Final Fantasy IV: The After Years Critic Reviews

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is not only a very respectful treatment of the original, it also makes me want to dust off my SNES and relive my innocent childhood love of games.

It's retro in every way that made RPGs of that era fun, and the new additions give it a bit of a modern feel.

It's an engaging "thank you" for fans of the original game that's heavy on nostalgia without relying entirely upon it. Its dated graphics, battle system, and presentation are all a part of the charm after all, with everything else serving as a bonus.

The game sounds great, looks great, plays well, feels old-school, and has a deep and interesting plot with characters we already know and love.

What we have here is a Final Fantasy: plot is good, gameplay is good, soundtrack is good and everything else is. The problem is once again in Square Enix's hands: they think it's interesting to launch a GBA game on Wii with prices of full DS titles.

Well if you are a fan of the Final Fantasy games at all and are looking for a good single player RPG then look no further. But if you dislike the older Final Fantasy games and are not willing to buy new content to extend the game you should look elsewhere.

The After Years is an unusual experiment for the Final Fantasy franchise, but it’s one that’s already working its powerful magic on us. The story is smartly structured to tease you along, intermittently revealing important and interesting tidbits, before leaving you hanging.

If you've played Final Fantasy 4 and crave a second helping: dig in. If you haven't played Final Fantasy 4, you might as well play After Years instead, because the very least, you can probably get it cheaper.

A quality addition to the Final Fantasy family, but the extra add-ons are a bit cheeky.

The game offers quite a bit of length and game play for your 800 Wii Points, but having to purchase additional packs in order to enjoy the side stories is obviously going to rub some gamers the wrong way, especially considering that there are eight additional packs to buy in order to wrap up the entire story line.

While The After Years is a treat for fans in concept and execution, it’s a slap in the face from a commercial standpoint.

A great start for this sequel to FFIV. The bad part is that while 800 and 300 points sound small you’re going to be spending roughly 3700 points ($40) to get the full experience. That’s a big chunk of change for a DLC title, so being a fan of Final Fantasy is a must.

Square Enix's addiction to microtransactions ruins another WiiWare release, in this 17-year-late sequel.

The After Years is a surprisingly competent sequel to Final Fantasy IV that will appeal to those who yearn for simpler times, but doesn’t offer anything above and beyond its predecessor.

This is a great game for Final Fantasy fans, but the price to buy all the episodes is extremely high.

This egregious, twisted mess of narrative is not an auspicious start to Square Enix's latest foray into the realm of episodic content.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is an unnecessary game through and through, as it continues a story that was already well-thought out and closed off years ago.