No such thing as a free lunch

Earlier this week Square Enix teased the world with a website showing a couple of symbols from the popular Theatrhythm Final Fantasy on 3DS. Was it teasing a sequel? A new Theatrhythm for a different series? Nope, it was just an iOS port.

That iOS port is available right now and can be downloaded free of charge, however there’s a catch: the game only comes with two tracks, One Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII and Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X. As you may have guessed you’ll need to fork out some cash if you want some more songs.

There are 111 tracks to download, including exclusive melodies from Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children and even the GameCube spin-off Crystal Chronicles. Extra tracks cost 99c / 69p but there are a few bundles that offer a few tracks for a discounted rate, four tunes for $2.99 / £1.99 - although it's worth noting that the songs in these bundles cannot be purchased separately. There are also 25 additional characters, some of them exclusive to iOS including Tifa from Final Fantasy VII, can also be downloaded for $1.99 / £1.49 each.

If you went and bought every available track and character then, it’d certainly leave a bit of a burning hole in your wallet. The folks over at Siliconera got their abacus out and did the sums to find that if you purchased all bundles, songs and characters you’d be down $143.03 (roughly £89 / €109) – ouch.

As a comparison the 3DS version of the game, which includes 76 songs, costs around $29.99 / £29.99 at retail and has 52 downloadable songs available in North America – each one costing 99c. So to have all songs on the 3DS you’ll need $81.47 (roughly £50 / €62).

So there you have it, should you choose to download every track on the iOS version you'll be significantly more out of pocket than if you did so on the 3DS version. Sure, there are some exclusive songs and characters on iOS but it appears that for dedicated players the 3DS version of the game offers much better value. However if you're just looking to play a few of your favourites the iOS version could be a handy little download for your smartphone.

Have you downloaded the iOS version? Let us know your thoughts on it in the comments section below.

[source siliconera.com]