I liked the end of polygons review. Seemed to sum up what I've been seeing on this board
Remake is wildly uneven, poorly paced, and not entirely successful as a game in its own right. It takes a game that still feels staggeringly ambitious and often turns it into something more traditional, even if every aspect of the experience is so much more technically advanced. But Remake is also the very best thing a game can be: fascinating. It forces us to confront our subjective tastes, and asks us to consider what we value in the games we play. Your feelings about Remake will be determined by what you, personally, valued in the original release. Its a mirror held in front of each member of the audience. What are your favorite parts of Final Fantasy 7, and did Square Enix enhance those aspects of the game, make them worse, or remove them altogether? Every fan of the original is likely going to have a slightly different answer to both questions. Gaming has grown, and so have we, but what have we lost in the transition? This isnt a replacement for the original game. Its another take on the same ideas, blown up to fill multiple releases in a way that feels artistically justified in some ways and mercenary in its approach to becoming a commercial juggernaut in others. We know where weve been, and this beginning of an updated version of that experience gives us some idea of where the modern Square Enix thinks were headed. The biggest question left is whether fans will agree with its assessment.
