Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Dungeon is one of those cross-genre titles that makes great attempts to appeal to players but ultimately fails. On the surface, the cutesy graphics and iconic yellow chocobos - a sort of oversized chicken - draw us into the village of Lost Time. Here, a bell wipes out everyone's memories daily and hides a dark secret the villagers work to uncover. Dig deeper and the game's difficulty ramps up immensely. Dungeons, visited to save the townspeople's memories, are randomly created with each session and turn-based. When you take one step in a dungeon, every other monster takes one step as well. Ambushes are frequent. Food must be eaten at regular intervals on long hauls or players starve to death.

Dying forces players out of the dungeon and cause them to lose everything, save the swords or armors they are wearing. To make matters worse, challenges, which players must complete in order to gain special abilities, often impose rules such as lowering a character's levels. These make it difficult, if not impossible, to complete. Considering the game's casual target audience, the sudden spikes in difficulty make for a frustrating gaming experience. Its randomness - presenting lucky players with powerful weapons early or cursing them with little food and eve less cash - as well as frustrating challenges mean that only the hardest of hardcore dungeon crawlers would find it enjoyable.