May 10, 2006 - This is the first time that Final Fantasy III will be available exclusively for the English-speaking market. The original Japanese version was anything but a cakewalk for FF fans that dared to navigate the import. Those who played FFIII on the SNES should already know that that version was actually FFVI in Japan. So there is a darn good chance you haven't played this game before.

What you can expect is the unexpected. This is not a port of Final Fantasy III, it's been entirely overhauled and will be presented in glorious 3D.

The cutscenes are fantastic. So fantastic as to actually be a detriment to the in-game graphics, which by comparison look as though they were ported from the GBA. The cutscenes have an epic feel. They set the tone of the story as incredibly huge airships dwarf the characters.

The characters are easy to pick out. They display simple but effective facial expressions and are recognizable by their costumes and colors. It should be easy enough to pick out the black or white mage.

The scenes we were shown exhibited plenty of action with huge monsters in strange lands. A range of interesting weapons and magic were seen but require more explanation as to their exact functions. It's also not clear how the game will implement the touch screen controls but since this is Final Fantasy, you can bet that we'll be in for few surprises.

By Cole Smith
CCC Senior Writer