Despite the game's outdated SNES graphics, Chrono Trigger is one of the best RPGs on any platform, let alone the DS.
Graphics:
As I have mentioned before, the graphics seem a bit outdated. The game's graphics haven't improved since the SNES, and I was a bit disappointed with how the game hasn't recieved improved graphics like Square's Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV. One thing that Square has added to the DS version is Anime cutscenes from the Playstation version. Thanks to the DS's ability to incorporate full motion video into it's games, anime cutscenes work their way onto the game and really helps you see the characters express themselves in ways that they can't in sprite animation.
Graphics Score: 8.5/10
Story:
You begin Chrono Trigger as Leene's Bell tolls and your main character, Crono is woken up by his mother to go to a festival to meet his friend, Lucca. As Crono arrives at the festival, he, quite literally, bumps into a girl who introduces herself as Marle. Marle and Crono walk around the festival and meet up with Lucca, who has just finished creating her transporter. Marle gets on one of the transporter pods, when suddenly her pendant starts to glow. Instead of being transported to the other pod, Marle is sucked into a time-space trancending portal that will spit her out at any random point in time. Crono, being the heroic guy that he is, offers to go to the pod and look for Marle. Lucca, with absolutely no concern for her friend, gladly activates the pod and sends him through a trippy-looking cross-dimensional plain and is spit out in a forest, hundreds of years in the past.
Story Score: 10/10
Controls:
The controls are solid. The fact that button arragements are arranged almost exactly the same way as the SNES's, people who have played the SNES version will have no problem with the controls. The controls work incredibly well and register every one of my button presses.
Controls Score: 10/10
Difficulty:
While the game can be incredibly forgiving at some points, some parts are fiendishly difficult, making a somewhat unbalanced difficulty level. While I feel that the game can't keep a steady difficulty level, you learn different skills and spells throughout the course of the game that some might not pick up. I noticed something on my 2nd playthrough. It seems like the game doesn't become too hard if you fight regular enemies and gain EXP on regular occasions. I strongly encourage fighting random battles, to balance out the game's difficulty level.
Difficulty Score: 8/10
Entertainment:
Chrono Trigger offers much more beyond the completion of it's story. There are many different quests that may allow for another 10-15 hours of play. The main quest will take you up to 30 hours to complete. Once you have completed the game's main quest, you can play through a second time on the same file, with all of your stats from the first quest. Carrying over all of your stats makes the game so much more ridiculous. By that, I mean that all of the bosses that gave you trouble in your first game will now be completely DOMINATED by your high stats, making the fight so easy that I would chuckle a little bit. But it may also cut your time down to around 25 hours, making the game a tiny bit shorter, but so satisfying to see how easy you can bring down even the toughest enemies.
Entertainment Score: 9/10
Overall, this is a must-buy for anybody who plays games and has a Nintendo DS, Playstation, or SNES. I think that this is one of the best games that Square has ever created. If I had to make a list of my top 10 games, Chrono Trigger would defiinitely crack top 5. It's a shame that it never got a sequel. I know that there is Chrono Cross, but I don't think that it just has the magic that Chrono Trigger did. Square needs another Chrono game! Square, what did people do with Chrono Trigger? They loved it! And bought it... oh, Square~...
Final Score: 9.7/10
Good and Bad
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+Animated Cuscenes look nice
+Beautiful Soundtrack
+Innovative Fighting System
+Great Story
+Tons of stuff to do
+Solid Controls
+2nd Playthrough Ownage
+Tons of weapons and items
+Likable cast of characters
+Great Boss Fights
+Hasn't been re-released to death
+Highly Entertaining
-Outdated SNES sprites
-Unbalanced Difficulty