In lieu of Square Enix deciding to give the eighth Final Fantasy instalment the full Remake treatment (unlikely), I’ll take what I can get, kupo. Granted, if the teams had endeavoured to recreate each and every background to better fit modern displays, Final Fantasy 8 Remastered would have taken far longer to produce – and would inevitably have commanded more than the £15.99 you’re currently being asked to part with.įor the money, what you do get is a faithful port of a much-loved classic, one that largely stands the test of time. This isn’t so bad when you’re playing docked on your Switch, but slip the Joy-Cons back on the console and play Final Fantasy 8 Remastered in handheld mode, and that big ugly letterbox just leaps out at you. Join our Discord to chat with fellow friendly gamers and our knowledgeable contributors antstream. Likewise, when you venture out into the open-world for the first time, and run around that rotating 3D grid, it’s a bit of a shock – and not in a way that’s entirely good.įurthermore, environments built for 4:3 displays don’t translate well to the 16:9 world. What you’re left with is a fun, somewhat silly, and beautiful RPG. Happily, the speed boost on offer in the remaster fixes the pacing, which effectively papers over the cracks in the grind-heavy mechanics.

It’s clear that you’re pushing three-dimensional sprites around a series of two-dimensional images. Final Fantasy VIII isn’t without its flaws, and it spreads them fairly evenly across story, mechanics, and pacing. While in the original, Balamb Garden convincingly felt like a vertiginous, multi-storey facility, here the illusion doesn’t work. The characters and story have aged like a fine Californian wine, standing up among the best in the franchise The story – concerning memory loss, estranged parents, vague and unrequited love triangles, and, naturally, the fate of the universe – is the same as it ever was, and the script has aged well. The same great Nobuo Uematsu soundtrack plonks and trills away, the Junction system offers plenty of party customisation, and the Triple Triad in-game card-trading mechanism is still plenty of fun ( why hasn’t Square Enix made an official mobile version of this?!).

Key additions include a 3x speed boost, which sees you able to blitz through the many random encounters, and the option to turn them off entirely once you’re done with grinding.Īside from these tweaks, Final Fantasy 8 Remastered is the classic you fell in love with all those years ago. New changes that come to the table on all platforms include fresh character and summon sprites, as well as improved animations. Get the best gaming deals, reviews, product advice, competitions, unmissable gaming news and more Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands. Only the PC version throws in a few extra cheats, which will see you able to max out character stats and money. I’m reviewing the Nintendo Switch version – but, technically, there’s little difference between various versions of Final Fantasy 8 Remastered between platforms.

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