Dissidia: Final Fantasy Preview

Dissidia is a one on one 3D fighting game with a roster packed full of famous Final Fantasy characters

Super Smash Bros. Brawl meets Dragonball Z meets Final Fantasy. That's how Dissidia: Final Fantasy, the PSP-exclusive 3D one-on-one fighting game, was described by Square Enix at a recent hands-on event in London. That's quite a mouthful, isn't it? Not only that, it conjures up an image perhaps too fantastically incredible to comprehend. A bit like ice-cream on pizza.

Let's break it down. The Dragonball Z reference comes from the fact that the one on one battles take place in 3D arenas. Big 3D arenas. The two characters zip about, up, down, left and right, chasing each other around like spiky-haired kids in a playground. They can even fly, or perhaps more accurately hover, a little bit, too. The idea, clearly, is to try and simulate the fights, as Final Fantasy XIII also appears to be doing, from CGI film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

The Super Smash Bros. Brawl reference has more to do with the game having a roster packed full of Final Fantasy characters than it does with gameplay. Square Enix, perhaps in an effort to avoid causing controversy, has stuck to a 'one goody and one baddy from each Final Fantasy game' policy rigidly. So, Cloud and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, Squall and Ultimecia from Final Fantasy VIII, Tidus and Jecht from Final Fantasy X and so on and so forth, right back to the first Final Fantasy game (Warrior of Light and Garland). All are playable, all are unique, and all have their own story to play through.

The story involves two opposing gods, Cosmos and Chaos, battling it out in an epic war.

All the characters' stories, called Destiny Odysseys, tie in to the largely befuddling plot, which involves two opposing gods: Cosmos, the Goddess of Harmony, and Chaos, the God of Destruction. There's a big old war between the two, which has been going on for ages. Recently, however, Chaos has had the edge, forcing Cosmos to enlist the services of Cloud and co in a last ditch attempt to restore harmony to the universe.

As with most fighting games, the plot is just a silly excuse to get everybody together to knock lumps out of each other, which is what Dissidia is all about. The fighting system is an interesting mix of accessible button bashing and well-timed dodging and parrying. Every character has a health gauge, as you'd expect, but also something called Bravery Points. This acts, in effect, as a shield, the idea being that you steal Bravery Points from your opponent with a special attack until they're all gone, allowing you to go to work on their health gauge. The number of Bravery Points you've nicked determines the amount of damage your strikes do, so pounding your opponent straight away isn't going to do much. Once you've whittled your opponent's Bravery Points to nothing, however, you'll achieve what's called a Bravery Break. That's your cue to wade in.

In a nod to fighting games like Street Fighter, there's an EX Gauge to fill. Once done, pressing the Square and R buttons together activates EX Mode. This makes you a complete badass, and unlocks access to character specific special moves, like Cloud's stunning Limit Break Omnislash. Here, you're asked to complete a simple quick time event – hammer the Circle button to fill up Cloud's Limit Break gauge – before he slices and dices with the Buster Sword.