I wasn't wild about the idea of playing Final Fantasy games on the DS. I had tried out Final Fantasy III DS a few months ago and quit after finding it incredibly difficult. I prefer to have my DS experiences tailored to the size of the console and its portable nature.

I recently found myself restless on an airplane. A friend had lent me Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, so I decided to check it out. I was soon so engrossed in the game that I refused to properly shut it down for landing, and instead just shut my DS. I picked it up a short while later and eagerly finished my level.

Ring of Fates took me completely by surprise. It was remarkably similar to one of my favorite DS games, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The are several Zelda-inspired puzzles, and much of the gameplay takes place in dungeons. The combat is mostly real-time hack-and-slash with a bit of spell casting, which reminded me of Kingdom Hearts. There was a real sense of adventure and exploration, as I was playing as a small boy out to save the world.

While I have had my fair share of complaints about child characters in video games, Ring of Fates fortunately avoids many of those pitfalls. The child protagonists are cute without being annoying, and I actaully began to like them. There is a natural chemistry between the boy and his twin sister that rides the line between rivalry and friendship.

The art style is well-suited to the DS. Like Final Fantasy III, there are some lovely FMV videos, but most of the game is in a lower resolution 3D style. The avatars are cute in their small scale, and the artists managed to put in large amount detail on many of thier outfits. The medieval setting seemed well-suited to the story and the characters.

Gameplay was enjoyable overall, but I did find a couple of weaknesses. Although the levels were scaled well and had a good sense of pacing, the game is in an isometric perspective. This can get confusing, as the D-pad controls your movement (which doesn't always match up with the perspective) and the maps are also in a square overhead view. It took me a little while to get used to the navigation in the game.

I've really enjoyed playing Ring of Fates. I'd like to see more of it, and I hope that it can be as much fun as Phantom Hourglass. It has certainly shown promise so far, largely due to the fact that the developers understood the scale and potential of the DS.  

Despite my dislike of stealth games, I was looking forward to Velvet Assassin. I'm rather fond of strong female leads, whether they are in comic books, movies, or games. Velvet Assassin appeared to have the type of protagonist I wanted to play. Unfortunately, the game I was hoping to like wasn't forgiving enough for a newbie like me.

I understand that cover is a very important part of stealth games. I was doing my best to utilize the cover system, but Velvet Assassin didn't make it clear enough for me. I could tell that I was in cover when I was hidden in shadows, but other objects made it less clear. For example, some bushes were cover and some were not, despite their identical appearances. This led me to be spotted by an enemy while I was crouched in some bushes, falsely believing that I was safe.

I felt very limited in the game in general. There were mechanics that seemed to serve no purpose and mechanics that were missing. I could drag bodies around, but there was little point. My movement speed was greatly reduced while dragging a body, and where was I supposed to hide it? The bushes were clearly not a good place, as the cover was inconsistent. Adding to my frustration was the lack of melee mechanics. While I am no stealth expert, it was my understanding that stealth games should at least have a punch of some sort. My character was left with no way to defend herself once my bullets were quickly expended, making her seem pitifully weak.

I ended up dying three times in the tutorial, and I couldn't get past the second group of enemies. The tutorial did little to motivate me to play through the rest of the game. There was a lot of terrain but not much actual gameplay. The art style looked flat, the game had an overly serious tone, and there was a very poor introduction to stealth. The tutorial narration and tips would disappear instantly when I pressed the action button; I accidentally skipped through what little information I was given.

Velvet Assassin provided me with an incredibly frustrating twenty-minute experience. Perhaps my inexperience with the genre or my high expectations colored my view. Regardless, I didn't feel anything like the powerful female I had wished to be; I felt like a pathetic, frail woman who had no business being a spy.