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Gameplay is always a telling area when it comes down to Final Fantasy games. What I really liked about this game is the turn-based combat. It did make me secretly laugh because I remember reading an article saying that they wouldn’t use turn-based combat for the remake of Final Fantasy VII, although they felt it was okay with World of Final Fantasy. Doesn’t quite make sense to me, but I love the format, so I was quite happy. The combat itself is actually quite confusing for a game that is focused at kids. You have to catch different mirages, which are like little cuddly toys which fight for you. You can stack them on your head or under your feet, depending on their size. When you stack with a mirage, you gain their strength and their abilities. As you fight more with a mirage, you can upgrade their abilities.
As you fight more, you’ll get so many more mirages which become better the longer you continue the game. However, when you get attacked, people can make the mirages topple off your head, and when that happens, you could restack them if you want, or use them independently. Saying that, it means that you could have six weaker people fighting for you, or two much stronger characters who have funny little mirages on their head or below their feet. As you continue with the game, you can also get summons who will come and fight for you. Some of these summons include Cloud, Tifa, Yuna and Tidus (nostalgia runs high in this game). Of course, as per any Final Fantasy game, you have your usual items like potions and phoenix downs as well as some other cool items that you will find along your path.
So, overall, the gameplay is quite cool if not a little bit too confusing for what the game is meant to be. I felt that they could have made the mirages a little bit easier to handle, and maybe instead of having to capture them it may have been better if just beating a mirage meant that you own them. With so many different mirages available, you can swap them with another weird little mirage who acts like a mirage bank. The only issue is, it all gets a bit samey and, sadly, this is the biggest flaw to the game. Saying that, I would still award the gameplay an 8 as it plays well, and is possible for both a beginner as well as an expert.
When it comes to enjoyment, this game is full of nostalgia; you have summons and characters from a whole host of Final Fantasy titles throughout the ages. But is nostalgia enough? I mean yes, it feels good when you see a character you know and love, just like how it feels to drive down your road after a long holiday. However after a few weeks, you get a little bit bored of that same old street you have lived your whole life in and you want to go back to where you holidayed. This is a little like World of Final Fantasy – after playing for around 15 hours, I wanted to go back to playing some of the more fun games I had been playing. Mainly because the story is relatively boring – I mean it just doesn’t offer you any sort of hook. Just regaining memories didn’t really do it for me, nor did just gaining summons and mirages (for similar reasons why I never got into Pokemon Go).
World of Final Fantasy will take you around 50 hours to complete and, personally, I think it would be a much better game if it lasted around 20 hours. However, when was the last Final Fantasy title which took 20 hours? Never, that’s when. This has all sounded a little negative at the moment and it shouldn’t be. I did enjoy this game, just not as much as I would have wanted to. The story just couldn’t keep me going and was part of the reason why it took me so long to play through. I definitely won’t play this game again, even though there were plenty of things left for me to do. However, for the most of the time, I did enjoy it, until the gameplay got too samey and the story grew tiring.
Overall, I wouldn’t say this game is a completely unenjoyable experience, it just won’t keep you inspired. Therefore, I believe it deserves a 6 for enjoyment.
It’s certainly worth playing if you are a Final Fantasy fan, but I’d probably wait until after you have tried Final Fantasy XV, which is due out in a couple of weeks.
World of Final Fantasy is out now on PS4 and PS Vita, and click on the packshot for the full-size version.
Important info:
- Publisher: Square Enix
- Players: single-player
- HDTV options: up to 1080p
- Sound: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
|
GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
7 8 8 6 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
Directors: Hiroki Chiba and Atsushi Isobe
Producer: Shinji Hashimoto
Writer: Hiroki Chiba
Music: Masashi Hamauzu
Cast:
Lann: Josh Keaton
Reynn: Amanda Leighton
Enna Kros: Cassandra Morris
Tama: Lisa Kay Jennings
Serafie: Nancy Sullivan
Hauyn / Masked Woman: Eden Riegel
Girl Who Forgot Her Name: Jade Pettyjohn
Brandelis: Tony Amendola
Pellinore / Lusse Farna: Jennifer Hale
Segwarides / Rorrik Farna: Richard Tatum Thane of Saronia / Uncle Takka: Joe Ochman Warrior of Light: Grant George Princess Sarah: Brooky Lyons
Chocolatte: Julie Nathanson
Yuna: Hedy Burress
Refia: Megan Goldsmith
Sherlotta: Stephanie Sheh
Faris Scherwiz: Emily O’Brien
Quistis Trepe: Kristina Pesic
Rikku: Tara Strong
Tifa Lockhart: Rachael Leigh Cook
Rydia: Caroline Macey
I have been a video game player since 1993 and a music fan since I can remember. I studied Film and Journalism at university and ended up becoming a Primary School teacher. Video games changed my life and sent me on the right track and have stayed with me ever since.