Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for Game Boy Advance

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is the first SquareSoft (now known as Square-Enix) title on a Nintendo system in years. It expands on the excellent tactical-strategy Final Fantasy Tactics for Playstation and builds a strong foundation for future Final Fantasy titles, and it has enough multiplayer features to keep it alive for a long time.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is the story of Marche, a young boy who is drawn into the fantasy world of Ivalice with his friends after they open an ancient book. Marche wishes to go back to the real world, but his friends are so immersed in the fantasy world that they do not want to return, leading to intense rivalries, especially since one of the friends becomes the prince of the fantasy world and holds a position of power. Marche must lead his clan of warriors to destroy the crystals that keep the world together and convince his friends to return to the real world without yielding to the temptation of staying.

Standard to the Final Fantasy Tactics series is the Job Class system. Jobs define what a character is and how his/her abilities and statistics develop. Fighters, Paladins, Gladiators, Warriors and such are powerful physical attack classes. White Mages and Bishops specialize in healing, and Black Mages, Sages, Alchemists, Illusionists and Summoners cast destructive spells on the enemy. Alternate classes such as Thieves, Beastmasters and Gunners inflict status ailments and other unusual actions on enemies. Some classes combine features from different ends of the spectrum, such as the Red Mages and White Monks. Each class learns abilities from equipping items and participating in battles, making the Thief an extremely important job for not only obtaining rare items from enemies, but also for the abilities contained within them. On a level below the Job Class system is the selection of character races.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance has a diverse lineup of races: humans, viera, nu mou, moogles and bangaa. Humans have the largest selection of jobs to choose from, but they possess no outstanding strengths or weaknesses. Viera are a race of female rabbit-girls who specialize in speed and spiritual magic. Nu mou are a hippo-like race of creatures who have strong skills in magical power. Moogles are cute, furry creatures that use their trickery and agility to toy with the enemy. Bangaa are lizard-men who have strong physical attack and defensive capabilities. The different races in FFTA contribute to the richness of the world, and a sense of community for each race is strong because the races control particular towns, clans and areas. Unfortunately, while some job classes are available to certain races, many are exclusive, and their abilities cannot be taught to another race, making character customization slightly inflexible. For example, you can create a Nu Mou black mage with the white mage¹s enhancement ability Turbo MP to unleash devastatingly accurate spells for an additional cost. However, you cannot do the same for Moogles because the white mage job class is unavailable to the Moogle race, and a Moogle will never get an opportunity to master the skill Turbo MP. Thanks to the wide selection of abilities, however, character customization is still deep, interesting and fun.

New to the Final Fantasy Tactics universe are the laws, a central point of controversy in FFTA. During most battles, a judge watches over the fighting. In each battle there are certain laws that must be obeyed, usually in the form of forbidden actions. The laws can affect anything: items, physical attacks, weapon types, spells, strategy. Violating the law earns a yellow or a red card depending on the severity of the offense. A character who earns a red card is sent immediately to prison where they must stay until you bail them out. Yellow cards can be erased by serving time in prison. Sometimes a penalty accompanies imprisonment, usually in the form of a statistical penalty or a monetary fine. Laws may seem annoying, but there's a catch: law cards allow you to manipulate the law to your will. After meeting the law card maker, you can trade cards with him that allow you to eliminate laws you don't like or to establish laws that give you a tactical advantage over the enemy. For example, eliminating physical laws and establishing laws against magic gives your party a significant edge in a battle against spell-casting enemies. Laws are troublesome at first, but they gradually become accepted as the norm, and it almost jarring to fight in unlawful areas (Jagds) where there is no protection against permanent death in battle.

Graphics and sound are impressive for a Game Boy Advance title. Colorful sprites, good animation and interesting spell effects continue Square-Enix's tradition of eye candy. The music is composed well and it has familiar themes from its Playstation cousin, but it suffers from the GBA's poor audio processing.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance features over a hundred missions and quests available in the pubs, and it continues even after you defeat the final boss. It also features Game Boy Advance connectivity with the link cable, allowing you to trade items and participate in multiplayer battles. It is a well-polished, addictive, fun game that will provide hours of entertainment for any strategy-RPG fan.