The game starts in a pretty stereotypical way. Tiz, a young man, walks with his brother and something terrible happens. Tiz then joins together with a rag tag bunch of heroes as they stumble their way through fighting enemies and clearing dungeons. Honestly, the story is pretty typical for anyone that has played a Square Enix or Final Fantasy RPG anytime since forever. All of the tropes, memory loss, giant crystals and a twist or two along the way are all there. But the weirdest part about the story how it doesn’t seem to feel too terrible even though these tropes have been used forever. Maybe because it’s been so long since a RPG wasn’t over the top with crazy convoluted crap that a good, old fashioned, save the day story felt fine. In fact, it almost felt good.

I say almost because there is still a few RPG tropes that felt less like coming home, and more like coming home to a pile of dog poop in the kitchen. When the story does fall, it falls hard. For example, going on a quest line to get one of the heroin’s a pretty dress so she can win the fashion show is not an appealing hour or more, especially when the payoff is less than rewarding. Also some of the scripting for the story seems, oddly adult in some areas to say the least. One of the side quests has you defeating a man that drugs women and takes them to his dungeon to steal their beauty. A weird, and almost offensive idea, to someone that understands the underlying context under.

So the story has some good and some bad, but all of that didn’t really matter too much because the meat of the game, the combat, is some of the best turn based combat I have played in quite some time. The brave and default system is an interesting one that feels good and makes turn based battles interesting again. When fighting players can choose to brave, which uses an extra turn right now for the trade off of having to wait the next turn, or defaulting which is basically blocking, but gives you an extra turn next time around as well as all of the stereotypical Final Fantasy attacks. These options give players a multitude of different options for approaching battles and changes the formula enough to make things interesting.

Another thing that changes battles quite a lot is the ability to mess with almost everything in the game when it comes to the frequency or agency in battles. Players have a slider where they can increase, or completely turn off random encounters. This gives players an option to grind in some areas or to run through others as quickly as they choose. There also is a fully automatic battle system that will just take the last commands and do the same attacks at every encounter. This again makes grinding much easier and much less painful unlike past RPG games that I hope gets incorporated into other titles.

One of the best parts about the combat system in Bravely Default is the Job system. Players assign each character in their party to fill certain jobs that are pretty similar to other Final Fantasy job systems in the past. White Mage heals, Black Mage does magic damage, Knights are heavy hitters with lots of defense and so on. The thing that makes the job system so interesting is there is actually a primary and secondary job. This rewards players for switching out jobs and mastering each job to expand the abilities characters can have.

There are a few interesting things that Square Enix has incorporated that can only be done on the 3DS. The 3D when in town has a beautiful painted world that will pull out if any time is spent not pressing buttons. Also the streetpass additions to the game are phenomenally addicting and will keep players checking their 3DS as often as they can. Streetpasses nets villagers in the main characters town that will be able to build shops for upgrades, weapons, armor and other special items. Bravely Default is about as perfectly built for the 3DS as any other Nintendo game is for the platform and this leads to a great overall experience for a person looking for a 3DS title.

For good or for bad, Bravely Default is an old fashioned RPG. The story can be hit and miss at the same time introducing fantastical and cringe worthy dialog. If you are looking for something to sink your teeth into for 80-100 hours this unabashedly Final Fantasy like game isn’t a bad way to do it.

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The playable stages basically fit into three different categories called BMS (Battle), FMS (Field) and EMS (Event). All of these 3 different types of songs have players picking a team of 4 of their favorite Final Fantasy characters from the Final Fantasy lore. Battle Music Songs have your party fighting different opponents by tapping, dragging and directional swiping on the screen. The Field Musics Songs are bright, fun songs from the open world of different titles and have special events that turn characters into chocobos. The Event Music Songs are emotional, almost dance pieces, that have a moving cursor to follow. The three different styles break up the game play well and surprisingly have a whole different feeling even if they are using very similar mechanics.

The immediate thing that became very evident, after playing Theatrhythm for more than an hour, is that there is TONS to do in this game. The story mode or Series will take players on an adventure through the 13 number titled Final Fantasy Games. Each Series has a section for opening and closing credits, a BMS, a FMS, and EMS. Fans of the series will immediately recognize the songs from their favorite titles and are sure to enjoy cut scenes taken from the original Japanese versions of these games.

Another game mode, called Challenge, is a way to go back and play different songs that are unlocked by beating a series. From here you can unlock harder difficulties and also is really where the RPG elements of the game can come through nicely. Taking a team that is stacked in strength and magic will result in a much better outcome for the BMS parts rather than agility and luck which are good for the EMS and FMS types. Also after playing the harder difficulties of songs you can unlock harder difficulties for the Series mode as well.

The last game mode, that is different from the Series and challenge, is the Chaos Shrine. The Chaos Shrine has players going through Dark Notes, or challenge stages, either by themselves or with 3 other friends locally. These Dark Notes are very challenging versions of songs not in the Series mode and have drops for unlockable characters and items. You get these Dark Notes by going through Series and Challenge modes. You can also get a Dark Note from people in the street through street pass. There is something rewarding about opening up your 3DS after walking around for a while and unlocking content that was not there before you left.

One thing that will get fans really excited is the Museum that is built into the game. The Museum is a digital locker where all of the songs, cut scenes and collectables can be looked at and messed around with. The collectable cards have information about enemies and other characters, when they appeared in the franchise and why they are significant. This digital locker had me stumbling around it with my stylus just to look and remember things from the past.

Closing Thoughts:
A customizable street pass profile, local multiplayer and a ton of different game modes keeps this game fresh for a long time. The songs and events pull at nostalgia strings while introducing a new laid back game that can be enjoyed on a bus or while chillin’ on a couch at home. The only real gripe I have is that the RPG elements are kind of almost an after thought. Other than that though, the folks at Square Enix have a great game in Theatrhythm, just a bad title.

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Now I can not stress this enough, this game IS NOT a re-release of the classic Nintendo 64 Game, much like the GameCube version was, this 3DS version of the game, has drastically improved graphics from its predecessors, Link actually a few boxes anymore. The game has been beautify ported onto the handheld system and also features two new modes to the game. Master Quest, well that’s not EXACTLY new(it was in the GameCube version) but this time around its even more difficult. The Master Quest mode is now also mirrored, and you take twice as much damage as in the regular quest. Then there is the Boss Rush mode, which is basically exactly as it sounds. You go up against the many bosses of the game one after another in an attempt to beat your fastest time, and constantly improve your game.

Now for those of you who don’t know what the original Ocarina of Time game was, or just forget, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the first of the Zelda games to traverse into the 3D realm. This game features our young hero Link as a child who becomes the Hero of Time and transcends time itself to save the land of Hyrule from the evil Ganondorf, who has taken over the kingdom in an attempt at ultimate power. Ocarina of Time features a central field in which all major areas can be accessed, multiple dungeons with challenging puzzles and enemies to defeat, and a large arsenal of items and equipment at Links disposal to help him save the land of Hyrule. This is the game that started the major Zelda craze back in the N64 days and now you can have it anywhere at your fingertips, ready to play whenever you are.

I highly recommend this game for players of all ages. I personally played the original Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64, 13 years ago when I was only 7 and I still enjoy it today, maybe even more so. The original game along with Super Mario 64 still fuels my passion to pursue my dreams, and continue my degree in Game Design. If a game still has a lasting effect 13 years after its release, that says something of its quality that isn’t seen in many games now days.

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As with past Mario Kart versions you have the same options to play either Grand Prix, Time Trials, Balloon Battle, or Coin Runners. Racing tracks include Toad Circuit, Daisy Hills, and Cheep Cheep Lagoon, as well as old favorites like Luigi Raceway from Nintendo 64, Bowser Castle from Game Boy Advance and Mushroom Gorge from Wii.

You can choose to race as Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Toad or Koopa, with the options of unlocking more as you progress. For a trial run I played as Mario in Grand Prix, 50cc (easy level). For Mario’s vehicle I optioned to try the tugboat with monster truck wheels and a Super Glider, quite a unique combination. There are also several “mystery” items to unlock that are shown as question marks.

Wahu Loop is a racetrack built beside a serene lake with windmills, cliffs and tunnels. Mii characters sit in the audience as spectators. You’ll notice the amazing detail on your racing vehicle of choice, mine being the tug boat for example, with the outline of the wooden boards inside the boat, the square nub pattern on the tires, and steam pouring out of the smoke stack. On this track you can also collect coins which help to unlock items, and if you manage to hold ten coins you can race at maximum speed. At one point you’ll be sharing the track with non-racing cars and trucks, so be careful because if they hit you they’ll knock the coins right out of you.

Between bullet-dodging, avoiding banana peels, and swerving around road blocks, Mario Kart 7 requires the same game playing strategies as past versions, giving an added boost of life and energy in the form of 3D graphics.

You may be wondering, does the 3D add to gameplay? For Mario Kart 7 overall, yes, definitely.

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