Chrono Trigger Review
It’s about time!
By Ben Salter
Chrono Trigger was a lost cause for many Australians. Originally released on the Super Nintendo in 1995 the time-travelling adventure never made it to Aussie shores. Four years later it was ported to the PlayStation with some additional content, but alas once again Australia was forgotten. Now fourteen years after its original release
Chrono Trigger has been released in Australia. The DS has hosted the revival of many past great titles, however the difference this time round is that many Aussie gamers would have forgotten about
Chrono Trigger, and whilst it is almost 15 years of age it’s a gem that even the veterans out there would have yet to have conquered.
You play as Crono, who awakes on the morning of the Millennial Fair – a celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Kingdom of Guardia. Crono make his way to the fair, where his friend Lucca is awaiting his arrival to show off her latest invention. Along the way he runs into (literally) a girl named Marle, who drops her pendant which Crono kindly returns to her and being the gentleman that he is offers to take her around the fair with him. Crono arrives at the site of Lucca’s teleportation machine, and quickly volunteers to be the test subject. After ‘wowing’ spectators Marle rushes in deciding she wants to give it ago herself. But everything goes horrifically wrong when that darned pendant reacts with the teleportation device and sends her back in time 400 years. Crono acts quickly and follows her unknowingly beginning his time-travelling escapade that will have you emotionally hooked until the very end. In this day and age it’s hard to find a game with a plot as good as its gameplay. Chrono Trigger is one of those, a rarity that will have you actually caring about the characters and interested in the story. The dialogue has been re-written for the DS release making it closer to the Japanese original.
Chrono Trigger was revolutionary when it was released 14 years ago, it pushed the SNES to it’s limits and many of those ideals still come across as fresh today. Essentially it’s a relatively straight forward RPG following turn based combat, it just goes above the call of duty and offers more than you expect from the general RPG. Every move you make throughout Chrono Trigger can have a direct impact on the games events later down the track. Depending on what you do at the start of the game can affect what happens to Crono and other characters towards the end of the game and even determines which of the 13 unique endings you will see. The battles aren’t random, a majority of the enemies can be seen roaming the world, confrontation can often be avoided completely if you so desire.
The battle system is what Chrono Trigger was renowned for back in it’s day, and little has changed as it’s more than what is expected from the traditional turned based RPG. Rather than being a slow moving “Team A attacks then Team B counterattacks and repeat’ scenario the characters are spread out and move around during the fight. This has a direct influence on the result and techniques that can be used. Some special attacks for example are capable of hitting multiple enemies and as a result are only effective against enemies grouping in a cluster.
The techniques that can be mastered is based on who you have in your party and what their accompanying level. These can be performed by a single character or two or three combining their effects for a more powerful attack. By switching the characters in your party it’s possible to learn a greater number of techniques, especially if you chose to fight rather than flee in areas where foes can be avoided.
Chrono Trigger has stood the test of time, it’s almost 15 years old now and plays a little that way. Square Enix completely remade two of their Final Fantasies for the DS but chose not to do this with Chrono Trigger for one reason, don’t mess with a classic. It looks the same as the original, which isn’t by any means a bad thing, at the time it was stunning and it is still a great looking 2D title, although it doesn’t quite match some of the best looking DS releases. The cut-scenes have been taken from the PS1 version and downsized for the smaller screen. Unfortunately the audio in these wasn’t readjusted for the DS and comes across as very low quality and distorted, which is a shame because besides that Chrono Trigger has one of the best soundtracks ever written.
The stellar soundtrack has returned, and bar the distorted cinematic audio it’s one of the best soundtracks you will ever have the privilege of playing to. There are dozens of different locations where you may want to pause for a moment and take in the sounds, it really is that good. I’m not one for downloading the musical soundtracks from videogames, but after playing Chrono Trigger you will want to, while not the best of quality the musical score is absolutely superb.
If you have played Chrono Trigger before the DS version is more or less a straight forward port with some minor content inclusions. The major improvement is the use of the touch screen as a menu. It’s nothing revolutionary but it keeps the top screen uncluttered as the player stats are monitored on the bottom screen. Touch controls can be used to navigate the menu including when it a battle, although most of the time it was easier to use the face buttons, especially using the D-Pad over the touch controls to move Crono around the world.
In terms of new content, there’s the ‘arena mode’ in which you choose a monster, train it a bit then leave. Return a short time later and the little creature will have grown and can then be thrust into battle. You can pit your monster against a friend via local wi-fi, it’s a nice touch and adds in a multiplayer component, although one can’t help but feel it wasn’t really necessary. In the main game there are two new areas, the Dimensional Vortex and the Lost Sanctum. Neither of these offer a game changing experience, however there are a nice touch especially for gamers who have played through Chrono Trigger before, not to mention the fact that it adds the extra 13th ending.
The Final Verdict
Square Enix have ensured that Chrono Trigger on the DS is the best version yet, and if you didn’t import on the SNES or PS1 it’ll also be the first time that as an Australian you have a chance to play it. Despite being almost 15 years old Chrono Trigger is still one of the best RPG’s available, and truly has stood the test of time. It still looks great with its colourful sprite-based graphics and has one of the best soundtracks ever written. The battle system is one of the best out there and puts more recent turned based RPG’s to shame with its innovative take on the gameplay. Chrono Trigger is one of those rare games with a meaningful story, one that captivates the player to the point where an emotional link can be created between the characters and player. That alone is rare in this day and age, combined with fantastic gameplay Chrono Trigger is truly a must have for any RPG fan who missed it the first time around.
Gameplay
9.0/10
It plays exactly like the SNES version with some minor improvements through the use of a second screen. The battle system makes this one of the best turned based RPG’s available.
Graphics
8.0/10
Almost 15 years later Chrono Trigger still looks great. The colourful sprite-based graphics look better than ever on the DS, although while it looks nice it’s by no means the best looking title on the system.
Sound
9.0/10
One of the best soundtracks ever, a 10/10 had the cut-scenes not suffered from low quality distorted audio.
Value
9.5/10
It’s naturally a long game, and 13 unique endings is more than anyone could have asked for. Considering most Aussies wouldn’t have played it yet there is a great lengthy game here.
Overall
9.0/10
Submitted by ICC_06
13/02/2009
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