Final Fantasy Tactics released for iPhone at last

It's been over a year since Square Enix announced it was porting Final Fantasy Tactics to the iPhone. Following a series of delays (that Square Enix tried to say weren't really delays), the app has finally been released for the iPhone.

Final Fantasy Tactics is one of my favorite video games of all time, but I haven't played it in about ten years. Seeing it come to iOS at last means I can finally revisit this game, with a translation much improved over the original. No more random "I had a good feeling!" Engrish-y translation errors? Yes please.

The game is a fairly large download at 457 MB, and at US$16 it's probably one of the most expensive games on the App Store. If you already have a copy of the original PlayStation version or the remake for the PSP, the iOS version may not be worth the asking price for you. If you're like me and remember this game fondly but don't already have a copy, or if you've never played it before at all, $16 isn't a terribly high price for this game. Final Fantasy Tactics has an epic gameplay length -- I got well over 50 hours of playtime from the original -- so while the price tag may seem high, Square Enix is right to price it at a "premium" over the typical $0.99 - $2.99 prices we see on the App Store.

Having said all that, however, I'm going to wait for the iPad version of Final Fantasy Tactics, which Square Enix says will be released this fall. In the meantime, many of Square Enix's games are on sale to celebrate FFT's launch -- some are discounted by 50 percent or more -- so check out the App Store if there's a game you've been waiting for the price to drop on.

We'll have a hands-on review of Final Fantasy Tactics for the iPhone soon.