Besides Ogre Battle, Final Fantasy Tactics (FFT) for the Playstation remains the first game I ever played that I consider to be of the strategy role playing (SRPG) genre. It seemed very different from your average role playing game while still retaining all of the points I love including a fleshed out plot, fun battles and interesting characters. Because of the heavy nostalgia involved with this game for me, I wasn't sure how I would feel about the PSP remake (dubbed War of the Lions (WOL)). I mean, let's face it, I have conquered many, many SRPGs since I first played FFT. Could the original SRPG stand up to all of the advances the genre has made? Surprisingly enough, it doesn't just stand up, it comes across as an extremely polished experience, even by today's standards!

The battle system in WOL is pretty standard fare though you have to remember that the original FFT pretty much invented that standard. That being said however, WOL follows the genre's proven approach to fighting. You first select which units you want to deploy to the field (and where) then, once the battle has begun, take turns moving your units around and strategically doing battle with the opposing forces.

Battles take place using a grid based format which allows you to move along the grid axis (with elements such as terrain and height put into play for good measure) and attack enemy units based on your abilities. The standards apply here. You can choose which direction to face and, naturally, based on where you attack from or are attacked from, you gain advantages / disadvantages. For instance, if you attack from behind, you stand a better chance of hitting where the opposite also applies. The same goes for the height of the terrain; the higher above your foe you are, the harder you will hit.

Strangely enough, though WOL's battles move extremely slow (marred slightly by some extra slowdown for the PSP, though not much), it never feels as though you are moving too sluggishly. The balancing in WOL is such that you are either on the edge of your seat, fighting for your life, or finally conquering the foes that for so long abused you. Therefore, like any good SRPG, you will find a lot to like with the actual battling component though you will likely get thrashed near the beginning thanks to the game's steep difficultly early on.

In fact, WOL is positively brutal in the early chapters. Expect to spend a bit of time levelling and testing out different combinations of jobs to find what works best. There are a lot of tricky battles in this game and I died more than I feel I have died in any recent game. Add to the mix the fact that characters can die forever if they are killed and you take too long to revive them and you have a rather tough game. Thankfully, if you make it over the hill, your team of butt kicking warriors will eventually overwhelm your foes near the end.

Overworld navigation is handled via a node system that allows you to point and choose where you want to go. It is very simplistic but certainly gets the job done. Equipment is handled in a slightly different way than normal SRPGs. Rather than merely giving boosts to an attack or defence stat, hit percentages, evade ratios and, most importantly, hit points are the real draw to equipping new armor, weapons and accessories. There is a lot of equipment to choose from in this game so prepare to break the bank as you progress.

FFT veterans will notice two new game modes this time around; a battle mode (against other players) and a mode that allows you to play cooperatively with another player. Both modes give you the chance to earn rare and very cool items to use in the main game and both look like a lot of fun. Sadly, Square Enix decided to not put in Internet based play. So, I have to try and find both someone who actually has a PSP and then pray that they also have a copy of WOL. Such a feat is simply not possible for me though it pains me to say because the modes look like they would be a lot of fun. Developers need to start thinking about us folks who simply do not know that many local gamers. Internet play should be a must for this sort of thing.

One of the main complaints people had with the original FFT is that the plot, while incredibly in depth and well thought out, was translated rather blandly making it so that it was difficult to keep up. Thankfully, a huge amount of attention has been given to the new translation. The story makes much more sense and the wording is nothing short of stellar. Those of you who like a little old English will find much to love in this game. Somehow certain moments just seem more refined with a better translation. While the plot seems to hurry itself forward a bit towards the end, what is there is very nicely done and well written.

Added to the original game are new cut scene FMV movies that help to progress the story or even add extra elements to the existing plot architecture. These movies are a thing of beauty and, while they are fairly plentiful, I felt as though I wanted more though likely more from the absolute quality of said movies than from the lack of.

If you thought the original FFT had a lot of characters to keep track of, WOL just adds more. This is a good thing and the new characters are pretty cool and fun to play with. Of particular note marks the cameo appearance of Balthier of FF XII fame. Not only is he in the game, he also is actually very usable and he actually found a permanent place on my team (unlike a certain spiky haired FF VII cameo character).

The characters are all very well thought out. Most have extensive back stories (some of them requiring side quests to fully appreciate) and come with some great dialogue. You will find yourself connecting with the characters on many levels which is a very good thing.

Graphically, this is the same game you played 10 years ago. However, given the genre's apparent ignoring of graphical prowess, this won't seem like such a big deal. The sprites in WOL are vibrant and fairly well animated despite their stubbiness. Environments are detailed and vary quite substantially which is nice. As previously stated, the cut scenes are amazing. Monsters suffer from a bit of palette swapping but rarely did I find it to be an annoyance. All in all, this is an original Playstation game on the PSP, but at least it was one of the more polished and detailed games.

The music in WOL is excellent, this game's score truly showed what the Playstation's CD based format was capable of and it stands the test of time on the PSP now. I definitely recommend playing this game with your head phones on as you don't want to miss any of the tracks. I did find that a few of the later battles seemed to get a little quiet however though that could just be due to the volume I had the PSP at. The cut scenes are voice acted and, surprisingly, very well done. The voices fit and the pronunciations are expertly done. The only flaw (if it is indeed a flaw) is that the PSP version has left out the battle voices that used to occur with certain attacks in the original. They are not really missed though for nostalgia sake it is sort of disappointing.

All in all, there is a lot to like with WOL even after going through some of the more recent PSP based SRPGs (Jeanne D'arc, Disgaea, etc). WOL proves that FFT set the bar so high that very little has yet to pass it and it stands up to today's standards almost insanely well. This is a welcome addition to any PSP owner's collection and for those of us who played the original, it is a sweet, sweet taste of nostalgic memories.

how it scores
battle system	9
interface	9
music/sound	9
originality	9
plot	10
localization	10
replay value	8
visuals	7
difficulty	9
time to complete	35 hours
overall	9

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RPGamer