Welcome to our review of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, a game that may be the biggest game to come out this time of year!
The world has fallen under the control of the Shinra Electric Power Company, a shadowy corporation controlling the planet’s very life force as mako energy. In the sprawling city of Midgar, an anti-Shinra organization calling themselves Avalanche have stepped up their resistance. Cloud Strife, a former member of Shinra’s elite SOLDIER unit now turned mercenary, lends his aid to the group, unaware of the epic consequences that await him. A spectacular re-imagining of one of the most visionary games ever, the first game in this project will be set in the eclectic city of Midgar and presents a fully standalone gaming experience.
Before we continue this review, I would like to make it clear that I do not intend to spoil the storyline as this masterpiece deserves a chance to be played without a single spoiler, if that is still possible in this world we live in. I will say this, I played the demo, I played the original many years ago and lately, I also played that port on Nintendo Switch. Having finished the game before, I knew what to expect and chose not to spoil this for our readers. I will let you discover the subtle and not so subtle differences for yourselves.
What I will discuss is the battle of my own sentiment, in full detail. I often say that graphics do not make the game, but what happens when you take one of the best RPGs out there and make it look this pretty? We have all seen the trailers, we have all got our hopes up and I have to admit, Final Fantasy 7 Remake might be my Game of the Year entry in 2020. High praise, but I humbly seek your time to explain why I feel so. Some purists may say this game is a remake and should be excluded but I disagree. The main gist of the game may be the same, but we should ignore that.
Yes, we should ignore the fact this game is in its third breath and talk about how complete it has become. Allow me to explain as there is a lot to mention. So while the story has been told, the original on PS1 was quite the game even back then and it had some of the most advanced graphics at the time, this remake is taking it to a whole new dimension. Imagine you are watching a CG Anime that is just interrupted to allow you some gameplay.
In my demo discussion, I mentioned how it felt like battles often had the feeling they dragged on, I no longer think that to be an issue. The game makes a very clearly balanced choice to make certain enemies harder and well, there is always Easy mode if you want to cruise through the storyline and really enjoy the game. I will be honest here, I am playing it in easy mode as well. I wanted to advance and enjoy the most I could and in the fastest way available.
Graphically, I do not even know where to start singing its praises. This game is so detailed, it perplexes me more often than not. Right after the mission of the demo and your first encounter with the SOLDIER called Roche, you are fending him off while driving a bike and at the same time, Jessie is sitting behind you. High paced action ensues and when you finally beat him, the real magic begins. Seamlessly, the game goes from a fastpaced fighting scene into a visual masterpiece with clashing swords with sparks flying all over the place.
The design of the characters seems to be straight out of an animated movie. From the disturbingly unsexy under beard of Barret to his scars, his glasses, … He is such a great example of how great you can make a character become. Once the “big strong guy” in the original to one of the toughest looking characters you have seen in a while.
It is this level of detail that is what makes this Remake shine so hard, literally every single thing is like this. In the slums, you can take a nap in your room. Cloud even takes off his sword prior to the sleeping part. The room afterward has closed curtains, the door is closed, … I lost myself in open-mouthed awe more than once.
And then I hit the 15-hour mark of playing and I started noticing some minor annoyances. Maybe due to having played so much in such a short timespan. It should be mentioned that the sudden pace breaks got on my nerves a few times. So imagine you are running around at full speed. The game moves to advance the storyline and suddenly you stop running. It slows down to make you listen to the conversation.
This happens quite a lot, the downside of a lot of storytelling is that the pace gets taken down a notch the entire time. I slowly am getting both used to it, but also slightly annoyed with it. I totally understand the need to make the story the main attraction, but they could have left you running and just raise the distance on the counter instead. It is a small grievance, but I did get irritated a few times about breaking the pace.
Now my main dilemma, how do I even begin to score a game that nears perfection in graphics and gameplay. Yes, I got used to the new real-time gameplay real easily and despite some unintended switches between fighters at first, I quickly eliminated most enemies so far. I got my weapons to upgrade themselves. Found several music pieces, got to make a great reputation for myself as a merc and so much more. It’s like they took the mold of Final Fantasy 7 and just reimagined everything.
In conclusion, this may become my Game of the Year for 2020. I wonder if any of the remaining games slated for release this year will manage to topple this one because as it stands, this was one fine game.
