Despite mini-games being ideal for my often pea-sized concentration span, I’ll happily admit to anyone who can be bothered to listen to my random gaming meanderings that I’ve never really found much fun in games such as Mario Party 1 – 10,000 or the rather mental Wario Ware titles. If afforded the choice I am usually to be found staring in a rather gormless manner at any one of a whole bunch of racing games or RPGs, so you can imagine how much I was looking forward to sitting down and giving up some quality time in order to sample Square Enix’s latest mini-game packed Nintendo DS offering, Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales (or Chocobo Tales to give it an easier, more I’ve-just-come-back-from-Bank-Holiday sulk-friendly title).

Still, there was a glimmer of hope. Being a steadfast supporter of most things Final Fantasy I at least knew that I would find a mini treasure-trove of cameos and nods towards classic series settings and music, and given that I even managed to squeeze some enjoyment out of Final Fantasy: Dirge of Cerberus (cue boos and throwing of fruit) it was pretty safe to assume that at the very least I’d have the occasional whimsical grin plastered across my face. Somewhat improbably and to my great relief/joy/surprise (or possibly a mixture of the three), those whimsical grins soon became lost amongst some genuine smiles of enjoyment.

What’s the skinny, then? How does Chocobo Tales go about business? The story kicks off in rather twee fashion, with a group of differently coloured chocobos sitting down in a sunny field to listen to a story told by their friend Shirma. Well-meaning but slightly buffoonish black mage Croma suddenly dashes along clutching a rare and interesting book that he has bought in some far-off jumble sale. In the swishing of a Mog’s tail the book suddenly comes to life and swallows up every single chocobo on the island barring one, leaving the sole remaining feathered friend the rather daunting task of dashing around the local area trying to save everyone.

This, rather obviously, is where you come in. The general progression of Chocobo Tales sees you guiding your eponymous chocobo around the island finding story books to jump into, with each hosting a particular mini-game based upon a fairy tale or fable with a Final Fantasy slant. Early examples of these include a bizarre rendition of the tortoise and hare tale with some admanatoise and cactaurs thrown in for good measure, with the task at hand being to guide the slow-moving rock-shelled giant to the top of a mountain in as quick a time as possible, or to beat a number of other admanatoises on the way up. Another familiar type of mini-game involves you drawing small leaves on the DS screen to propel your otherwise-free falling chocobo higher towards the top of a beanstalk, which mirrors one of the better mini-games Mario 64 DS offered. The game divides most of the books into two sectors – Trial and Battle – with the former acting as a practice mode to get high scores, and the latter pitting you against a number of computer opponents to get the highest total.

Performing to a certain number of criteria – ones which can be viewed after gaining a certain item not too long into the game – allows progress in a couple of manners. Each story has three different endings that can be unlocked, and each separate ending will trigger an event on the island, be it a hole opening in the ground, a boulder smashing and unblocking a walkway or a wall of fire being quenched. Often these events serve as a handy prod to the storyline, triggering some kind of mini cut scene that progresses matters with the main quest. Story progression isn’t the only reward though; often you are given a card for your work, some of these releasing captured chocobo friends.

Ah, the cards. Whilst the majority of the first portion of the game focuses purely on the wide-ranging selection of mini-games on offer, proceedings soon take on a rather more tactical slant with the introduction of what seems initially to be a rather complex card battle system. The general concept of the system is that each card features a monster of character from Final Fantasy games past, and each has four ‘zones’ on each side, with attack or defence icons in a couple of them depending on the nature of the card. The trick with these zones is to use your attack icons to cause as much damage as possible by hopefully lining up with an empty zone on your opponent’s card of choice in each round. Each match lasts until a character’s health is completely drained, which in some of the more epic tussles can last anything up to about 20 minutes.

Things aren’t quite that simple, obviously. If your attack zone is corresponded by an opponent’s card having a defence icon in the same area, your attack will miss. Likewise, if both cards have an attack icon in exactly the same zone then damage will be halved for the attacks. Whilst choosing an attacking zone from your deck that doesn’t mirror a shield or another attack zone on your opponent’s card is rather down to luck, selecting an appropriate time to use certain cards can drastically shorten the odds as to whether you win or lose your encounter.

The system also has nuances in terms of different colours of cards that can react in certain ways to others. Each card you use stores a coloured crystal above your deck, and these enable the use of more powerful attacks that rely on a certain number of crystals being available when the card it dealt. I could go on and on about the various tricks and possibilities that various scenarios throw up but half the fun is finding these out and taking advantage of them for yourself, and the chances are that continued detailing of the rules on my part would eventually lead to you collapsing onto your keyboard. Suffice to say that despite the number of different tactical considerations you have to make things do become second nature after a few tutorials and matches.

It remains enjoyable too, which is thankful given the cards’ increased level of prominence in the second half of the game. Quite soon you’ll find yourself taking part in the mini-games merely as a method to get yourself better, more lucrative cards, and the collection of each of the 120 on offer becomes rather compulsive. When viewed as an overall package Chocobo Tales is undoubtedly a relatively simple, short-and-sweet game with an addictive card game set against some frantic mini-games, but it’s the fact it is so simple and enjoyable that ends up being its main strength.

This is especially true given the presentation the game benefits from. Stylistically things look very similar to Square Enix’s recent rehash of Final Fantasy 3 for the same system, with vivid colours splashed liberally around and chunky, rural buildings dotted around. It’s a world that you enjoy venturing around, and whilst not offering a vast amount of different locations there are enough distinctions in them to make them unique and memorable all the same. All the while this is backed by a selection of remixed tunes from the back catalogue, giving you that warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

To nutshell the whole thing, Chocobo Tales is the ideal sort of game for short, half-hour gaming sessions. The storyline is hardly something that’ll take you on some sort of rollercoaster journey through the entire emotional spectrum, and as amusing as the mini-games are they are exactly what they say on the tin: small games that will hold your attention for a minute or so at a time. When bundled together with an addictive card game and the general sights and sounds that Final Fantasy fans old and new will enjoy, you have yourself one very competent title. Sometimes, that’s all a game need do.