PS4 Review – Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020) – Games – OutNow

The city of Midgar. A metropolis that is powered by Mako energy and thus enables the residents to live a progressive life. Contrary to the propaganda of the prevailing Shinra Corporation, Mako energy is not an unlimited raw material, but the life energy of the planet itself! The eco-terrorist group Avalanche is planning an attack on one of the Mako reactors without knowing that it will wake up a sleeping giant and get involved in a political intrigue that turns their lives upside down.

The story of the remake covers the relatively short (measured over the entire scope of the original game) beginning section in Midgar and leaves the player a bit perplexed after his surprising cliffhanger ending. When does it continue? What’s next? Questions that even Square Enix cannot answer. But is that what is there so far?

We control the ex-Shinra mercenary cloud – real-haired with a blond hedgehog hairstyle – who fights alongside Avalanche during the roughly 40-hour campaign. Unlike 23 years ago, we experience Midgar and the slums below it in a modern graphic design, hear full-text dialogues (optionally in German, English or Japanese!) And listen to the iconic music of Nobuo Uematsu in a breathtakingly epic revitalization. The story was compared to original expanded in some places, delves deeper into formerly insignificant secondary characters and thus paints a more differentiated picture of what is happening.

Also new is the combat system, which represents a hybrid of the ATB system known from previous series parts and the action-oriented skirmishes of a Kingdom Heart. Specifically: Each figure has two bars that slowly charge up. Skills, objects or spells can then be cast with a charged bar. Some actions use one, stronger spells and attacks, however, both bars. Regular attacks and blocks do not need bars and can be used in any way.

In practice, that means tactical maneuvers and skillful attacks to take advantage of opponents’ weaknesses, shock them and hit them even harder. A team member is always actively controllable in combat, but you can switch back and forth between the others or give them commands at the push of a button. The one from the original known materia were preserved. These glowing mako balls contain individual abilities, summons or spells and are tactically placed in weapons or armor parts and leveled up.

The technique is a double-edged sword. The animations are fluid, the main characters nicely modeled, the light and particle effects bombastic. Midgar shines in a dark, green light and is more beautiful than ever. Unfortunately, however, there are always incredibly ugly textures – not just off the main path – that simply have lost nothing in a game of this caliber. If you take a closer look, you will find muddy photo wallpapers, blurred floor and wall textures and stiff, low-detail NPCs. All in all, however, the atmosphere is right and the title runs smoothly and bug-free.

The level design is unfortunately not always convincing. In a total of 19 chapters, the player is guided through the well-known places such as the slums, the church and the night market. Unfortunately, mostly strictly linear with few side paths to explore. Many of the paths are drawn out unnecessarily. This is particularly irritating when cloud leaps through the air in a video scene, but we later have to take long detours later because a fence blocks its passage. In a few chapters, side tasks are available that are nice, but cannot inspire with scope or variety. For this you can repeat chapters after the end of the story and dare to secret bosses and higher levels of difficulty.

All popular moments of the Originals have made it into the game in one way or another, some have even been anticipated, which doesn’t make sense (yet?) and works more like fan service, but you can still feel the love for original dripping from every pore and experiencing so many nostalgia moments that make you smile and rave. The story has lost none of its charm and timeliness, and thanks to modern technology, the characters grow to your heart even faster. Now we can only hope that the journey from Cloud and Co. will continue soon!

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