FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0 HD is a HD remaster of the Japan exclusive PlayStation Portable game, FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0 which was released in 2011. Directed by Hajime Tabata, the director of Crisis Core -FINAL FANTASY VII- for the PlayStation Portable and now FINAL FANTASY XV for the PlayStation 4 & Xbox One. This release marks the game's first release outside of Japan and the first single-player FINAL FANTASY game on PlayStation 4 & Xbox One. Also included in the Day One edition of the title is FINAL FANTASY XV -EPISODE DUSCAE-, which you can read my review of here.
In this game you will control 14 characters, the members of Class Zero. Each of them have their own distinct fighting styles and this manages to successfully keep combat fresh and fun even at the end of the game. However, unlike 2013's LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and soon PC along with iOS & Android, customization is kinda lacking. You change your weapon and two pieces of equipment to boost stats but you can only change two attacks. I would have much preferred full editing of all four commands. Having a defence command is good and all, but sometimes you might want to have all attacks, otherwise you're probably only going to have one magic spell.
Speaking of magic, the upgrade system in this title is very good. Combing a story element in phantoma as a sort of item for upgrading the various magic spells. Phantoma can only be used by Class Zero and is collected after defeating enemies and also provides a small MP recover.
The story here while not on the level of most mainline FINAL FANTASY games is still very good and provides a much more mature experience full of blood and death. It's up there with FINAL FANTASY X with it's ending though.
Throughout the eight chapters you will complete various missions. These missions will require you to take over bases, defeat monsters, imperial officers and more. It's a very good structure with real-time-strategy missions to boot, unfortunately there's only so many of these. There's also expert trials to complete if you're up for a challenge.
In between missions you have a certain amount of time which runs out depending on tasks you do. You can trigger events and cutscenes with other people, learn things, complete quests for people or just go out into the overworld which makes an exciting return and explore or even fight monsters in the random encounters. You can even go talk to Mog in the Class Zero classroom for lessons which gain you stat boosts. There's a couple of problems here though, early on in particular you'll find it hard to view all the events and cutscenes due to limited time and then later in the game you're given plenty of time and unless you want to complete all the quests you'll find yourself wanting it to hurry up, luckily there is a person in the command centre you can talk to and get it to speed it up to the mission day.
Graphically the game is nice but the thing is it's just a remaster of a PSP game. While great looking on the PSP it won't look look like a PS4 game. That said a lot of the character models and cutscenes, in particular Visual Work's CGI scenes look great.
Music is great, Takeharu Ishimoto has done an amazing job here with some songs that'll stick with you long after you play them.
Another welcome addition is the option to re-watch all cutscenes. This is a feature while commonly used in other video game franchises is inconsistently used in the FINAL FANTASY series. FINAL FANTASY X and it's sequel, X-2 did for the FMVs but the FINAL FANTASY XIII trilogy did not. After you complete the game you'll be able to watch some additional cutscenes and a secret movie in this section of the game's library/history.
Another thing I loved in this game was the support system, they make it sound like random cadets from the school will help you out but it's actually staff from Square Enix, members of the band who made the game's theme song and Japanese voice actors for Class Zero. Fighting alongside my favourite producer in Yoshinori Kitase was pretty awesome. While it would have been extra work it would have been nice to see them change Class Zero's voice actors to the English ones.
Speaking of voice actors, there's dual-audio so you can choose between English & Japanese voices. There's also three difficulty modes and you can unlock a fourth one.
Multiplayer was removed in this HD remaster, very much like KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep FINAL MIX in KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.5 ReMIX for PlayStation 3, but you can't really notice it missing unless you played the original version.
The game's hub in Akademeia is really interesting and it even has a Chocobo Ranch where you can ride and breed Chocobos. Chocobos you breed can be used in the overworld to get around faster, you can also catch some in the overworld. There's also other areas like a bar of some sort. You can also pay for an airship to get you to somewhere faster but in chapter 7 you'll be able to get a new airship you can fly yourself and even defeat monsters with.
In a surprise, the trophies/achievements for the game are very easy. It was my fastest ever platinum, taking just under two weeks and it only took one playthrough. However you do need to play the game's New Game+ to get the complete story experience which is a shame.
The voice talent behind this game is extremely good. Steve Blum brings an amazing performance to Imperial Marshal Cid Aulstyne and Class Zero's voice talent were great for the roles. In a nice surprise, Ali Hillis the voice of Lightning in the FINAL FANTASY XIII trilogy returns to play the role of Emina.
If there's one negative I must bring up, it's the camera. It's extremely sensitive and will blur a lot. Thankfully, you can and most likely will get used to it.
FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0 HD is a great game, and Square Enix Business Division 2 and HexaDrive have done a great job bringing the game to PlayStation 4 & Xbox One.
9/10
In this game you will control 14 characters, the members of Class Zero. Each of them have their own distinct fighting styles and this manages to successfully keep combat fresh and fun even at the end of the game. However, unlike 2013's LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and soon PC along with iOS & Android, customization is kinda lacking. You change your weapon and two pieces of equipment to boost stats but you can only change two attacks. I would have much preferred full editing of all four commands. Having a defence command is good and all, but sometimes you might want to have all attacks, otherwise you're probably only going to have one magic spell.
Speaking of magic, the upgrade system in this title is very good. Combing a story element in phantoma as a sort of item for upgrading the various magic spells. Phantoma can only be used by Class Zero and is collected after defeating enemies and also provides a small MP recover.
The story here while not on the level of most mainline FINAL FANTASY games is still very good and provides a much more mature experience full of blood and death. It's up there with FINAL FANTASY X with it's ending though.
Throughout the eight chapters you will complete various missions. These missions will require you to take over bases, defeat monsters, imperial officers and more. It's a very good structure with real-time-strategy missions to boot, unfortunately there's only so many of these. There's also expert trials to complete if you're up for a challenge.
In between missions you have a certain amount of time which runs out depending on tasks you do. You can trigger events and cutscenes with other people, learn things, complete quests for people or just go out into the overworld which makes an exciting return and explore or even fight monsters in the random encounters. You can even go talk to Mog in the Class Zero classroom for lessons which gain you stat boosts. There's a couple of problems here though, early on in particular you'll find it hard to view all the events and cutscenes due to limited time and then later in the game you're given plenty of time and unless you want to complete all the quests you'll find yourself wanting it to hurry up, luckily there is a person in the command centre you can talk to and get it to speed it up to the mission day.
Graphically the game is nice but the thing is it's just a remaster of a PSP game. While great looking on the PSP it won't look look like a PS4 game. That said a lot of the character models and cutscenes, in particular Visual Work's CGI scenes look great.
Music is great, Takeharu Ishimoto has done an amazing job here with some songs that'll stick with you long after you play them.
Another welcome addition is the option to re-watch all cutscenes. This is a feature while commonly used in other video game franchises is inconsistently used in the FINAL FANTASY series. FINAL FANTASY X and it's sequel, X-2 did for the FMVs but the FINAL FANTASY XIII trilogy did not. After you complete the game you'll be able to watch some additional cutscenes and a secret movie in this section of the game's library/history.
Another thing I loved in this game was the support system, they make it sound like random cadets from the school will help you out but it's actually staff from Square Enix, members of the band who made the game's theme song and Japanese voice actors for Class Zero. Fighting alongside my favourite producer in Yoshinori Kitase was pretty awesome. While it would have been extra work it would have been nice to see them change Class Zero's voice actors to the English ones.
Speaking of voice actors, there's dual-audio so you can choose between English & Japanese voices. There's also three difficulty modes and you can unlock a fourth one.
Multiplayer was removed in this HD remaster, very much like KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep FINAL MIX in KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.5 ReMIX for PlayStation 3, but you can't really notice it missing unless you played the original version.
The game's hub in Akademeia is really interesting and it even has a Chocobo Ranch where you can ride and breed Chocobos. Chocobos you breed can be used in the overworld to get around faster, you can also catch some in the overworld. There's also other areas like a bar of some sort. You can also pay for an airship to get you to somewhere faster but in chapter 7 you'll be able to get a new airship you can fly yourself and even defeat monsters with.
In a surprise, the trophies/achievements for the game are very easy. It was my fastest ever platinum, taking just under two weeks and it only took one playthrough. However you do need to play the game's New Game+ to get the complete story experience which is a shame.
The voice talent behind this game is extremely good. Steve Blum brings an amazing performance to Imperial Marshal Cid Aulstyne and Class Zero's voice talent were great for the roles. In a nice surprise, Ali Hillis the voice of Lightning in the FINAL FANTASY XIII trilogy returns to play the role of Emina.
If there's one negative I must bring up, it's the camera. It's extremely sensitive and will blur a lot. Thankfully, you can and most likely will get used to it.
FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0 HD is a great game, and Square Enix Business Division 2 and HexaDrive have done a great job bringing the game to PlayStation 4 & Xbox One.
9/10