Chrono Trigger

"Old, and yet impressive..."

Ever since its initial release in the Super Famicom, "Chrono Trigger" has been considered an epic gameplay experience, a RPG that players of all ages are certainly bound to enjoy. While the Playstation port was a mildly cooked experience, filled with unexpected flaws, this new game is certainly a lot more appealing, and truthful to the amazing experience available in the original game.

When you first start your console, the game may seem terribly shallow, with a single option available in the initial menu, but after you save your game once a few more items tend to appear in that same menu. Obviously, you can simply enjoy the story on its own, following the very same events that the original game would present you, but this particular port also comes with a few improvements.

The biggest new feature is certainly the arena, which works as a small management game. Initially, you get to pick your monster among a certain number of similar elemental creatures, but this small critter will eventually evolve in a much more powerful beast, depending on how you manage him. You can take it into some battles, or to field, in order to improve its stats. What's great in that particular feature is that, by winning battles, you'll also receive extremely rare items, ones that aren't available in the normal game, and yes, they are well worth it; some of those improve your stats, others may grant you a high counter rate, but there are also the usual consumables, such as "Elixir".

Apart from this addition, this new port of the game is also crowded with extras. You can access an item listing, a bestiary, see certain in-game cutscenes, and even check for the locations of some items. Sure, it's not like you'll spend limitless time browsing the information here available, but at least it gives some extra appeal to the game, even if some of the items (and beasts) are terribly hard to find, or perhaps rely only on randomness.

New features aside, this game is still an impressive experience. Its storyline talks mostly about time travel and its repercussions, to the point where almost every action you take changes the future, and gives you some extras. Although the game still has some of the classic RPG flaws (when you're asked to take your options, sometimes you're not fully allowed to take them), there are also quite a few number of times where you can actually make an impact in your own experience, and that leads to one of the several endings this game has to offer; now, there are more than 10 different ones, waiting to be unlocked when you fulfill certain conditions, and that obviously adds some more play time (and replay value) to this particular title.

In terms of gameplay, this game is a classic RPG. You have to explore maps, talk to people, and fight several battles, before reaching the next storyline sequence. In that particular point, this game is just awesome - although you're presented several cutscenes, you'll never feel like they're too long, or too irrelevant; instead, each cutscene you get to see has a very set purpose, and the game hardly ever bothers you with all the specifics. One of the first episodes puts you in a quest to save Marle, and you have to do exactly that, without any cheap dialogues in your way there.

Battles are also unusual, in the sense that it takes you to a rather unique fighting scheme. Unlike what happens in some other games of this genre, here you're allowed to skip battles whenever you want, since enemies are actually seen in the field; you can simply dodge them, and you won't have to fight a battle, but you won't get any rewards either. Then, when it comes to the actual fighting, you only have access to three, very simple, commands. You can either strike your enemy physically, use an item, and throw a technique at your enemy, and this is where fighting becomes fun - as you advance further in the game, and each of your party members gains new techniques, your characters will also be able to unlock new combined techniques, which they can perform in unison in order to improve the damage caused to your enemies. One can really wonder why such unique feature was never reused in other games, but at least they removed the severe loading times that plagued the Playstation port of the game.

Anyway, this idea of techniques makes each of your character extremely unique, and some of them are more fitting to some situations than others. Frog, for example, is a party member that can use water-based magic, while the main hero, called Crono, is a proficient user of light-based magic. Ayla, a character you get later in the game, can't cast any kind of magic, but her physical attacks are very powerful, and she gains all sorts of powerful physical techniques later on. There's even a secret, and very powerful, character, among some others that, sooner or later, join your own party in order to fight the bad guys. It's really up to players to figure out which ones are best fit to each situation, and depending on your personal choices the game will be easier, or harder. Nevertheless, all boss battles tend to have an epic feel to it, complete with the usual mindless rambles that enemies always love to throw at your heroes.

An interesting feature, retained from the original, is the presence of a "New Game +" option, which basically allows you to replay the entire game with the very same items and statistics you had at its ending. This not only makes it possible for you to reach whole new areas, but is also an appealing feature for those who want to complete everything a game has to offer, which is made a lot easier via this particular option. Also, the game has a few new dungeons, and a new final boss, which is surely bound to surprise you.

Graphically, this game is obviously poor. Despite the aforementioned additions, the game still looks like the original, Super Famicom, game, and its age is clearly visible in every moment of your adventure. One can certainly wonder why this game didn't suffer the same makeover that other Square-Enix titles did (such as "Final Fantasy IV"), but at least you have access to the beautiful (and, unfortunately, extremely rare) cutscenes that were available in the Playstation port.

Although the sound quality of this title is not perfect, it is certainly bound to impress those who hear it. For a game that is more than 10 years old, the songs related to each area, and even the battle themes, haven't aged a single bit, and you'll probably enjoy listening to them more than once. Then, if you really like a particular song, you can even listen to them by means of a new in-game option, which basically works as a small jukebox.

Overall, this game is an epic experience, and one of the best RPGs ever released. It is certainly not perfect, mostly due to its aged look, but this ends up being the kind of game that almost every kind of player will enjoy, and talk about. Now, if you have played the previous port, or even the original game, should you buy this one? Well, it all depends on how much you enjoyed the game, and whether or not you'd like to be able to play it anywhere you like.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/23/08

Game Release: Chrono Trigger (US, 11/25/08)