Square Enix Game Reviews
Review Triangle Strategy (Switch) - Square Enix Plots A Total Tactical Triumph
Royal Rumble
When we previewed Triangle Strategy's opening hours just a few weeks ago we came away suitably impressed by its slick mix of choice-driven narrative, detailed world-building and satisfyingly strategic combat action. It's a setup that immediately engaged us, introducing a strong cast of characters, embroiling us in some fascinating Game...
Review Chocobo GP (Switch) - A Surprising Mario Kart 8 Alternative For Final Fantasy Fans
Tweet Racer
Note. Since this review was published, the game has changed quite a bit as Square Enix removed the Lite version and Mythrill shop microtransactions. While the base karting gameplay remains the same, please be aware that the experience described in the text below may differ in some respects from the game as it stands today. Square Enix...
Review Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece For Cloud (Switch) - A Great Series That Deserves Better
Not like this
Note: For more details on the games in this cloud version package, check out our individual reviews for Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts III + Re:Mind. For an overview of the Integrum Masterpiece collection of all those games, read on.
Review Kingdom Hearts III + Re:Mind - Cloud Version (Switch) - Shot Through The Heart
Re:Mind us not to buy this
And so we come to the end – for now – of Tetsuya Nomura’s iconic and in-no-way-confusing Kingdom Hearts series. Additionally, then, this is the end of our excursion into the nebulous Cloud; pun extremely intended. Yet, of course, for all the shade we throw at the concept of Cloud Versions and the myriad flaws they...
It's not just your connection that'll Drop
And so it goes on. With Square Enix uploading all of the past Kingdom Hearts games to The Cloud, naturally the enthusiastically-titled Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue has arrived – another compilation, this time bringing one full game, one four-hour teaser for Kingdom Hearts III and another...
Review Voice Of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden (Switch) - A Fine Follow-Up To Yoko Taro's Cosy Card RPG
Fast and fabulous
Well, that was fast, wasn’t it? Not even four months ago, Square Enix released Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars, which proved itself to be an enjoyable, relaxing, and interesting take on a classic JRPG from creative director Yoko Taro and his team. The title subtly hinted at the possibility that there would be more entries...
We put Cloud in your cloud
We begged for this, you know. We begged on our damn, dirty knees for Kingdom Hearts to come to Switch. Not Melody of Memory, that's a half-measure. We wanted the full shebang, 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix. And now we've got it... in the most cursed form possible, a Cloud Version. Don't worry, we're not going to spend the whole review...
Review Voice Of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars (Switch) - Yoko Taro Deals An Impressive Card-Based RPG
A royal flush
Especially in more recent years, the eccentric Yoko Taro of Nier fame has made quite a name for himself as a game designer simply without an equal. Any project he works on is sure to be interesting and experimental in certain ways, and this trend has continued with his latest release: Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars. Though this...
Exactly what it says on the tin
We all worship the deluxe son et lumière of today’s games. Battles suck us in with explosive imagery, lavish cutscenes frame every encounter and voice artists declaim stories to rend our hearts. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing, then, if that were all shown to be a charade? If a game came along that created more...
Review Actraiser Renaissance (Switch) - A Noble Attempt At Resurrecting The Godly 16-Bit Classic
In the lap of the gods
The original Actraiser was a truly seminal release. Launched alongside the Super Famicom at the close of 1990, Quintet's skilful blend of platforming action and Populous-style world-building was immediately lauded as a stone-cold classic, and it's striking that in the 30 years that have passed since, it has never been...
Review NEO: The World Ends With You (Switch) - A Striking Return To The Streets Of Shibuya
The rhythm is calling you back
For the past 13 years, fans of the Nintendo DS cult classic, The World Ends With You have been practically begging Square Enix to whip up a new entry in the world of the original. The vibes of that first venture are flavour-rich, boasting a bouncy and energetic soundtrack, a loveable cast of characters, and a combat...
Review Legend Of Mana (Switch) - The Best Way To Play A 21-Year-Old RPG Experiment
Confusing, but charming
It’s interesting to see how the Mana series has been treated over the years, both by Square and the general public. Secret of Mana was widely considered one of the best RPGs of its time and even today carries quite a bit of clout, but many of the other titles either didn’t get localized or arrived overseas years after...
Review SaGa Frontier Remastered (Switch) - A Cracking Update Of An Infuriating Cult Classic
Only For The Hardcore Frontier Raver
SaGa Frontier, Square Enix’s idiosyncratic JRPG classic, arrives on Nintendo Switch in a lovingly crafted remaster that gives long-time fans plenty to get excited about whilst fully retaining the ability to absolutely infuriate and bewilder anyone who isn’t au fait with its many, many eccentricities. This is...
Mini Review Densha de Go! Hashiro Yamanote Line (Switch) - Yes, You Just Drive A Train
Come on, baby, do the locomotion
The eShop trailer for Densha de Go!! Hashirou Yamanote Sen (“Go by train! Drive the Yamanote line”) is just a guy singing “Densha de Go!” repeatedly while trains drive. For series fans, nothing else need be said. But let’s fill in the blanks. Densha de Go! is a Japanese train driving series that started in...
Review Balan Wonderworld (Switch) - A Charmless, Confusing Fossil From The Creators Of Sonic
A relic of another age
Balan Wonderworld is a strange game. Mascot platformers were all the rage around the turn of the century, but that fad has long since died off. Yet here comes a brand-new seemingly high budget entry in the genre that feels straight out of 2001 (not in a good way) and it’s produced by Square Enix no less. Unfortunately, Balan...
Review Bravely Default II (Switch) - An Excellent Old-School JRPG That's Happy To Play It Safe
A brave new world, or a throwback to an older one?
Square Enix has always been one of the biggest names in the RPG genre, but it’s been interesting to see how the company has changed its design philosophies with the times. For example, its biggest franchise – Final Fantasy – has long since left behind its humble origins as a turn-based RPG and...
Review Collection Of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend (Switch) - A Nostalgic Curiosity, But That's About It
Not quite legendary
The SaGa franchise has always been the odd one out in Square Enix’s deep vault of RPGs. Not only has the series gotten a somewhat infamous reputation for its weird, open-ended progression systems and high difficulty, but most entries came out years after their Japanese debuts, if they made it to the west at all. The first three...
Review Kingdom Hearts: Melody Of Memory (Switch) - A Marvelous Musical Trip Down Memory Lane
Simple and clean
It’s hard to believe that the Kingdom Hearts franchise has been around for nearly twenty years. The odd pairing of Final Fantasy and several Disney franchises always sounded like an idea that just wouldn’t play out right, but the series has gone on to garner quite a sizable and passionate fanbase over its long run. With last...
"Do you have a link cable?"
Nostalgia can be a potent drug, often muddling our actual memories of an experience in favour of how it made us feel, and such a phenomenon positively fuels a large portion of the game industry. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition is an excellent example of this. Players want to recapture that feeling of...
Review Trials Of Mana (Switch) - Old And New Combine To Create A Fine RPG Adventure
A potent blend
It seems that Square’s cult favourite Mana series has been enjoying something of a renaissance of late, and the latest product of this resurgence is a new remake of Trials of Mana. Seiken Densetsu 3 – as it’s known in Japan – never saw a release in the west when it first debuted in the ’90s, and only got introduced to...
Review Star Ocean: First Departure R (Switch) - An RPG Nostalgia Trip That's Showing Its Age
A gentle HD update for an old classic
This very first game in the Star Ocean series - a series which eventually grew to include eight titles of varying quality - has been through a handful of iterations over the years. Originally released exclusively in Japan on Super Famicom back in 1996 it was then extensively remade using the Star Ocean 2 engine...
Review Romancing SaGa 3 (Switch) - A JRPG Classic That's Often Quite Hard To Love
"You and me could write a bad romance"
It would take years to fully play through the entirety of Square Enix’s seemingly bottomless back catalogue of RPGs, and though the company is best known for genre stalwarts such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, there’s also a staggering number of ‘other’ offerings that – for some reason or another...
Once, twice, three times a JRPG
Dragon Quest, alongside Final Fantasy, has to rank as one of the most famous JRPG franchises ever. Like Square's epic series, it began life on the 8-bit Famicom (NES to you and me) and sold millions of copies in its native Japan. However, unlike Final Fantasy – which exploded in the west following the release of...
Review Dragon Quest III: The Seeds Of Salvation (Switch) - Third Time's A Charm
The light of the luminary shines bright in this re-release
When it comes to legendary JPRGs in the West, you can rattle off the usual suspects pretty easily. Final Fantasy VII, Persona 4, Chrono Trigger... you get the picture. However, Dragon Quest III is criminally overlooked. With the recent rerelease of the Erdrick Trilogy on Switch, this g
A whole load of puff-puff
Dragon Quest II has a reputation. Not only is it the sophomore entry into the juggernaut JRPG franchise, the second of Dragon Quest’s Erdrick Trilogy, but it’s also known as one of the most difficult, unbalanced JRPGs to this day. News of its re-release on Switch is great news for series purists who want to take a...
Review Dragon Quest (Switch) - A Classic JRPG Marred By Odd Choices And Technical Issues
An oozy remake of a JPRG goo-reat
Originally released in the west as Dragon Warrior on the NES in 1986, Dragon Quest’s latest rerelease on the Switch eShop is a throwback to retro JRPG design, and features a few new tricks up its sleeve that makes it a bit more palatable for modern audiences. There are brand-new bells and whistles including a...
One for the ages
It’s fascinating to see how much the JRPG genre has changed over the years, as countless new studios and designers have come up with a seemingly bottomless amount of ways to riff on battle systems, narrative styles, and world designs. In many ways, one could say that a JRPG is judged by how well it subverts genre expectations, but...
Chicken-Wuss!
Imagine being in the unenviable position in which Square Enix found itself following the release of Final Fantasy VII in 1997. The studio had just put out a genre-defining game that many still say they haven’t topped and had catapulted itself to a position that invited unrealistically high expectations. Gamers are a notoriously...
Review Oninaki (Switch) - A Decent Daemon Distraction
Continuing the cycle of rebirth
The JRPG genre is one that’s gone through immeasurable change in the few decades that it’s been around, but there’s something about the ‘old school’ style of 90’s turn-based RPGs that still holds a lot of sway with modern fans. To cater to this demographic, Square Enix formed Tokyo RPG Factory in 2015 to...
Review Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Switch) - Beating Minecraft At Its Own Game
Building a new legacy
Though the Minecraft formula has been iterated on to hell and back, Square Enix managed to offer up an interesting take on the sandbox classic with Dragon Quest Builders. All the blocky aesthetics and open-ended crafting were present and accounted for, but these things were all couched within a wider narrative arc that included...
