Review: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call

Final Fantasy has been lauded for many things, not least of which is its music, with many tracks ranking amongst the most popular videogame tunes of all time. But missing among the many spin-offs in Square Enix's premier RPG franchise was a proper rhythm game that celebrated its aural legacy. That's where Theatrhythm Final Fantasy came in!

A simple exercise at its base – tap the screen in time with the beat to earn a high score – Theatrhythm allowed players to groove along to a best-of selection of jams, from the original FFI battle theme to FFVII's “One-Winged Angel” and more. Beyond the tracks included on the card, Square Enix offered even more songs as paid DLC. However, it merely scratched the surface when you consider just how vast the series truly is.

Two years have passed, and Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call is here to properly finish what its predecessor started. Though billed as a sequel, Curtain Call feels more like an extended director's cut with all of the fat of the original release trimmed off. Theatrhythm may have talked a good game, but Curtain Call gives you more actual game.

Let's cut to the chase: the song list. The original Theatrhythm contained 77 songs, with an additional 52 songs available for $0.99 apiece from the eShop. In comparison, Curtain Call features a staggering 221 songs, a number that includes all 129 base and DLC tracks from the first game minus one (Final Fantasy XV's “Somnus,” if you were curious). And that's before we even consider DLC!

This time around, the tunes don't only come from the mainline Final Fantasy installments but also from many of the spin-offs, such as Tactics, Crystal Chronicles, Type-0, Dissidia, and the movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Most surprising is the inclusion of Mystic Quest, the oft-forgotten Super Nintendo entry made specifically for American audiences. While it may have been poorly received critically, its incredible guitar-driven soundtrack saved it from complete derision.

In other words, if you own a copy of the first Theatrhythm, throw that obsolete garbage in the bin!

As before, songs appear as Battle Music Stages (BMS), which feature up-tempo tracks as your party of four characters battles a queue of monsters; Field Music Stages (FMS), which feature more relaxed tracks as your party leisurely marches through the countryside; and Event Music Stages (EMS), which feature a special movie, typically a CGI cutscene from the source game, that runs in the background. Though the layout of notes and lanes in each stage is different, you're more or less inputting the same commands – tap the screen when red notes scroll over your mark, hold the screen on green notes, and slash in the indicated direction on yellow notes.

This system may be identical to the one in the previous game, but indieszero seems to have made the notes and marks a little more pronounced against the background. It's a very subtle style change that's easier on the eyes, thereby improving player accuracy. Furthermore, you can now play using buttons for normal notes and the slide pad for yellow notes, and you can switch between control schemes on the fly without having to enter the options menu.

For players accustomed to touch controls, button commands will of course feel foreign at first, but they are a great boon to people who get hand cramps using the stylus. Plus, on harder difficulty levels, using the slide pad to hit a string of yellow notes going off in various directions may be easier than scratching your stylus every which way.

Two new modes further distinguish Curtain Call from its lesser incarnation: Quest Medleys and Versus. Quest Medleys is this game's way of giving purpose to the stat-charting, role-playing mechanics that didn't have much use previously, although how effective they are in doing so is debatable.

The Theatrhythm series bridges rhythm gameplay and the Final Fantasy series proper by allowing you to assemble parties of four before going into “battle.” These characters are pulled from the entire franchise and have been rendered in an adorable paper cutout art style. Each have their own stats and magic abilities, which can be improved by gaining experience points.

On a quest, you and your party embark on a lengthy journey across an overworld map and must defeat a boss at the end. Along the way, there are branching paths that offer rare items, keys to unlock special doors, or checkpoints to return to in case you fail a stage. As quests grow longer, the song selection becomes more varied and the average difficulty of individual stages increases. Thus, less skilled players may want to assign curative magic and items to their party to avoid losing all their health and having to restart the whole quest over.

Quest Medleys place great emphasis on collecting loot; to earn the best spoils, you need a high-powered party with a range of abilities. The higher your strength in a BMS, the more monsters you can defeat, thereby increasing the number of items you earn. The higher your agility in an FMS, the further across the field you'll run, thereby increasing the number of treasure chests you may find. The higher your luck in any stage, the more likely you'll receive rare items, which include crystal shards that unlock more playable characters and collectible cards of Final Fantasy heroes and villains.

Of course, there isn't anything stopping you from ignoring these secondary goals and playing quests as typical music challenges. Since all that's required to clear a song is the ability to follow a beat, you can very well clear the toughest quests with a low-level party that hasn't been assigned a single magic spell. Simply testing your rhythmic skill during an extended play session may be your sole goal, in which case the RPG features may not hold any appeal.

Whereas the multiplayer options in the first game were limited to local co-op, Versus in Curtain Call allows two players to compete head-to-head either locally or online. You'll each play the same song, aiming for the higher score, but you are able to throw a spanner in the works by launching “EX Burst” effects at your opponent. These randomized inconveniences do anything from changing the speed at which notes scroll across lanes, to making notes invisible until they are just about to cross your mark, to even preventing all but perfect strikes from registering.

Experienced players can counter most any EX Burst on an individual basis, but in the heat of battle with different effects popping up back to back, it's very easy to trip over yourself no matter your degree of talent. As a result, Versus matches can be fun but hectic challenges that test your reaction time in ways that the main game cannot.

Should you so desire, you can play Versus against computer opponents. Computer battles are split into Bronze, Silver, and Gold classes, with the higher classes locked away until you clear the one before it. Your aim is to defeat every AI team until yours is ranked in first, but should you lose even a single match, you are bumped down to the bottom of the ladder. Bronze is pretty much a walk in the park, but once you enter the Silver class and start playing songs at the medium and hard difficulty levels while also fending off against EX Bursts, expletives may fly. But it's a good kind of stress!

No matter which mode you play, you'll earn Rhythmia based on your performance. This in-game currency helps you earn more of the aforementioned crystal shards, new sound effects to replace the default chimes when you tap notes, new event songs, or even a wider selection of playable songs in the Music Player. Speaking of the Music Player, this sound test menu on steroids essentially transforms your 3DS into a portable music device – you can randomize playback, create a playlist of personal favorites, or even close the lid to listen to your tunes via headphones while the 3DS is in sleep mode!

Comparing Curtain Call to the first Theatrhythm ultimately seems a bit unfair. Everything that was good about the original is here in full force and then some. You wanted more songs? You've got more songs. You wanted more modes? You've got more modes. You wanted more fine-tuned control options? Hey, they're all yours! The one thing it failed to do was make the RPG mechanics a fully integrated gameplay component, but I feel that Quest Medleys at the very least brings out a hint of that savory old-school RPG flavor.

At the end of the day, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call is about the music. It delivers the most comprehensive package of Final Fantasy jams short of something outrageous like a 50-disc box set containing every soundtrack in the series. For that alone, it's a must-have for any Final Fantasy fan or videogame music fan in general.

Final Verdict

9.0 out of 10

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call was developed by indieszero and published by Square Enix. It will be available on 3DS for $39.99 starting September 16, 2014. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.