In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance you start off as Mache, newcomer to the town of St. Ivalice. You quickly make friends with your classmates Mewt and Ritz. After a snowball fight, you learn about a special book that Mewt is going to buy, and afterwards you and your friends spend the day looking over the book. Something odd happens later that night though. When you awaken, the small town of St. Ivalice has been turned into the Kingdom of Ivalice. You take control of Mache in his quest to find his friends and restore the world back to the way it was.

FFTA graphics are unlike any that the GBA has seen before. The attention to detail is wonderful, giving the player over 30 different playing grounds. From snow covered mountains to sandy deserts to deserted ghost towns, Square Enix didn't create merely a game but a world. The animation, like design of the characters, gives just enough detail so that all races and jobs can be discriminated from one another.

Square Enix goes above and beyond by creating a soundtrack's worth of music for FFTA. The concert-like music switches often to copy the mood of a battle, mission, cut scene, or any other moment during the game. The music adds a lot to the effect of playing the game.

With 5 races, 34 jobs, and over 100 hours of game play, FFTA is an RPG unlike any other. You can battle rival clans to attract new clan members and level up, or you can partake in the many missions in order to move Mache closer to finding his friends and changed the world back. The battles are a mix between the movement of units in Advance Wars and the attacking of any normal RPG. Battles are easy to understand, kill every enemy and obey the law of the land. Laws change often and can forbid anything from item use to physical fighting. Clans provide another new aspect to RPGs. Your team is know longer limited to single digit numbers, your clan can recruit up to 24 members (including Mache). Combine that with the hundreds of weapons, armor, and items; and the possibilities are endless. Even after you beat the game, you quest to get special characters to join your clan.

Overall, I think this is an excellent game. It is money well spent, especially if you like RPGs. Amazing graphics and beautiful sound top off Square Enix's return of Final Fantasy to the Nintendo system.