It's the same fantastic game you played in 1998 with some positive adjustments, including more mature dialogue and some lovely animated cutscenes. While a few other elements - character names, job ability names, etc - were changed for unknown reasons, the whole package comes together just as nicely as the original, though a few might have qualms with the cutscene voiceacting or missing infrastructure battles. All in all, the same Square masterpiece you've played before, only on the PlayStation Portable with a storyline that'll make more sense to newcomers than the original's.



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I might as well admit to a bias on Square Enix's updated Final Fantasy Tactics, as the original game is quite possibly my most favorite title, topping the likes of Super Mario Brothers 3, Mario Kart, Sunset Riders, Knights of the Old Republic I/II, the Elder Scrolls series, The Lion King (SNES - don't hate) and even Final Fantasy VII and VIII. Final Fantasy Tactics remains the king of all strategy RPGs, the title to which they all inevitably compare themselves as they struggle to balance pure strategy based gameplay with leveling up, magical spells, pretty graphics, and an enchanting plot - a feat that most in its genre fail to accomplish.

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As you can imagine, when I first heard that Square was re-releasing FFT for its 20th Anniversary celebration I was both thrilled at the prospect and concerned that Square would butcher it by adjusting the gameplay mechanics, thereby making it "easier" for those accustomed to a simpleton's handheld games. This has always been a point of contention for me and hot handheld titles that tend to amount to nothing more than a whimsical collection of mini-games - such things are nice if they interest you and/or you're fresh out of entertainment options on-the-go, but for "real games" I've always preferred a console or a PC. Interestingly this is one of FFT: War of the Lions's primary criticisms: that it boasts a high learning curve and is more involving than the average handheld gamer would like. I say "interestingly" because critics appear to be lamenting the fact that War of the Lions is a real game as opposed to a 15 minute mini-game.

Those of us who enjoyed the original (or prefer to spend more than 15 minutes on a game here or there), however, will be pleased with most of what Square has done for War of the Lions, beginning with some much-needed dialogue adjustments. Gone are the childish, sometimes nonsensical comments poorly translated from the Japanese script; the dialogue is now much more mature and befitting of the game's setting. Compare three samples I took at random from both the original and PSP version:


Some might complain that the dialogue loses its directness and childlike charm in the update, but Square scores points from me for taking the time to modify the script line by line, making the game's plot significantly easier to follow. This polishing was also applied to the game's tutorial/chronicle, which now sounds less like thrown-together biographies and a brief note on the zodiac role and more like elements meant to help the player follow the narrative and understand the strategic aspects of the gameplay. Gamers unfamiliar with the battle system's charge time (CT) gauge, how the zodiac compatibility feature operates, the party roster's organization, or how characters acquire abilities for use in battle will find the cleaner tutorial much simpler to understand in comparison to the original's. The game does, however, still operate on the notion that nothing quite teaches like experience, and so introduces gameplay elements by tossing the player into the fray with his party and letting him take charge of his unit step by step, but this is one of the game's perks unless you'd rather read through instructions before you're allowed to play.


These subtle presentation enhancements were also applied to the game's spell/ability naming scheme as well as character names and titles. The infamous Algus has been upgraded to Argath; Rad, that coward NPC from the very first battle, has been switched to Ladd (though he's just as useless); the Death Corps has been renamed the Corpse Brigade; and Ramza's home at Igros is now Eagrose. The spell naming system, which had healing spells listed as cure, cure 2, cure 3, etc., has been modified to fit into the familiar Final Fantasy realm of cures, curas, curagas, and so on. The auto-attack option is now aptly displayed as "AI" while priests have become white mages and wizards, black mages.

Fans of the original will find that most of the content in the PSP version is the same, a plus considering its predecessor's high quality. The music, one of the game's greatest features, contains the same powerful songs looped during battles and menu navigation and supported by cute ambient sounds (the drawing of swords, the cries of the dying, the blowing of wind, and so on) during cutscenes and gameplay; most of the cutscenes are still presented with in-game graphics, though "important" scenes have been updated with more visually appealing animations that combine the title's sprite character graphics with its new maturity. The cutscene voiceacting could use a bit of work - I'm still of the mind that voicework should have been eliminated altogether here as subtitles would have carried the animation along just as well, if not better - and the UMD will freeze for half a second during cutscene play (usually once or twice a scene), but it is a treat to see Square breathe fresh life into Ramza and Delita after a decade since the original.

To commemorate the title's re-release Square also added two new gameplay features for fans, these being ad-hoc battles and jobs (now labeled as "errands") available in every tavern. If you'd rather fight against a human opponent or enlist job aid from a person with a more experienced squad, you can finally do so, and Square has even modified some of the gameplay rules for these ad-hoc options. Now if your favorite black mage dies in a battle against a friend and also crystallizes after his counter reaches zero (which would normally mean that this black mage is gone forever), you can get him back after the battle. Any equipment you lose is also returned after ad-hoc carnage, while bonus gil and equipment rewards are kept. The ad-hoc feature is of tremendous value to gamers with access to multiple PSPs and at least two copies of the game, but it means zilch to the rest of us. An infrastructure (online) mode that pitted players from across the globe against each other would have made War of the Lions the RPG for the PSP (and would have kept me too busy to write another review, ever), but sadly the feature is sorely lacking.


The Lions War does port very well over to the PSP, though the color palette is toned down somewhat, giving the game a more realistic look, and the handheld isn't capable of producing the same quality of sound that your HDTV paired with its surround sound routinely emits, however the title still looks, sounds, and plays almost exactly the same as its predecessor. The only other quirk I noticed in the PSP version is that some spells (like protect, shell, etc) have slightly slower animations than the PlayStation original's, though this is hardly noticeable unless you (like me) have both your PSP and PlayStation 3 simultaneously running the same game.

While some fans are going to be annoyed at the new cutscenes and the lack of online (infrastructure) play, most - as well as those who missed out on a true gaming experience in the late 90's - will find that Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is not to be skipped.

Also available on: PlayStation (if you can find it)
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Release: Oct 9, 2007
MSRP: $39.99
Teen | Ad-hoc play | News
Won runner up for GameBump's Best Portable Game of 2007

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