Quick Review: Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon

My three-year-old and I were perusing the local library looking for a game and she quickly became enamored with Square's Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon.  I tried to explain to her that it wasn't what she thinks it was but the cutesy duck on the cover outweighed any insight I can give into the world of RPGs.  My three-year-old is a sucker for the Sonic the Hedgehog's of gaming, not for a 40+ hour, redundant RPG based on story, spells, and leveling up.

Anyway, I lost the battle and we brought home Chocobo's Dungeon.  Once in, she kept asking, "when do we play?"  I repeated the importance of patience when it comes to RPGs.  After the beginning of the story unfolded, Chocobo tended to be the stereotypical, yet overly simple, JRPG.  A cutesy little duck going from dungeon to dungeon to complete relatively simple tasks. 

Once we had the game going there were two things that I noticed, I was impressed with the soundtrack and this game was too involving for a three-year-old and too dull and cutesy for yours truly.  The slow moving pace and simple layouts just never held my interest but I could see where this would be a great stepping stone for a nine through twelve-year-old gamer just starting out in the world of RPG.

Either way, I played through about five hours of the game.  I would have stopped about two hours in but my three-year-old enjoyed the story and liked watching and maneuvering Chocobo.  I don't think she is ready for old school Phantasy Star Portable yet, but the time is coming.

Final anlysis: Graphics: not bad, but it is Wii so wasn't expecting too much.  Audio:  the highlight of the game, definitely its biggest selling point.  Playability: the controls were ok.  It didn't really take advantage of the Wii-mote where it could have in some situations.  Fun:  if you are over the age of fifteen, you may find it a bit dull and slow moving.  If you are under the age of seven, it may be a bit too involving.  And, if you fall in between, it should be just right.  Grade: C-