The feeling that you get when you first hear that harp solo playing on your PSP is legendary. The tune echoes from the handheld, bringing up dormant memories of the classic journey you are about to embark upon and you take a deep breath before you take the plunge.

Hang on, hasn't this happened before on the PSOne, mobile phones and GBA? Yes, the original Final Fantasy is making its way into your pocket once more, but it's never looked better. With redrawn graphics and a revitalised score, this is arguably the best version yet, with Square-Enix throwing an extra dungeon into the ever-growing world of the original. Sadly the sequel is sold separately, something that hurts the second game in the franchise more than it does here. But with all of the content that has ever been made for the game thrown in at a budget price tag, is it worth the fee to team up with the warriors of light once again?

For those few people who have never touched this classic game, or have forgotten the journey from back when the game was released in 1987, the story here is not what you might expect. As in, the story is non-existent. There is no epic struggle, no political anguish, no heart-wrenching love story and definitely no character development. The game opens with four Warriors of Light being asked to save a princess, with this early mission developing into a 'save the world' one a few minutes later. That is the story in as much detail as possible - perhaps disappointing people who expected a short novel in their pocket, something that isn't helped by the default characters that you are given. The Warriors of Light don't even have names; they are merely blank slates for you to graft you own plot onto. I named my characters after the heroes from Final Fantasy X, attempting to find connections between the two games to no avail. Playing the original Final Fantasy for the story is like playing an NES game for the graphics - the medium has developed so much over time that the minimal nature of the story just doesn't cut it nowadays.

But before you even meet your characters, you must first decide on each of their classes. This is unlike any other game in the series and so it may come as a surprise to new players. You have a choice of up to six classes for each of your four characters: Warrior, Thief, Monk, Black Mage, White Mage and Red Mage. Each of these classes has been a mainstay of the series, but here you must select a definitive line-up, even before you try each one out (believe me, you'll be desperate for FF III's Job system if you make a mistake). There is no 'ultimate' party either; even if a party without a Red or White Mage would be like jumping head first into a pit of flames, you can still get by with four warriors. This choice can determine both the difficulty of the game to follow and also how much you will enjoy the experience, meaning that this decision will most likely be the most important one you will make over the thirty-hour quest. If you're looking for an extra challenge then picking four Black Mages will make for some of the toughest gameplay the series has ever known, but for the sane among us, a well-rounded party will suffice.

The basis of the series' turn-based battles, Final Fantasy doesn't go overboard with complicated systems of abilities and skills; in fact, nothing of the sort is present here. You can choose from either attack, magic (even though only certain classes can use it), Defend or Item. Magic can only be used by Mages and the advanced versions of the various classes, which in turn forces characters that belong to the Warrior, Thief and Monk categories to rely on the simple attack option, thus reducing the tactics available. This means that you'll often have a preset series of attacks to use, which can all be selected by holding the X button. This can sometimes feel like cheating, but when you notice the quantity of battles you will understand why this can help you a lot. With random battles in their prime, these encounters happen more frequently than in any game in the series, meaning that you can encounter a ratio of up to a battle for every step you take. There is one thing when thinking about this though and it's something that a lot of PSP RPGs have been victim to - long loading times.

With the UMD constantly spinning to keep a 3D RPG going, games like Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions and Dragoneer's Aria suffer from lag when large animations are concerned. Thankfully this isn't apparent here, helping keep the battles at a frenetic but manageable pace. Surprisingly, the game is as fast as it ever has been, even matching the cartridge-based GBA port, which is an accomplishment unto itself. When you are fighting ogre after ogre on your way to the next town this makes it even easier to get lost in a levelling up rush, making sure you're always ahead of the game. It's not just the speed of the battles themselves that has been increased either; when on the world map, the transition into an encounter happens in bullet time and if you're not careful you may not even see the enemies appear onscreen! The effect of this pace is astonishing and if it hadn't been as fast as it is, the game could have been just another lacklustre port of the NES game, a thought that brings back memories of the snail-paced PSOne version. This could have been the downfall of this port, but instead, it helps prove why FF I is as good as you remembered.

The extras that are included here are very small in comparison to the other ports, with only an extra dungeon being thrown into the mix, albeit one that requires full stats to stand a chance in. All of the additions to the game that were present in both the PSOne and GBA versions of the game are here as well, being the first remake to contain the FMV video from the PlayStation version and the hidden dungeon from the Game Boy Advance edition. If you're looking for original content then get a new RPG - this is Final Fantasy like it has always been, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

By far the most substantial upgrade though is the presentation. This game is gorgeous in 16:9 widescreen, but Square-Enix haven't just stretched the game out to fit this; the entire game has been redrawn with the PSP in mind. The characters are more detailed, the environments are a lot more picturesque and the bosses are bigger and more intoxicating than ever. Series artist Yoshitaka Amano once again breathes new life to this 8-Bit world and the results are better than could have ever been expected. This is virtually indistinguishable from the original, which is a good thing in the long run, standing up against the SNES sequels that followed the classic game. The same can be said for the music, with remixed versions of all the famous pieces, yet again proving that this Final Fantasy remake obsession that the developers have is paying off. The quality of the music makes the game all that more fresh, while also giving the player a small sense of familiarity that only Nobuo Uematsu can pull off. Once again the game looks and sounds better than ever, a recurring theme when it comes to every aspect of this epic game.

The thing about final Fantasy on the PSP is that no matter what I say in this review, you probably already know whether you are going to buy the game or not. This is yet another Final Fantasy remake, albeit one that doesn't contain the sequel on the same disc. This doesn't hide the fact that it is still the best version of the game that started it all and it stands out as one of the best RPGs on the PSP too. The gameplay is tried and true, not attempting to hide how simple the battle system really is. If you haven't played the game before then this is the version to get - and when it only costs £20, you don't really have an excuse not to. You will lose hours on this, no matter how much you play games from the genre, and it is fun from start to finish. It may not be perfect and the original game may have been far surpassed by its many sequels at this point, but as we wait for the next numerical entry in the series and the first truly original PSP title in the series, Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, this is your best bet for some FF action on the Sony's handheld.

Reviewed by Sam Atkins for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).