Month: June 2018

Square Enix dumbfounded naysayers and hopeful fans alike when it announced Final Fantasy VII Remake at E3 2015. Given the resulting hype, you’d think that we would’ve seen more about the game over the past three years, but apart from a second trailer at PlayStation Experience 2015 a few months later, only rumors and scraps of info have surfaced. We’ve got our fingers crossed that this will be the year–that E3 2018 will be the event–when the curtain is raised and Final Fantasy VII Remake is properly unveiled. Square Enix will have a dedicated presentation at the show, and while we can reasonably expect to see Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, Kingdom Hearts 3, and a few indies from the Square Enix Collective label, the publisher would do very well to feature Final Fantasy VII as much as possible.

What We Know So Far

All things considered, the 2015 trailers gave us a generous look at what’s to come, including a few tantalizing moments of combat. We got to see lead characters Cloud and Barret, some of the supporting cast, and a look at familiar locations like Midgar and the North Mako Reactor, the stage for the game’s opening infiltration mission.

The combat sections of the two-minute PSX trailer stood out because they took place in real time with characters running around a 3D environment; the traditional turn-based combat from the original game has been abandoned in favor of something closer to Final Fantasy XV. Given the 20-plus-year gap between the original and the remake, it makes sense that Square Enix would change up the game in drastic ways. Only time will tell how deep the changes go.

Additional info has been scarce since 2015. A common story that keeps popping up pertains to difficulties stemming from the collaboration with developer CyberConnect2. Reports from last year suggest that Square Enix had to scrap most of what it was given after taking back control of the game. It was at least confirmed that it’s now being made internally to ensure all quality and scheduling standards are met. If it’s true that a bunch of CyberConnect2’s content had to be remade from the bottom up, this purported restructuring could be a reason for the game’s absence at E3 if it winds up missing after all.

Otherwise, longtime Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase has confirmed that Final Fantasy VII Remake will be a multi-game project due to the herculean task of rebuilding such a massive game to modern standards. Kitase also confirmed that renowned Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu will be involved with the remake, although the extent of his contributions isn’t entirely clear.

What’s Confirmed For E3?

Square Enix hasn’t confirmed whether Final Fantasy VII Remake will appear at this year’s E3 or not. If we were optimistic, we might assume the lack of confirmation either way means there’s a surprise in store.

Realistically speaking, however, it wouldn’t be shocking if the game didn’t show up as there’s been no word of a release date and no reason to expect that development has progressed far enough to be worthy of an extended showcase. (We hope we’re wrong.)

What We Hope To See At E3

There are countless aspects of Final Fantasy VII that Square Enix could reveal at the show: iconic characters, specific battle mechanics (including the new Materia system), and maybe even locations from advanced chapters in the game. We’d love to see it all.

The big question at the moment is the release date. Lots of folks forsee a post-2020 launch on the horizon, but until Square Enix says anything officially it’s difficult to pinpoint a window of time, especially in light of the reportedly tumultuous dev cycle.

Love it or hate it, Final Fantasy VII is an incredibly well-known game, and no matter what we see next, the new version will be rigorously examined and compared to the past. There are high expectations afloat, lots of skepticism, and no doubt tons of pressure on the game’s developers to deliver something that lives up to Final Fantasy VII’s notoriety. It will be amazing if they pull it off, and E3 is a great opportunity for them to turn the tide of opinion for the better. Let’s hope that comes to pass.

Further Reading

The dream of the ’90s is alive on Netflix. It was a cinematic age where gritty serial killer stories found their niche, indie filmmakers hit the mainstream, and larger-than-life blockbusters set new benchmarks for what could be done on the big screen. Jeff Goldblum fought dinosaurs, Will Smith saved us from aliens, and an unknown video clerk by the name of Quentin Tarantino changed movies forever.

Two decades later, it’s hard not to look back on the ’90s with nostalgic fondness. And thankfully, plenty of these retro flicks are at your fingertips right now. From a handful of Disney classics to some Oscar-winning dramas to a plethora of big budget action films, here are the 25 best ’90s movies currently available on Netflix.

Dillon the Armadillo is every stoic hero of the Old West… but as an anthropomorphic armadillo. He doesn’t say much because he really doesn’t need to. His prowess with weapons and dedication to defending good folks just trying to make their way is essentially his whole character. And while, until now, he’s been known for his forays within small downloadable games, Dead-Heat Breakers represents a big next step for the franchise.

Most of the game makes the transition well, in part because the premise is played in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. Dillon’s a no-nonsense guy, and seeing him surrounded by a colorful cast of goofy sapient animals works pretty well. But, after a time there’s definitely the feeling that too little game is spread out over too much time. Dead-Heat Breakers grinds to a crawl at times, and while it’s far from insurmountable, it’s hard to shake the feeling that in this case less would have been more.

While Dillon may be the game’s namesake and main action hero, he’s not the actual protagonist. When you start up the game, you’ll have a Mii of your choice polymorphed into an Amiimal. And it’s this “person” that the story centers around. In short, you’ve narrowly survived an attack on your home town, and you’ve gone to get help from the infamous “Red Flash,” Dillon. On your way, your big rig is attacked by some industrial monstrosities and Dillon and his sidekick/mechanic Russ happen to be in the right place at the right time.

Most of the proceedings are played for comedy, poking at the classic tropes of the western, while mixing a good bit of modern absurdity. Not too long after that encounter, for instance, Russ determines that the team needs a massive gun. And they aren’t kidding. He maps it all out in his head and sets to work getting the materials to build a weapon that would put World War II-era train-mounted cannons to shame.

This pair of scenes (the battle between your would-be attackers and Dillon, as well as the process for gathering materials after the fact) make up the two primary phases of play. They loosely correspond to the day and night and will follow that pattern throughout. In the prep part (daytime), you’ll wander around town doing odd jobs for the people and participating in mini-games to gather up the required gear for your nightly missions. This works well for pacing at first, but you’ll start to feel the drag as the cycles wear on.

Daytime will put you through a few different main activities, including time-trial races and bouts against the series’ most iconic foe–the stone-headed, space-faring Groks. Here you can earn money which you can then toss to Wendon for supplies, which go to Russ for assembly into the Breaker (i.e. that giant gun). These are meant to help give you some practice for the more rough-and-tumble nighttime bouts but are too dissimilar to serve as a proper warm-up, and not unique enough to feel like a good break from the main action.

When that time does come, though, you and the Amiimals of your friends and other Miis on your system will assemble into a group, ready to tackle the big bad of the night. This is where the series’ touted tower defense-action fusion comes in. Here, like in the opening segment, you’ll command the Red Flash and have the option of hiring on the different Amiimals to play defense. Each carries a different weapon with their own attack styles and strengths. Ostensibly the daytime’s mini-games are there to help acclimate you to these differences, but in practice, over the game’s 15 missions, you’ll know who does what pretty quickly and can make your own appropriate choices.

Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers is best enjoyed in spurts. Powering through the game quickly reveals its many weaknesses (the toll on your hands, and the repetitiveness of the combat and day-night cycle being chief among them), but no part of the adventure is bad, really; it simply wears thin.

Once you’ve made your choices, you’re off to the fight. Your job as Dillon is to keep the pressure off the Amiimals. Using a powerful accelerator as well as Dillon’s natural claws and thick hide, you can slam and slash your foes while zooming about the map. On the bottom screen, you’ll be able to see a breakdown of the map, the attack range of your team, and which places need your help.

Recruiting more teammates helps take the pressure off you but depletes your coffers and therefore cuts your strategic options for later down quite a bit. Therein lies the big question for how to allocate resources.

Dillon himself can be great fun to play, but the controls are perplexing. Most everything is handled with the joystick and the A button; attacks are somewhat contextual but rely on holding the button down, releasing before pressing, and holding or tapping quickly to different moves. This isn’t ideal as it can be occasionally easy to accidentally dash instead of landing an attack, and the constant strain on your thumb during combat sections would have been reduced if you simply used another button or trigger when your attack was ready.

Many of these sequences devolve into high-speed chases where you’ll have to clear out every foe during their final assault. There’s an excellent bit of white-knuckled tension as you rush from enemy to enemy, spinning up, bashing them, and slashing to bits. Combined with some smart visuals and a great system for snapping you to baddies so you don’t inadvertently overshoot them makes these segments a great bit of intense fun–even if they leave your thumbs sore.

Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers is best enjoyed in spurts. Powering through the game quickly reveals its many weaknesses (the toll on your hands, and the repetitiveness of the combat and day-night cycle being chief among them), but no part of the adventure is bad, really; it simply wears thin. It’s a competent, fun little outing that’s almost perfectly suited for kids who need something silly and ridiculous that won’t require too much thought or technical mastery.