Final Fantasy VII Remake

Final Fantasy VII was one of the most successful oriental RPGs ever released, mostly due to the fact that a lot of work went into the advertising campaign devised to attract the western public as well. Despite that, the game had a great impact on the audience thanks to its beautifully told story and narrative, which set it apart from the rest of the similar titles, while also encouraging the European and the American players to give JRPGs a try.

Final Fantasy VII Remake aims to be a recreation of basically the same game, but using today's technology to present the wonderful world in which the story takes place. Hence, Unreal Engine 3 is used to power this release, which means that a lot of new-age effects are at work in order to render the environments and the characters themselves, with emphasis on the retro-futuristic landscapes that decorate the cities.

However, the team working on this release is rather small and not very experienced, which means that this demonstration does not really convey anything else from the Final Fantasy universe, such as the dialogue, the story or anything else that would classify as gameplay mechanics. Hence, although it looks pretty and shiny, there's only one playable level, which is very short and does not feature any kind of interaction whatsoever.

In the beginning of the demo, you can see Cloud making an appearance and heading toward his good friend Tifa, who's about to go into an altercation with a few bad guys. Naturally, Cloud goes in to help her, but the entire action sequence is scripted and you do not get to intervene at all. Moreover, the animations and the attacks are very dull and unimpressive, which can yet again be excused by the fact that the developers are mainly just big fans that want to see their favorite tale retold in a more visually appealing manner.

Despite that, it soon becomes quite clear that the task is a bit out of their reach, mostly because the original game is incredibly long and complex, while all the other mechanics would require a great deal of effort and knowledge in order to be properly implemented. Even so, the release would probably not go by unnoticed by Square Enix, especially if the names of the characters and the game itself are kept as they are.

Even if Final Fantasy VII Remake does not have a future per so, it is still great to see the FFVII world recreated with the help of modern technology. Moreover, the environments are masterfully created, even if the available level is very small and restrictive.