If there’s one thing you can always count on being outstanding in a Final Fantasy game, it’s the music. While the debate about which entry is the best will always rage on, all can agree that each game has managed to output iconic tunes. Pieces like Aerith’s Theme, Zanarkand and ‘Apocalypsis Noctis’ are among many of the amazing and memorable tracks that have graced the series over its 35 years and counting. With the series hitting its 35th Anniversary this year, Square Enix has resurrected its Theatrhythm franchise for a final, music-filled go. A celebration of Final Fantasy’s iconic music, does Theatrhythm Final Bar Line put on a performance worthy of a standing ovation or should this show be permanently closed down?

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is a musical journey through a wide array of Final Fantasy titles, including the fifteen numbered entries, the sequels (i.e., Crisis Core, X-2, Lightning Returns, etc.), side games (Dissidia, Type-0) and mobile titles. In total, Final Bar Line pulls from 29 titles that players can play through in ‘Series Quest,’ which follows the musical journey of each game’s story. While the game doesn’t outright have its own story, these quests serve that purpose.

Series Quest is the primary way to unlock content in Final Bar Line. Completing a title unlocks the songs for the ‘Music Stages’ mode, additional characters and other cosmetic items. Overall, Final Bar Line boasts a massive 385 songs at launch, far outpacing the 221 songs that launched with Curtain Call. It’s a collection worth celebrating, though there are interesting omissions, with the most notable being the entirety of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker. Based on the number of songs given each title, there certainly seems to be preferential treatment with some of the games. Most unforgivable are the 27 songs held hostage as part of the Digital Deluxe Editions, which include iconic songs Eyes on Me (VIII), Zanarkand (X), Memories of Waves and Light (X-2), Real Emotion (X-2) and Kiss Me Goodbye (XII). Final Bar Line is a great celebration of the Final Fantasy franchise, but it’s a downright shame to see what’s missing, and even worse, that business practices withhold some truly iconic tunes.

Thankfully, Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is fun to play. As easy to pick up and play as the 3DS games, Final Bar Line successfully adapts the gameplay to modern gamepads. Like the previous games, the goal is to match timed inputs on the screen to buttons on the gamepad. Red circles are simple presses, yellow circles with arrows require a swipe of the thumbstick in the indicated direction, while green circles require you to hold down a button for a length of time. It’s a simple setup that helps get players into the game before ramping up the difficulty. Gameplay has a general fun factor that makes it difficult to put the game down. It’s pretty easy for "one more song" to turn into many more songs.

Songs are divided into Field Music Sequence, Battle Music Sequence and Event Music Sequence. Field Music songs feature your party traveling across a field with notes coming in as if they’re flowing. During these songs, you’ll often need to drag the stick up and down during green circle holds to mimic the flow. Of the various actions carried over from the 3DS, these are the most unnatural when played using a gamepad. In this case, this action feels far more at home with a touchscreen and stylus. Battle Music songs are a traditional battle, with each note representing an attack on an enemy. Finally, the Event Music songs are played similarly to the Battle Music songs, but set to HD scenes from their hand-picked game. Each title has one that’s unlocked after completing the title in Series Quests.

Rounding out the gameplay is your party setup. Here, you’ll create a party of four characters (unlocked by starting a new series title or upon completion), assign abilities and choose a summon. You’ll also be able to equip various items earned by defeating enemies in battle. Despite being there, many of these features are superficial and can be entirely automated if you choose. In addition, several cosmetics like Airships and Moogle costumes are available to unlock by completing Quests and collecting Rhythmia, a currency continuously builds up the more you play. With 104 playable characters to collect and a wide array of abilities and cosmetics to unlock, there’s plenty available to keep you coming back for more songs.

While the Series Quests make up the bulk of content, there are two other modes. Music Stages allow you to replay unlocked music and aim for higher scores. The final mode is Multi Battle, an upgrade of Curtain Call’s competitive multiplayer that expands the action to four players. In it, four players compete to post the best score, with the winner choosing a CollectACard, and then the remaining players getting a choice. It was a fine addition to Curtain Call and the expansion to four players here is a welcome one. While it doesn’t replace ‘Series Quests’ as the meat of the content, rocking to ‘A Long Fall’ with three other players is fun.

The Theatrhythm games have always employed a presentation that suited the 3DS hardware. The bright, colorful chibi style was pleasant in previous titles. Final Bar Line transplants that same art style into HD, which looks and runs excellently. Everything that made the 3DS games so appealing to look at returns here, just looking a lot better. Of course, what matters most is the audio quality, which is superb. Every song sounds great and the HD videos in the Event Music songs are of high quality. Overall, this is a great-looking and sounding game.

Closing Comments:

The Theatrhythm series has always been a celebration of Final Fantasy and the iconic music associated with each title. Theatrhythm Final Bar Line continues that tradition by bringing together more titles, songs and characters onto consoles for the first time. The transition is nearly flawless, allowing Final Fantasy fans to experience some of the most iconic songs from each title in a fun, easy-to-play gameplay experience. It’s not perfect, though, with some titles getting more favor over others. Some exclusions are odd, particularly the absence of the critically-acclaimed Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker and the fact that a good number of iconic tunes are trapped behind premium deluxe editions is simply not OK. Past that, this is a successful transition from handheld to console with tight gameplay, plenty of content to unlock and a beautiful presentation backing it up. Theatrhythm Final Bar Line isn’t the perfect celebration of Final Fantasy, but it’s a great one.