About Time: Chrono Trigger DS
It’s Chrono Trigger, just go and buy it.
Okay, fine. Chrono Trigger (Square Enix - DS) is that well-known and much loved RPG, originally released on the Super Nintendo in 1995 - it was also released on the first Playstation in some areas, trivia buffs. It has recently been polished and re-re-released as a Nintendo DS game, and it does not dissapoint. Unless you hate awesome.
If you don’t know, Chrono Trigger puts you in the socks of a young boy named Chrono who has a scientist friend. As we all know from TV and movies, all science ever does is fuck up, so a portal is accidentally opened which allows the main characters to travel through time. The hijinks which ensue include, but are not limited to, being accused of kidnapping, fixing ancient weapons for a frog, racing robots through 
post-apocalyptic ruins, saving the planet, and getting totally wasted. The storyline is suitably epic, which you would expect as it comes from Square Enix - makers of the Final Fantasy, a set of games which continually threatens to blow up, enslave or erase the universe. It takes plenty of satisfying twists and turns along it’s 40+ hour journey, and even gives you a massive part to play in the way things wrap up, leading to some juicy multiple ending goodness.
Gameplay is the usual Japanese role-playing game fare, or IS IT? Yes, but also no. The game uses the ever-present ATB (active time battle) system, which lets you choose commands when the character’s time gauge fills up. There are standard attacks and item use and magic spells, but the most fun part of the Chrono Trigger battle system is techs. Techs are essentially special moves your character can do. Each is classified with a type and range of attack, and as you fight over time with your characters they learn more techs. Soon enough your party can learn double-techs (two party members combine their attacks) and triple-techs (duh). It’s pretty hot.
The real greatness of the fights, however, is that they occur inside the actual game. While games that are due for release months into the future are still clinging to the phrase “random battles”, Chrono Trigger has most enemies (aside from the odd ambush) positioned directly on the screen, able to be seen in advance and often avoided completely. Actually being able to enjoy walking around the game world without the fear of suddenly materialising a grue to eat your face is a vast improvement. The balance of the combat is spot on as well, meaning you will find it a reasonable challenge without often having to go on a round-the-world dicking about trip to level your characters.
Graphically, nothing has changed since the SNES version - not that it needs to. That’s a white lie, though, since they did add in the animated cutscenes that were present in the Playstation version. It was a pretty game back then and it still is, with the 2D sprites not at all detracting from the experience. The character designs are by Akira Toriyama (think Dragonball) so there is no shortage of odd puffy collars and baggy pants, but all the characters are easily recognisable and look great. The settings are many and varied, and everything from the futuristic domes to the quaint medieval towns looks and feels alive.
Some additional features have wormed their way in for the DS version. The technical details of the interface have all moved down to the touch screen, which means you can access menus (the bottom screen shows an area map when not in combat) and fight battles with a tap of the stylus. This gives you much more space to check out the fantastic environments, and makes the battles less confusing in terms of layout. You can also move around using the stylus, although I found this a bit like a blind man shouting directions to a deaf child and stuck with the d-pad. The game lets you switch to the plain old Super Nintendo layout, but this makes the touch screen a… not-touch screen. Snuck in at the edges there are also a couple of new dungeons, as well as a monster battling arena which you can access from the End of Time. Nifty indeed.
In conclusion, it’s freaking CHRONO TRIGGER. The Goldeneye of RPGs. You should have stopped reading and be on your way to the shop already. Unless you don’t have a DS, or you hate RPGs and puppies. Really, if you don’t already own another version of this game you should grab it and play it until your own untimely death.