From Deseret News archives:

'Chrono Trigger' is a bit outdated but still fun

Re-release is aimed at those who played game a decade ago

Published: Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2008 12:16 a.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
Game title: Chrono Trigger
Platform: Nintendo DS
Studio: Square Enix
Rating: E10 for Everyone 10+
Score: 8.5/10

THE REVIEW:

Gameplay: "Chrono Trigger" originally hit the 16-bit Super Nintendo in 1995. Made by a dream team of some of the brightest minds in Japanese video games, "Chrono Trigger's" fast-paced role-playing gameplay won over a lot of fans bored with slower games like the "Final Fantasy" series. While retaining the epic linear storytelling of the best RPGs of the day, the game's menu-driven combat system focused on battlefield locations, area-of-effect attacks and special tag-team moves. It was lauded as a breakthrough hit at the time.

Story continues below

Now Square Enix has re-released "Chrono Trigger" for the Nintendo DS, allowing a new generation of gamers to experience its classic gameplay (and letting old-schoolers revisit the nostalgia of youth). The DS version is almost completely identical to the original, with a few tweaks. The controls now support the DS stylus, and the battle menus can now spread across both screens, allowing for more space. The game's script has received an updated translation and localization from its original Japanese. New optional dungeons to explore have been added, as well as the ability to raise monsters and battle friends in a multiplayer arena mode. Anime-style cut scenes, made by "Dragon Ball" creator Akira Toriyama, have also been grafted in.

But the point of "Chrono Trigger" isn't what has been added but what still remains from the old days. And what still remains is an excellent 15-20 hours of RPG goodness. Players take the role of Crono, a young swordsman who inadvertently discovers a gateway in time when his friend's invention goes haywire. Eventually, seven characters, each with unique attacks, join the party. Characters can be switched in and out at almost any time, and each three-person combination leads to different tag-team attacks, called Techs. The game's story centers around the discovery of an alien life form called Lavos, which will eventually rise from beneath the earth and destroy all life if it is not killed in the past first. (Visiting the post-apocalyptic future, where Lavos has already wreaked his havoc, is still a cool moment.)

Recent comments

Square-enix must have a square-brain for not extending this series....

Jonathan | Sept. 9, 2009 at 5:29 p.m.

I paid premium prices to get the SNES version three or four years ago...

Great game | Dec. 2, 2008 at 12:01 p.m.

Related content
previousnext

Latest comments

Five players miss Jazz practice

Koufos may have upside but every time I have seen him play he stinks. He...

This board has some of the silliest comments I have ever seen. Are you all...

hey miles everyones on to you,clueless

Sandy studying impact of stadium

A lot of good this will do... The soccer stadium has already been financed...

BYU football: Bronco weighs in on Hall

This is old, Des News! Stop running stories on it. Let's move on to bowl...

Yet again, we learn BCS is a big joke

The big twelve was formed in '94 from as the merger of itself and half the...

To "mark | 5:59 p.m." the NASA GISS data has been manipulated. That data is...

by the comments of all the slc folk, all the buisness deals are solid, and...

Dr.: Mitchell seeks signs from God

The good Dr. Golding wants to know "what Mitchel gains by being declared...

Police seek missing WVC woman

I Hope U Make It Home SAFE & Sound 2 Spend Christmas With Ur Family. Susuan...

Advertisements