And I played it, and finished it…
It feels kind of strange writing that, but it is true that today, 2nd March 2020 the wait is finally over and Square-Enix or Squaresoft if you prefer have release the demo of Final Fantasy 7 Remake on PS4 and PS4 Pro.
I have hidden away from the hype too much, and have to say I was absolutely blown away by the intro. Aeris, Midgar, the train… all beautifully done, sometimes as a near shot for shot remake, and sometimes as a tribute.
The game however plays entirely differently, and I think for the better on first impression. Its now like a third person action game, with hints of FF15, which never grabbed me. As solo Cloud in your party it feels very much like a DmC style game, which takes a bit of getting used to, but once you unlock magic and other things it feels like a modern Final Fantasy game. It also took some getting used to switching between characters and letting them do their own thing. I lost Cloud on the main battle at the end of the demo for example.
Overall the demo is about an hour and half long. You get to interact with Jessie, Biggs, Wedge and of course play as Barrett. All of the characters looks amazing, and you get an incredible sense of scale iwth the world. Plus that tease of Aeris and Cloud… I wont say much but you probably already know if you want to play this. If you havent played FF7 before, dont be put off as its quite different due to the lack of turn based gameplay. Instead as you are going through the menus you get some slick slow down bullet time action. It really works nicely.
The games looks stunning on the PS4 Pro on a 4K screen. Will have to wait for the DF analysis but looks like a 4k checkerboard solution based on some of the hair edges. Predictably plays at 30FPS. Didnt notice many frame drops. Really is a stunning title on PlayStation 4 Pro.
Download the demo for free on PSN and order the game now from Amazon or where ever (link below for Amazon UK’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake)
