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" Also available on: N/A Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Matrix Software Genre: Role-playing game It hasn&amp;#039;t been a great year for the Nintendo DS. Hardware and software sales are in decline due to an increase in piracy and a lack of blockbuster releases. The latest in a long line of Final Fantasy titles certainly has the lineage to buck such a trend, but does The 4 Heroes Of Light have the quality to fill the void left by no Mario and Zelda this Christmas? Square Enix has attempted to give it as much universal appeal as possible by simplifying the gameplay to aid the inexperienced RPG gamer, while still including most of the genre&amp;#039;s conventions. In particular, The 4 Heroes Of Light combines a deep job system with a basic battle setup in order to entice both the hardcore and the novice. But can the game really appeal to everybody? The storyline is a rather standard affair involving four teenage tearaways travelling the length and breadth of the land in order to save the world from being plunged into darkness. While this premise has been used hundreds of times before, the manner in which the plot plays out is actually very interesting. The game begins with Brandt waking up late for his coming-of-age birthday visit to the King of Horne. Unfortunately for Brandt, instead of popping in, saying hello and then going home to drink cheap cider in a park with his mates, the King requests that our hero rescues his Princess daughter from the clutches of the Witch of the North. After picking up a couple of followers along the way, the newly-formed group rescue the Princess before being told that as a four-piece, they will eventually save the world from darkness. It gets more interesting when the group return to Horne to find that the King is gone and all of its inhabitants have been turned into stone \u2013 a revelation which causes a rift in the team and divides the group for the first half of the game. Each character has their own plans, motivations and desires, and ends up having their own adventure. It&amp;#039;s highly entertaining seeing each of their paths cross - be it knowingly or not - and the developers create a number of mini cliffhangers before cutting to a different member of the group and seeing the world through their eyes. Like an ageing &amp;#039;90s boyband, however, they eventually reform and travel back in time to save the world as a team. The clich\u00E9 narrative is offset nicely by the punchy storytelling and gives the stale plot a fresh lease of life. A similar move is attempted with the combat, which mixes traditional, random, turn-based encounters with an auto-pilot option to keep things short, sweet and simple. If players are happy with the set of moves they have inputted, pressing a button will see the computer constantly using the same set of commands without the need for the player to press another button - potentially for the rest of the dungeon. Every action or spell costs action points (AP), which means that the only time players will have to intervene is if they run out of AP, so it pays to keep one eye on the action at all times. Considering that the dungeons in The 4 Heroes Of Light aren&amp;#039;t especially long, the random encounters never feel overwhelming, so level grinding and plot development can be achieved at a quick pace if players use the auto command option. Letting the computer do all of the work does come at a price, however, and annoyingly it&amp;#039;s at the expense of being able to target specific enemies - whether using the automatic command feature or not. It\u2019s extremely frustrating when players want to take out a particularly pesky foe but are unable to do so because the computer deems another enemy to be a bigger threat. The whole thing diminishes the strategic element of the RPG and is especially annoying when one monster in the pack is able to continually confuse the character or put them to sleep because the AI is targeting the physically stronger enemy, which results in death or having to use precious items.  Thankfully, Square Enix has gone some way to balancing this slightly shallow element of the battle system with an excellent and deep crown-based job system. There are 20 crowns to collect in The 4 Heroes Of Light, each of which allows characters to use different spells and grants access to individual abilities. If players are struggling to defeat a dungeon&amp;#039;s enemies with magic, then it&amp;#039;s best to pop on a crown which accentuates physical attributes and abilities. Likewise, if players are running low on items or need some gems, then put on the bandit&amp;#039;s crown and steal some goodies from an enemy. There are only six ability slots available with every crown, so picking the correct crown to use and paying attention to the spells and status effects for each one is essential, especially in the early stages of the game when characters might have to tackle dungeons with a one or two-person party.  There is a trial-and-error feel to the crown system and it might take a death or two to figure out which is the best crown for a particular situation. Fortunately, the developers have removed the finality of death by making it possible to respawn at the closest village for the cost of a few gems (with each character&amp;#039;s stats intact). Gems are earned by defeating enemies and have multiple uses. The only way to earn money to buy items, weapons and armour is by selling gems (and unused items), with the particularly rare gems worth the most money. However, gems are also the only means of improving crowns, unlocking stronger abilities and reducing the amount of action points needed to use spells. This is another well executed ploy by Square to add some depth in a rather simple manner, because it promotes constant thought and planning regarding the best time to buy items, sell gems or level grind. Unfortunately, level grinding in the game&amp;#039;s short dungeons isn&amp;#039;t particularly pleasing on the eye. Much like the rest of the game, the graphics are a mixed bag, impressing one minute but failing to sparkle the next. Towns and villages look amazing on the small screens of the DS. All are very distinct, brightly coloured, full of character and contain an abundance of impressive buildings and landmarks. The dungeons, on the other hand, suffer from a limited colour palette and are therefore dull and dreary, never containing any noticeable decoration to separate one corridor from the next - or one dungeon from the next, for that matter.  Overall, Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes Of Light never goes above and beyond the call of duty, but it&amp;#039;s a functional RPG nevertheless. Despite its flaws, it is capable of pleasing long-time fans of the genre as well as providing an experience that is easy to pick up and play for newcomers. The crown-based job system contains a decent amount of depth, which makes up for an overly simplified battle system, while the story moves along at a good pace making up for the lack of originality in the plot. It&amp;#039;s not the best Final Fantasy in the series, but The 4 Heroes Of Light is a worthy purchase in a lacklustre DS Christmas lineup.  &amp;gt; What do you think of the game? Share your views "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/final-fantasy/review/a283320/final-fantasy-the-4-heroes-of-light-ds/>