When you’re dancing, you have to dance. And in Square Enix they know it very well, considering the series of rhythm-game which they have produced so far. Not only the ancillary series dedicated to Final Fantasy, but also the other franchise, the one for which very few, but lucky, chapters have been produced. That’s right, we’re referring to Kingdom Hearts, with Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory. But that’s not the franchise we’re about to talk about. Precisely, we are once again faced with the arrival, on February 16th, of Theatrhythm Final Bar Line, the new rhythm game of which we now have the demo version available, downloadable for free both on PlayStation Store for the PS4 version and on Nintendo eShop for the Nintendo Switch version, like the one we tested. Inside the demo I am up to 30 tracks available originating from the original games, including Final Fantasy VII (of which we recently reviewed the chapter Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Reunion)Final Fantasy XIII e Final Fantasy XIV. Perhaps not the titles you expected: not the great classics of the old golden days of the first production phase of the Japanese software house, but the result did not seem disappointing for this reason. But let’s see what we tested in this first available version: ready to turn up the volume and dance with your favorite heroes?
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line: musica, maestro!
The complete version in the Theatrhythm Final Bar Line includes 385 songs carefully selected and drawn from the entire Final Fantasy series, taking inspired by famous songs from 46 different games, without forgetting the most recent music from the chapters from FFI to FFXV of the main series, also passing through remakes, spin-offs and various soundtrack CDs, we were introduced to this demo test, therefore a reduced version of the definitive game, from a remake orchestrale del main theme di Final Fantasy, superbly composed. This version allows us to sblock 30 characters, which can go up to level 30, and 30 songs, as mentioned earlier, in short, the number 30 is very popular with developers! Furthermore, fortunately for us, we will be able to transfer all the game data and progress obtained here to the final version at its launch. Among the various ancillary objects, however, we will not be able to have access to the CollectaCards and we can only get up to 2,000 Rhytmia points. We therefore also arrive at the main menu, where we only have access to the first of three game modes, the Series Missions. These allow us to relive classic games while listening to the most iconic songs. Facilitated by complete localization in Italian, we have dived into this one and only possible mode, where we can unlock songs and characters as we rediscover the various titles in the saga. The iconic ones could also be missing Crystals? Obviously not! In fact, here too we will have to collect the aforementioned Rhytmia to make the Crystal resonate and make it shine, to guide us towards prizes and special objects. For starters, in this version we can choose from six titles, or FF II, FF V, FF VII, FF XIII, FF XIV e FF XV, where each has a different number of stages and missions and can be tackled by choosing the characters to include in your team, where we recommend always inserting one of the Healing type to more easily remedy the damage suffered. Of the four characters that we can choose, the first is always the leader, and we have up to 5 slots of different settings of our roaster.
Between orchestral rearrangements and fast-paced triggers
Once all this is done, let’s start ours BMS, i.e. the Musical Battle Stagesin addition to FMS, the Field Musical Stages, during which we must be careful to press the attack button as soon as the trigger lines up correctly with the relative symbols. The first tutorial available immediately immerses us in the fast pace with which we have to press the keys, also making different combos one after the other, and in a relatively easy way to complete. We just have to launch ourselves into the challenges available here and press the keys to the beat of the music to hit the triggers that move on the screen. With easy-to-learn controls and four different difficulty levels, the difficulty increases the further you dive into the game, but we found these first few stops challenging and encouraged us to explore all available content within a very short time. hours. If we are not comfortable, even though we have had the first tutorial phases available, we can also enter the phase Training to increase our chances of success, as well as being able to experience the same level in four different difficulties. In addition to these possibilities, we can also proceed automatically, and see how the required performance should turn out. In addition, therefore, to a technical sector that really reveals itself rich and excellent at the same time, where the response of the game engine it really turned out right away Great and with truly exciting performances for our Nintendo Switch, even the artistic one, starting from the reproduction of the soundtracks, is perfectly adherent to the original ones, heard in the previous chapters that we have been able to play. The enjoyment of the experience in the demo is increased precisely by these truly optimal technical characteristics, but how Final Bar Line is positioned compared to its predecessorCurtain Call? And especially, what do we expect from this new chapter?
The passing of the baton between the past and the present
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is currently considered to be the definitive rhythm-game experience from Square Enix dedicated to Final Fantasy, an important consideration if you think that the previous Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call was already a blast to play. This was not only because it was intuitive, simple and immediate, but also because it was played on the notes of over 200 songs taken from the chapters of Final Fantasy, and not only, released up to that moment. We all agree: regardless of the stories covered in the various chapters, the soundtracks of the games in the franchise have hardly disappointed our ears so far. If in addition last time we had the opportunity to log in to two control systems, one touch and the other manual, this time we experienced the only presence of the manual mode. A curious choice, which almost sounds like a step backwards compared to the previous chapter, but which was probably designed to reduce the possibility of error due to inputs transferred with the touch screen. Furthermore, like the other chapter, we have three different challenges available and many characters to unlock, in Final Bar Line present with a potentially greater number, as well as songs to listen to. Finally, the new game features all the improvements also introduced in the arcade Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: All-Star Carnival, also considering the brand new Pair mode for co-op play and mode Online Multiplayer, where four players must complete a stage together. In short, several novelties and enrichments are expected in the next experience, which seems to promise a lot of fun.
Piattaforme: PS4, Nintendo Switch
Sviluppatore: Indies zero Co.,Ltd
Publisher: Square Enix
Launch date: February 16, 2023
Square Enix has confirmed that Theatrhythm Final Bar Line has been designed for every type of player, without precluding any content based on the difficulty of the game selected. You can take it easy, or even ignore the gameplay to enjoy the songs and cinematic movies unlocked in the Theater Mode, available in the final version. The wait is still very short, a matter of days. The promised entertainment, on the other hand, seems a lot, between original contents now re-presented in an orchestral key and many characters to meet again, from the first chapter to the fifteenth. We can’t wait to be able to listen to all the music and test ourselves, key by key, trigger by trigger.
