Dungeon crawlers can be very intriguing. They will keep goofing up with their way out and at the same time will pull off something that will invariably take them to them next echelon. The Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (DS) for the Nintendo DS lodges one such character which is all set to enthral audiences, veterans and beginners. Monsters are a constant show up where as puzzles keep loitering around the gamer which adds that extra bit of chutzpah to the whole process. One can also call it a plot to divert the attention of the gamer away from the main tasks, but then its absence will only deprive the gamer of that requisite attention which the game deserves. The Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (DS) game from Square Enix takes off by the protagonist celebrating his 16th birth anniversary. The gamer has to choose a tribe and gender and is then packed off to the village outskirts. This is the place where some mysterious creatures need to be slaughtered and the gamer is bestowed with a small crystal.

Dark shadows are cast over the village and a villager falls seriously ill. That is where the game really picks up steam as it tackles the gamer into a voyage which requires him to venture into the world of crystals and unravel many secrets. The rest of the game is about the gamer reaching his quest and learning a lot of hidden truths about his own past. The Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time DS game is exciting enough for the gamer to start playing and only keeps getting better as the game progresses. The graphics are scintillating and the most surprising part is the storyline which stays active throughout the course of the game. This is something which is missing from most of the adventure based games and its absence ends up killing the interest of the gamer. The pricing is reasonable for the new concept initiated and playing it will only ensure a chill of adrenaline. That is what real gamers like!

The story of the Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings begins one year after the war with the Archadian Empire. Vaan the protagonist who fulfilled his dream of becoming a sky pirate flies in a ship through the heavens with Penelo, his trusted navigator. The legendary sky continent of Lemurés is unveiled when Vaan and his friends Fran and Balthier discover a treasure known as the Cache of Glabados. Vaan was levied with the burden of protecting the winged inhabitants from the sinister Judge of Wings and her illusionary armies. Along the adventurous journey of the Square Enix game, the players will encounter friends as well as enemies both old and new, and experience the surprisingly questions of what it meant to be truly alive.

The best features of the Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings game are its fabulous visuals and graphics. The touch screen control of the game provides the players to maintain and manage their armies with ease. This game also has a wonderful story line with numerous twists and turns and large deviations of mission and side quests interest the player to play this game. The features of the Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings DS game include the following specifications: - adjustable screen backlight, portable gaming console w/ 2 LCD screens, ARM9 67 MHz Main CPU, 120K Polygons/sec, 30M/s pixel fill rate, 4 Mbytes RAM, ARM7 16.8 MHz Secondary CPU, 2-D: 4 backgrounds, 128 sprites and GBA backwards compatible. This Final Fantasy game has a wireless multiplayer option by which up to 16 players can play the game. The game can also be stored on a rewriteable media of up to 1GB capacity.

The box of the game contains Nintendo DS (Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings Sky Pirate Edition, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Power Supply (110V), Stylus x2, GBA cartridge slot cover, strap and a user manual.

Fifteen years ago this masterpiece took the world by storm. The new version for the Nintendo DS is a completely revamped version that re-masters the original Square Enix game and integrates updated graphics and detailed environments to recreate the franchise in form of the Final Fantasy IV.

The plot does away with the redundant story of battling the evil emperor to save the world. The characters are exposed to far more complex emotions and issues. Love, honour, hate, duty and betrayal are some of the aspects that have been etched into the game. Move through the Final Fantasy IV DS story as Cecil, a man weighed down by conflicting interests. Burdened by the aspects of right and wrong Cecil the Lord Captain of the Red Wings of Baron, now questions the crimes he has to commit in the name of his king. He is removed from his position and sent to the village of mist where his fate is shown to him. In the quest Cecil is joined by many captivating characters like Rosa his love, Tellah a sage consumed by revenge and Rydia a summoner with magical abilities. He has to face the menacing Golbez and his four lieutenants. Among these elemental henchmen is Rubicante who persists on healing you and then fighting you so that may face him with all your ability. The new customising option gives you the ability to augment your characters powers. These augments are placed throughout the game and if you seek hard enough you might be able to equip your character with dark powers like Cagnazzo’s tsunami attack. New cinematic cutscenes have been included along with full voice acting by the characters. However these dialogues are the weakest link in this formidable game and prove to be quite irksome.

This classic 3D version ups the graphical interface, improves the design, introduces new gameplay and in with an array of characters that have more depth transforms itself to emerge as an outstanding edition of the Final Fantasy franchise.

The Dragon Quest series has been almost revered in Japan though it did not meet with as much success in the West. Dragon Quest V with the subtitle The Hand of the Heavenly Bride comes as the latest version to Nintendo DS.

First look at this game indicates there is a host of difference in the presentation as compared to the earlier versions like Dragon Quest IV: The Chosen Ones. The visuals in Dragon Quest V are stunning and realistic. Environment is featured with faux 3D worlds on the 2D sprites. An interesting additional feature is that players can rotate the camera all through 360 degrees. Journey takes you through wonderful and colourful visual art. Sound track is similar to the past versions. In this remake, it is finally the design and the story that take the cake.

Another interesting fact is that in the Heavenly Bride, the story takes you through the entire life of the character, not just a particular period. This is something rare in games. It is always fun to be a part of the life of a boy who makes his way through life and emerges a hero. The whole sequence of events is interesting and may a times keeps you guessing as it takes you through various circumstances.

The design of the Square Enix game has been expertly incorporated into the storyline. There are even instances where you look back when you go to a particular place on the time when you were there last. This game is clearly one of the best and interesting RPG games on the DS Lite.

Games of today, even many Nintendo DS games, have taken on a new trend. Look closely and you’ll see that most of them involve a character who can choose the path of either good or evil. Usually, you’re the almost bad guy who decides to become good and save the world.

Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume has taken this trend backwards actually, where the main character, Wylfred, is actually a good guy, who looks strikingly like Sephiroth, except for his hairstyle maybe. Wyl isn’t a bad guy, but wants to kill the Valkyrie, who is the spirit guide for the newly- dead warriors from the battlefield to the afterlife. Wyl blames the Valkyrie for the death of his father, and wants plain and simple revenge in this Square Enix game.

He’ll need all the help he can get, which he DOES get, from a powerful god who gives him his powers, through the plume. The plume is a Valkyrie feather, which is induced with dark energy. You can get energy by sinning, which involves damaging an enemy after he’s dead. Another way is to unleash the plume on one of your allies, which makes them super powerful for a bit, and then they just die, with their grief and sorrow making you more powerful.

You play as a team of four, with each character controlled by one face button. This game is sinister, quite enjoyable and rather similar to the Valkyrie Profile - Lenneth PSP game.  Ever the levels allowed for the preview of Covenant of the Plume weren’t that easy either. They were the exact opposite in fact. The title will be out mid-March, so keep your eyes opened for it.

After almost fifteen years, the game Crono Trigger was brought to life by its developer Square Enix on the DS. In this interesting game, you are the Crono. At the onset of the game, you wake up at the 1000th anniversary of the Guardia Kingdom, in fact at the Millenial Fair. You are told by your mother that Lucca an inventor is waiting for you at the fair.

After playing around for some time, knocking over Marle, a blond girl making her pendant fall off from her neck, making up to her by showing her around, you come in contact with Lucca who is dying to show off her invention – a device that can teleport.

Seeing this for the first time, Crono jumps aboard and is immediately taken away from the fair. The machine called The Fly leaves some sparks and a lot of objects flying around during take off.

Thrilled with the success, Marle tries out the same thing and finds her pendant reacting strangely and she is sucked in to an era four hundred years ago. The entire sequence that follows involves Crono going on a journey of exciting magic, intrigue and time travel to find Marle. Constantly moving enemies and scattered characters provide for a better battle game play in Chrono Trigger. While the audio can be better, the cinematics is smooth. Sound track is a little distorted and not very clear. Arena the mini game offers a few thrills. Here, you are to give something to a monster you choose and ask it to train. You return after your adventure in the main game to find your monster at his job a little stronger. Use him to battle other monsters and win prizes you can take back to the main game.

This Chrono game is absolutely entertaining, especially for those who are playing it for the first time.

Come winter and you will witness the next addition to the Kingdom Hearts series, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days. It is an action role playing game developed and published by Square Enix exclusively for the Nintendo DS, with assistance from h.a.n.d., a Japanese video game developer. It will feature both single and multiplayer gameplay modes. The single player mode will be story based, and progress over days, where the player controls the protagonist of the game, Roxas. The multiplayer mode is mission based and will comprise cooperative and competitive player battles.

The story, which takes place between the second and the third game, centers on the life of the protagonist. The game revolves around the untold events of Roxas during his time with Organization XIII. It takes place during the year when Sora is asleep. The gameplay will start when Roxas enters the organization and will further encompass his daily duties with the organization, along with his doubts and eventual departure from the organization.

358/2 Days will explore the time from Roxas’ creation until his confrontation with Riku that leads to his placement in the Twilight Town in Kingdom Hearts II. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days will feature several Disney characters, just like in previous games, including the GBA hit Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories. It will make minimum use of your handheld’s touchscreen functionality. Are you game?