Revenant Wings – DS Review

What do you do with your time after you’ve saved the world? It’s a question Square Enix is having to ask its Final Fantasy characters regularly now it has taken to releasing direct sequels to the previously one-off world-saving adventures in its flagship series.

But finding a raison d’être for Vaan, Penelo and the rest of the sky pirates hasn’t been the only challenge for the company. By choosing to release Final Fantasy XII’s direct sequel on Nintendo’s small-screened hardware there’s also been the question of whether to shrink down its awesome scope and labyrinthine intricacy or try something different.

In a sense, the company has hedged its bets. With a basic battle system, simplified gambits and dialogue delivered with Reduced Shakespeare Company-esque brevity, this is Final Fantasy XII Lite. But, with some stabs into the realtime strategy genre that might be uneasy but build and improve upon the core control system of recent cousin Heroes Of Mana, it also has a rhythm and personality that’s very much its own.

You can read the rest over at Edge magazine’s site here.