Specifications: ESRB: Everyone 10 and older ; Genre: Role-Playing

Price range: $36.99 - $39.99

• Reviewed by:
  Carolyn Petit
• Reviewed on: 04/08/2009
• Released on: 03/24/2009
• Originally published on GameSpot: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (Wii) Review

 

Echoes of Time kicks off on your character's 16th birthday. After choosing a gender and selecting from one of four tribes, you're sent off into the forest that borders your village on a rite of passage that signifies you've reached adulthood. But no sooner have you slaughtered some fluffy woodland creatures and been granted a small crystal after proving your worth in battle, than disaster strikes your peaceful, secluded village. Sent into the wider world to find a cure for the crystal sickness that has befallen a fellow villager, you soon embark on a quest that reveals the truth about the world's crystals and your own mysterious past. Don't come to Echoes of Time expecting the sort of rich fantasy world and epic tale that often accompany the Final Fantasy name, though, as it pauses only rarely for storytelling. This game is all about walking through dungeons and killing things, then taking the materials and loot you've gained back to town to acquire more-powerful equipment, and then beginning the process over again.

The action is simple and fun.

 

As you work your way through each dungeon, you'll dispatch the monsters who try to hinder your progress with some quick swings of your weapon or an appropriate spell or two. When you begin the casting process, your character stands still and you take control of a target ring, which you try to maneuver underneath your foe to hit him with your spell. There isn't any depth to the combat, and there's no strategy to the action; this is classic dungeon-crawling, pure and simple. But it's made rewarding by the frequent leveling up of your characters, which makes you more powerful and grants you new abilities, like a charged-up melee attack and the ability to stack multiple spell rings. You have six standard magic types at your disposal--fire, blizzard, thunder, cure, raise, and clear--and once you can stack two or more rings together, you can combine different types of magic to discover new and powerful spells.

 

But sadly, your greatest battle will not be with the massive horned toad, the fanged bookcase, or any of the other monstrosities you must face on your quest. No, your strongest opponent is tedium, which attacks you constantly in the form of dull puzzles that bring the action to a screeching halt. The block-pushing, switch-triggering puzzles here are easy and wearisome, and they come up with such frequency that you'll feel like you spend half of your time in each dungeon dealing with them. Making matters worse, there are only a handful of dungeons in the game, and you'll pass through most of them twice, requiring you to go through the motions for some of the puzzles a second time.

Your adventuring is a lot more enjoyable if you have friends to join you on your quest. Even the tedium of the game's puzzles is lessened if you have people to share it with. Up to four players can link up over either local wireless or Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection, and while the story can be advanced only on the host console, each player will retain any experience and currency earned during the session.

 

When cooperating with friends, though, it helps if you can communicate effectively, and the in-game interface for communication, with its trees of preestablished phrases and an onscreen keyboard, is clumsy and limited, making local multiplayer far superior. We also experienced bouts of lag on Wi-Fi, and while the option to invite or join strangers sounds like a good idea, we were typically matched with characters who were well below or well above our own level, making effective adventuring difficult and leading to many abruptly ended sessions.

 

You can also create AI adventurers to join you, but they're no substitute for flesh-and-blood companions. As in multiplayer, you can travel four-deep through the dungeons, and while your AI companions are generally pretty good at attacking things, they're also pretty good at getting themselves killed, so the larger your AI party, the more healing, raising, and babysitting you'll be doing.

The game is essentially identical on the DS and the Wii, and in the Wii's case, that's not a good thing. Clearly designed with the DS in mind, Echoes of Time is awkwardly tossed onto the Wii, complete with two separate "screens" on your screen at all times.

 

The colorful visuals look crisp and inviting on the DS, but blown up on your TV screen, their simplicity becomes a detriment. And once you've experienced the DS version's touch-screen interface, which lets you use your thumb to instantly switch from one character or type of magic to another, the remote-and-nunchuk controls on the Wii feel unwieldy by comparison. All this, combined with the fact that the action is a great fit for gaming on the go, makes the DS version the better choice. In either case, the tunes you hear throughout your adventure are lighthearted and catchy, providing an upbeat accompaniment to the action.

The boring puzzles that constantly interrupt the game's momentum are a shame, and a greater variety of dungeons would have made the experience richer, but these aren't enough to defeat the game's better elements altogether. The initial quest may take you about 15 hours on your first go, but you can keep developing your characters and advancing into higher difficulty levels after that.

 

Despite Echoes of Time's flaws, fans of dungeon-crawling, hack-and-slash action may be compelled to keep coming back to this adventure for a long time.

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The 5 Top Rated Wii Games - and tips to buying them for pennies!

I know you guys are all sick of spending dollar after dollar on the top rated wii games. You bought the console, and that was expensive enough right? Well stop paying so much for the top rated wii games! How you ask? The internet.

There are Wii download sites that now offer unlimited lifetime memberships for only $49.95. How many of the top rated wii games could you get for that price? Probably only 1. With these sites, you not only get the top rated wii games only hours to days after they come out, but you also get all the Wii media you can get your hands on – music, TV shoes, movies and software.

So what are the top rated wii games right now?

Well the top 5 selling wii games as of January 2009 are:

 

	Mario Kart – It’s a classic. Since super Nintendo, I think every gamer gets the concept. Don’t think I really need to explain this one. Oh yeah, having the Wii wheel is a great addition for this game.
	Guitar Hero: World tour – Bust out the guitar and be treated like a star. If you liked the previous versions, this is just the next step!
	Animal crossing: City Folk – Never Played this game, but its basically an endless vacation. Basically a really cool simulation game in this animal world!
	Rock Band 2 – A sequel to a classic, you and your friends can become rock stars in this challenging game. Work the mic while your friends play the guitar, bass, and drums! 100 new tracks to master!
	Super Smash Bros Brawl – This is just a classic. Since it first came out on Nintendo 64 I was hooked. Great game when you have a bunch of friends over. An all out brawl, you can choose one of the classic Nintendo characters from Mario, to Sonic, Zelda, Fox and the list goes on. Definitely my all time favorite Wii game

My personal top 5 that I think everyone should play are:

 

	Super Smash Bros Brawl– no need to add more. If you haven’t played it, get to it!
	Mario Kart – Same as above
	Tiger Woods PGA tour 90 – Had really low expectations for this game. Wow was I mistaken. Probably the most exciting and interactive golf game I’ve played. I’m glad I tried this one out!
	Super Mario Galaxy – Another amazing Mario adventure. Is it possible for this to be a bad game? This game is out of this world. Literally – with Mario taking his adventure from planet to planet in search of stars!
	WarioWare – This game is just crazy! From slapping people till they wake up to grating cell phones with cheese graters, this game is weird but incredibly fun! So random, yet so effective, but then again it is Wario right? This game is built around the Wii remote so if you haven’t played yet, you’re in for a treat.