Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 21/Jan 18:42

FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE (Switch 2) – Review

Ask anyone with a cursory knowledge of video games to name a Final Fantasy character, and you’re more than likely to hear the names of Cloud or Sephiroth. While the series spans almost four decades and 16 mainline entries, Final Fantasy VII remains the quintessential entry, and with good reason. It’s widely hailed as one of the greatest JRPGs of all time, and in 2020, it received a remake on PS4, followed by an enhanced version of that same remake for PC and PS5 in 2021. Or at least, part of a remake, as this reimagining of the PS1 classic was split into three parts, each a full-fledged game in its own right. While we’re still waiting on the third and closing part of the FFVII remake series, the first game has now made the jump to Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2. The latter is the version we’ll be looking at in our review specifically. Story Central to FFVII’s story is a conflict between the rebel group AVALANCHE and the Shinra corporation. The latter is draining the planet’s Mako, a form of life energy. To stop this, AVALANCHE hires an ex-soldier, the mercenary Cloud Strife, to engage in a bit of eco-terrorism. After blowing up one of Shinra’s Mako reactors, things quickly spiral out of control. Not just for AVALANCHE, but for Cloud as he is haunted by both memories of the past and visions of the enigmatic Sephiroth. FFVII Remake Intergrade only covers the first act of a larger, overarching story that continues in FFVII Rebirth and that is yet to reach its conclusion, though if you really can’t wait, then the original game is widely available across different platforms. A word of warning though: the remake significantly expands on the story, so there is no complete way to experience everything just yet. Graphics Although the Switch 2 hasn’t even been out for a full year yet, we feel like we’ve already been putting it through the graphical wringer with titles like Star Wars Outlaws and Cyberpunk 2077, games that the original Switch wouldn’t be able to run in a million years. Enter FFVII, a game that doubles as the Switch 2’s biggest visual stretch test so far. The hybrid handheld isn’t up there in power with the PS5, so some compromises still had to be made. It seems like Square Enix knew exactly what to do to fit this behemoth of a game on the Switch 2, however, as it is easily one of the best-looking titles on the platform so far. The HDR in particular gets a chance to shine, as there are plenty of instances where light and shadow create moody contrasts. That said, there were a couple of instances where textures became muddy or fuzzy, especially when it came to character hair -looking at you, Cloud- but nothing overly distracting. While FFVII is apparently capped at a 40 fps frame rate here, that’s a smooth and stable 40 fps, with no noticeable stuttering or other issues. Sound Nobuo Uematsu’s compositions for FFVII –One-Winged Angel in particular- are widely considered some of the greatest video game music of all time, and they’ve never sounded better than they do here. If you’re going to be playing FFVII in handheld mode on your Switch 2, we do highly recommend using good quality headphones, as the built-in speakers of the console don’t do the orchestral soundtrack full justice. In addition to its beautiful soundtrack, FFVII is also fully voice acted. The cast boasts some impressive names, but the star of the show is Cody Christian, who voices our protagonist. This isn’t his first rodeo as the character, and at this point, he IS Cloud Strife to us -we couldn’t think of anyone else voicing him. Gameplay The “remake” in the game’s full title is a tad misleading, as the game deviates significantly from the original when it comes to gameplay. At its core, this is still a JRPG, of course, but its combat system was completely overhauled. Instead of a classic turn-based structure, battles are fought in real time, and carefully dodging enemy attacks is now an important part of the equation. Basic attacks will charge up the ATB meter, which lets you use special attacks, magic or items. Over time, you’ll also build up your limit break attack, which can significantly alter the outcome of battle. Initially, combat feels overwhelming, especially since the game keeps interrupting the tempo of those tutorial fights by dumping info on you, but once you get past that initial awkwardness, you’ll find a system that is accessible as it is robust. More importantly, it flows surprisingly smoothly on the Switch 2. It doesn’t take long before switching between different party members to optimize ATB meter usage becomes second nature, and navigating the different menus feels natural, with no clunkiness whatsoever. You can even opt to have your characters perform basic attacks and blocks automatically so that you can focus on those special moves, which only adds to the overall feeling of accessibility. The vast majority of the actual gameplay is built around that combat system, but FFVII itself isn’t about combat. Instead, the game wants to absorb players into its cinematic world, and tell a gripping story. This is where the game does falter somewhat. Not because the story dominates the game, but because it feels incomplete by definition, as there is no ending here just yet. This is something that is also felt in the structure of the game, as this first act is very linear. The setting is mostly limited to Midgar, and you’re not given a whole lot of freedom to explore the world around you. The game doesn’t really open up until that second act, Rebirth. Given that this is the first part of a trilogy, FFVII offers a relatively short main campaign, clocking in at around 35 hours to complete the first arc of the overarching story. You can easily double this if you’re a completionist, however, as there are plenty of challenges to clear. In addition to the main story, there’s also the “Intergrade” part, which offers a separate, 5-hour-long side chapter. That’s plenty of content, and long-time fans of the original will love seeing story threads fleshed out, plot holes filled and new content expand the lore. For newcomers in particular, though, the abrupt “ending” feels more like an obligation to buy into what comes next rather than something that can stand on its own. We typically don’t even mention the file size of games in our reviews, but in the case of FFVII on Switch 2, we feel obliged to do so, and even expand a little on it. The game is a whopping 90GB, which will eat up a good chunk of your console’s 256GB internal memory. By comparison, Metroid Prime 4 is ‘only’ 27 GB. The “physical” version of FFVII is on Game Key Card, because the game simply couldn’t fit on a Switch 2 cartridge, so you might want to mentally add the cost of a MicroSD Express card to FFVII’s price of entry. To Square Enix’s credit, that price of entry is on the lower side of the spectrum for Switch 2 games, coming in at a very reasonable €49.99. Conclusion We weren’t just impressed with FFVII as a game, but also at just how well it translated to the Switch 2. For the time being, this game is our personal benchmark of what the relatively young console is capable of from a technical perspective. It’ll be interesting to see if the two future installments of FFVII stick to this baseline or manage to surpass it. In turn, this also reflects our biggest dilemma about the Switch 2 port. The first two parts are already available on PS5, with the third expected next year. The first part also performs ever so slightly better on PS5. With no release date for Rebirth on the Switch 2 just yet, the only compelling reasons to pick this one up here rather than on PS5 are if you don’t have access to the latter, or if you absolutely want to be able to play FFVII on the go.