Almost seventeen years ago Final Fantasy IV hit Japan on the Super Famicom platform, marking a turning point for Square in what direction they were taking their perennial franchise. While the game has been rereleased in a few forms since then on a variety of platforms, the DS version is the first to bring it into the realm of 3D. Underneath all of the new paint the DS version features a few new customization features but stops short of treading too heavily on the gameplay that made such a splash all those years ago.

At its core the gameplay remains largely unchanged from its original design and mechanics. The combat is based on an active/wait system in which it plays out in real-time but certain actions such as looking through a list of spells or items pause the action until a selection has been made. Unlike the original there is now an action bar displayed for the characters in your party so you can gauge how long it will be until their next action. The casting time of spells also uses this bar, filling up with a different color to signify how long it will be until the spells is actually cast. Certain spells such as haste or slow can speed up or slow down the progression of both aspects of the bar which completely change the flow of combat.

The character roster is a list populated by magic slingers and monks to dragoons and engineers. Each character is unique not only in their design but also in their role, strengths, and weaknesses. For instance Cid the Engineer is a capable melee fighter but also can use his knowledge to augment his weapon to the task at hand or analyze any weaknesses the party can exploit in whatever they are fighting. Tellah the Wizard has a massive roster of white and black spells, making his use very much based on the particular situation you find yourself in.

These differences really come to light in the DS version as it is significantly more difficult than the original. This doesn’t mean that enemies are all capable of one-shotting your party (though there are more than a few fights that will decimate the unprepared). Rather, the game rewards players who use the character traits of their party to their advantage and punishes those that do not, or those that think simply using basic attacks all the time will get them very far. Many fights require significant strategy, as do all boss fights, and the game is not one to even attempt to spoon feed the learning process. Players will get thrust frequently into situations where their first strategy gets them wasted, but gives them just enough knowledge to make their second attempt much easier as the light bulbs go off as to what they were doing wrong.

Another new feature is the Augment ability which allows you to customize the abilities of your party. If you happen upon the Counter augment you can use it one time to make a party member learn it and then select what ability they counter with. While one party member could technically learn all of the augments in the game you can only have a small number of them equipped, so choosing who learns what augments and what augments they have equipped can play into strategy as well. Some augments are rare and play into an unlock system of sorts that rewards multiple playthroughs of the game. You can also fully customize each party member’s battle menu. While you can only rearrange existing commands and can’t give Black Magic to your monk its biggest strength comes in the ability to do things like put specific items or spells right on your battle menu, even making it the first selection if you want.

It goes without saying that one of the biggest selling points of the game is the fact that it has seen a complete graphic overhaul. While the 3D graphics look stellar for the platform they also commendably still retain the same look and style as the original game. The extra dimension adds a lot of depth to the game, pun somewhat intended, and allows for character movements and cinematic angles for cutscenes that just aren’t possible in a 2D engine. Spell effects don’t have quite as much of a graphical punch as one would expect under the new engine, though it would seem to be more of the result of trying to keep faithful to the original look that they had rather than lack of trying. The character animations in combat are fluid, and the new look that monsters and bosses have make combat have an engaging, intense feel.

For all major cutscenes the game has full voiceovers for all characters, such as the intro aboard the Red Wing flagship as well as many others. While most of the voice acting is tastefully done there are some such as Kain that simply stick out as being way overdone or amateur. Nobuo Uematsu’s epic musical score has seen an upgrade as well, and while the songs are still the exact same melodies and instruments as fans of the original remember they have all been recreated with higher fidelity and clarity thanks to the audio capabilities of the Nintendo DS. Sound effects have followed suit as well, remaining just as memorable and noticeable while at the same time sounding much clearer.