Breath Of Fire 4

Less well-known than Final Fantasy, Breath Of Fire IV debuted on the PSone. Unlike the glorious spectacles of the FF games, BOFIV is a bottle-bottomed pair stuck together with tape; it's showing its age, flaunting its wares with some outmoded isometric visuals. The characters are very pixelated and look like outcasts from an early Sierra adventure. Unlike the abominable Dino Crisis 2 (see below) though, the cute style of the visuals I helps subdue the worst of it to produce something tolerably likeable. The plot revolves around a V tale of dragons, gods and princesses that pushes you straight forward from one cutscene to the next.

The battles are of the irritatingly random kind, though thankfully they're not constantly intrusive. The turn-based combat system does the job adequately, turning in an interesting feature in which characters' spells can be cast together to produce various combo attacks. But it's just too easy to win. This is OK though since the story spans numerous hours and tries to add variety with an abundance of minigames peppering the plot's progress. The good-natured simplicity and unchallenging nature also make you want to push on just to see where it takes you next.

Basically, it's the gaming equivalent of a giant tub of sweet buttered popcorn. It's simple and less than nutritious, yet at the same time enjoyable and more-ish until you finish it and forget all about it.