting the wrong box.

You're also losing the multiplayer of the PSP version, which is only going to matter to a small group of people, but it's a notable loss for anyone who wasted away hours in the ad-hoc wireless battles.

That's par for the course for nearly every aspect of the game. It's a quick and dirty port of the four-year-old PSP version of the game, which itself was based on a thirteen-year-old Playstation game. For fans of the original, you'll get pretty much the exact game you expect, albeit with some performance issues on some devices. If you haven't played either of the previous versions, you'll run into a steep learning curve, but you'll be rewarded with a massive, complex game that happens to be in a crappy wrapper. It would have been nice to get a truly iOS-optimized port, with redone menu screens and text, but no matter how you cut it, if Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions on your phone is all you want, you'll be able to deal with all the issues.

Well, it seemed like this day would never come, but here we are. After being announced at last year’s E3, and missing several intended release windows, Square Enix’s highly tactical role-playing game Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions [$15.99] is now available for download for your iPhone or iPod touch.

For some backstory, the original Final Fantasy Tactics first launched on the PlayStation back in 1998 to critical acclaim. It marked the first time the Final Fantasy series branched out from its more traditional RPG style and ventured into the realm of highly tactical combat with an engaging storyline and RPG-like elements.

In 2007, the game was rereleased for the Sony PSP as Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, and contained a number of improvements. These included new storyline cutscenes, graphical improvements, new characters and classes, local multiplayer, and more. Unfortunately, with all these new enhancements, some negative issues rose up as well, most notoriously a slowdown bug that made combat flow at a snail's pace even compared to the nearly 10 year old original. For a game where you're engaging in combat a whole lot, this was an unfortunate problem.

The iOS version of Final Fantasy Tactics is a port of the PSP version, and although it loses the local multiplayer mode, the slowdown problem has been greatly improved. The problem isn't totally eradicated, but it's at least much more tolerable now. Other iOS-specific enhancements include a completely native touch interface for navigating menus and combat and an autosave feature that allows for the types of interruptions that you get when gaming on a mobile platform like the iPhone. Some of the artwork has even been redrawn for this version, as well, though the graphics overall are still retro and pixelated, especially some of the in-game text.

The pricing for Final Fantasy Tactics has been a hot topic ever since it was announced. It’s certainly on the high end of the price tiers of the App Store, but in terms of gaming bang for your buck, it’s nearly incomparable to anything else available. There are easily over 100 hours of gameplay time here, so if you like your tactical strategy games to last a while then you’re in luck. An iPad native version is planned for release in about a month’s time, so if you figure you’ll be playing on your iPad mostly then it might be worth waiting around for that version.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is an absolute classic, and it’s great to see a title of this caliber in the App Store. Some may not be down with the price, and if you’ve played the game extensively in the past it might be hard to justify buying the game again now. Of course, if you’re fanatical about this game like so many gamers are, then price isn’t even a question and chances are you’ve downloaded the game already.

You can check out further impressions of the game in our forums, and whether you’re a longtime fan or just now checking out the game for the first time, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is a fantastic tactical RPG experience that works incredibly well on the iOS platform.

Yep, Final Fantasy Tactics will see its App Store re-release this week. The European Square Enix blog dropped an update this morning stating it’ll hit the iPhone and the iPod Touch on Thursday, August 4th at £10.99, which should be around $15.99. An iPad version of the same re-released PS One classic will see a release “later this month,” the blog states.

We’ve been following this one pretty closely as it has creeped through its development cycle. Last week we pointed out that it cleared certification, while in weeks prior we made sure to tell you that the project was once again moving smoothly after several, several, and several soul-sucking delays.

We’ll probably never be exactly sure of what the hold-up has been, but it feels safe to speculate that a lot of it had to do with the implementation of touch and technical and graphical re-turning, of which you can catch a glimpse of in the following footage.

It’s looking as delicious as a protein shake on a hot afternoon, so we’ll definitely get our dirty little hands on it as soon as possible. Stay tuned for more.

[Via Square EU - Thanks, Jeremy!]

Right around this time last month, we learned that Final Fantasy III might be coming to iOS by way of a scanned image from Japanese gaming magazine V-Jump, and the very next day it was confirmed by a tweet on Square Enix’s Twitter account. Next we wondered which version of Final Fantasy III it would be, and this was also quickly discovered to be an enhanced remake of the 2006 Nintendo DS title, which itself was a remake of the original Japanese Famicom (NES) game from 1990.

Following along? Good, because it gets even more confusing. Most Americans fondly remember playing Final Fantasy III on their Super Nintendo, but due to Square skipping several Final Fantasy releases outside of Japan, what we know as Final Fantasy III on Super NIntendo is actually Final Fantasy VI chronologically. The 2006 DS remake marked the first time the true Final Fantasy III had been officially released in North America, and now an enhanced version of this game is available for download on the App Store.

Whew! Despite all the confusing backstory, Final Fantasy III is a highly regarded entry in the series. This new iOS version takes the 3D graphics from the DS and enhances them both with higher quality textures and support for Retina Displays. It doesn’t quite look as visually impressive as some games that have been built from the ground up for the power of iOS devices, but it looks far and away better than the DS version and the reworked controls for the touch screen work extremely well. A touch anywhere virtual analog stick handles character movement, and practically everything in the game from the menus to the battles themselves is tap friendly.

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