Last week, I posted a less than enthusiastic review of "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time", stating that I didn't care for it that much and that nostalgia was the only thing keeping it alive. If there were a word to describe it, "timeless" would not be it. However, that word describes "Chrono Trigger" quite well. A timeless game is one you can experience any time, one that ages really, really well, and one that I could recommend to anyone today, regardless of how old it is. "Pac-Man", "Donkey Kong", and "Paper Mario" come to mind (although that last one might be more nostalgia talking). And "Chrono Trigger" fits the bill just as well.
When I was surfing the Wii Shop Channel to download "Final Fantasy VI", I noticed another game, this one, that I was meaning to try out for a while. After finishing the grand epic that was "Final Fantasy VI", I decided to give "Chrono" a spin. I had never played it before, and after finishing it for the first time, I can safely say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and can recommend it to any video game fan, young or old.
The aesthetic, designed in part by "Dragon Ball Z" artist Akira Toriyama, fits the game perfectly. The story involves a young man, aptly named Crono, who, along with two of his friends, are sent back in time, and forward in time, and everywhere in between. They find themselves in prehistoric times, medieval times, and even in the far-flung, post-apocalyptic, Terminator-ridden future. The multitude of settings expands the game's world very well. The story was nowhere near as good as "Final Fantasy VI", but then again, that game's story is one of the best told in the gaming medium. The story of "Chrono" works well enough for the job.
The game's battle system is pulled straight from the "Final Fantasy" series, but that's not really a bad thing, because the system works really well. In fact, much of the gameplay is identical to "Final Fantasy", with very few exceptions. For example, there's no more random encounters. That's a huge win in my book.
I do have to nitpick at a few small issues, though. Battles initiate like they do in "Paper Mario", in that they start as soon as you touch an enemy. However, the battle menus can get in the way of the enemies, making it hard or even impossible to see the enemy or how much damage you're doing to it. Also, later in the game, some important items become prohibitively expensive, adding significantly to the games challenge. And the dual- and triple-techs, as cool as they look, and as strong as they are, often throw strategy out the window in favor of using brute force. But these are just small problems that I can easily overlook.
Unlike "Ocarina of Time", I can recommend this game today, to any gamer, of any age. For a sixteen-year-old game to hold up this well for that long is an incredible achievement. This game is truly timeless.
Rating: ****
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