When I took a look at the Game Boy Advance version of Final Fantasy IV just over a year ago, it bought lots of good memories flooding back. In the year since then I’ve been monitoring the progress of the DS remake with a weathered eye as the prospect of bobble-headed Cecil fun being rather appealing.

This is, of course, the second upgrade of an older Final Fantasy game that Square Enix have unleashed onto the DS, with last year’s version of 3 being a bit of a mixed bag due to it being heckishly unforgiving at times and not really having a particularly interesting story despite mountains of padding being stuffed in. This time around they’ve had rather more to work with as the original version of 4 was pretty much the first Final Fantasy to properly develop characters and plotlines, and it’s on those sturdy foundations that a very enjoyable new version has been created.

The story, for those not in the know, centres on a young chap by the name of Cecil who, whilst on a mission for the city of Baron, begins to doubt that his king’s intentions are right and proper. Having thus been sent off on a mission to deliver a ring to a nearby village, things take a rather serious turn for the worse and Cecil is cast away from Baron with revenge on his mind.

From this point it’s pretty much as you’d expect an old-school RPG to fan out. Your ragtag bunch of characters each has a specific job – be it Paladin, Black Mage, Bard etc- that they specialise in, and every time they level up they learn new abilities to use in battle. Combat is classic turn-based fare, you potter around a top-down view of a world map entering towns and villages to enter them and advance the story, and you will need to spend a heck of a lot of time running around in circles levelling if you are to have any chance of progressing.

Obviously, this is something that’ll appeal to certain types and not others. An example of how tricky the game can get happens a mere few hours or so into proceedings when you find yourself ascending a mountain to aid Cecil in completing a crucial task. You’ve probably by now levelled to – ooh, what, about level 15 or so with a bit of additional effort – and can slash quite competently through the numerous beasties on your way through, but at the summit you meet a particularly tricky boss that takes a heck of a lot of time and resources to bump off.

Not content with this, you are then immediately subjected to a second, much harder form of this boss, and chances are that if you haven’t had the foresight to save the game between battles that you’ll get your rear end handed to you. Thus, the only real option you have is to wander down the mountain again and spend an hour or so increasing your characters’ abilities, which can be rather frustrating. This general pattern repeats itself during numerous crucial moments of the game, hence you soon become aware that you are going to have to spend a great deal of time in the field.

This could be somewhat of a deal breaker to those who don’t enjoy such tasks, but Final Fantasy 4 gets away with it for two reasons. The first is that, with the extra padding and script the story has been afforded, it really is rather compelling. Shorn of the obtuse political manoeuvrings and complicated religious and spiritual meanings of the newer Final Fantasy titles, 4 tells a classic tale of revenge, loss and love and is all the better for it. The characters you meet are interesting and, thanks to the new 3D visual style and occasional voiced cutscenes, have added layers of personality that they previously didn’t.

The second is that, by introducing new abilities in a relatively simple manner and not relying on some sort of license board or such, it balances out the arduous task of levelling by simply dangling the carrot of new combat options in front of you. You’re always progressing in some form or another, and once you get into the swing of things it becomes a simple but very enjoyable system.

As for DS-specific updates and additions, there are numerous little touches here and there to add to the package. An addition to the battle system comes in the form of Augments, which allow you to gather new skills from picking up items, stealing abilities from enemies or gaining them when a character leaves the party. This means that each character can add a couple of supplementary skills to their cannon and players can mix and match to create a few combinations should they wish, which is all good.

Other improvements are less crucial, but no less worthwhile. When venturing into dungeons the bottom screen now goes blank and auto-completes a map of the area you are in as you explore. Completing these maps by searching every nook and cranny does run the risk of you overstepping the mark and getting involved in one battle too many and dying (something that’s accentuated by the relatively high encounter rate), but getting that 100% does reward you with crucial items and bits and bobs, so a decent risk/reward mechanic has also been chucked in.

The presentation, as you’d imagine, has been the main talking point, with the game making the jump into the third dimension and updating (although not in a particularly revolutionary way) the game’s musical score. The cutesy, old-world feel that the game has is also a particular place in my heart, and to my mind is infinitely more enjoyable and pleasant than the more realistic, modern settings that the more recent Final Fantasies in the main series have been given.

In general then, Final Fantasy 4 is pretty much what you would have expected it to be if you had played the original version. Building upon what was already a very solid base, the game’s move into 3D and the additional plot, dialogue and features that have been plumbed in along the way have made the game not only a very enjoyable, if a little unforgiving, RPG to be played by newcomers, but also a worthwhile purchase for those who’ve done and dusted Cecil’s story before. One to add to the DS games pile, that’s for sure.