Released: March 2015. Genre: JRPG.
With HD remasters and Final Fantasy games both receiving negative press at the minute, the arrival of Type-0 HD would seem doomed from the start. But there's more than meets the eye: Type-0 has long remained exclusive to Japanese markets, debuting on the PSP in 2011. Now, Square Enix have remastered this tactical JRPG and are finally giving gamers outside of Japan a chance to explore Class Zero's story, shunning handhelds for the eighth-gen consoles. Type-0 succeeds in spite of mediocre visuals and an inconsistent story due to some of the strongest gameplay in recent FF memory, meaning it's a worthwhile trek for fans.
The world of Orience is divided into four states, each with their own Crystals of Power. However, when the Milities invade and try to take over using Crystal Jammers, which in essence block powers, it's up to Class Zero, a group of students unaffected by the jammer, to repel the invaders across Orience. It's a refreshing take, as while Final Fantasy games can be dark, none have shown violence like Type-0. The opening scene depicts both a soldier and his Chocobo bleeding out completely, setting the tone superbly. But, while not on the level of FFXIII's melodrama, some characters can waffle, and long-winded cut-scenes often feature dodgy acting. Class Zero is likeable enough though, enjoying natural and often humorous interactions.
.The idea of war is successfully injected into Type-0's combat operations. Often thrilling, tense or dramatic attempts to sabotage the other side's efforts, pacing is well done, as missions build slowly into exciting boss fights. Some missions even come with sub-bosses, just to keep the pace going. Combat too is exciting, reminiscent of Crisis Core. Taking place in real-time, character abilities are mapped to the four face buttons, making it easy to perform offence. You can also roll to avoid attacks, which is next to essential. As you attack, opportunities come up to perform Killstrikes, which deal a significant amount of damage. Enemy A.I. is super aggressive, often able to flank and assault you, and it makes Type-0 tough to master, but fun to do so.
You often can select your squad from the dozen or so members of Class Zero, each with their own abilities and weapons suited to different missions. You can also allow substitutes to enter the fray, as squad members are replaced by silhouettes. Characters gain levels, and these reward AP, which allow you to unlock more abilities for each squad member. There's also the substance known as Phantoma, which is drawn from fallen enemies. It brings both immediate and long-term benefits, as it restores some of your MP but also allows you to upgrade your magic abilities. Balancing your characters can be tough, with so many squad members available, but no two characters feel unbalanced, and it's possible to complete most missions with any line-up. Swapping between your squad is easy, and the friendly A.I. does a great job of keeping up.
Outside of Ops, Type-0 resembles organising a school schedule. Given an allocated amount of time, you are free to explore the campus as well as the world of Orience outside. You can also interact with NPCs for items, train your characters in the arena, complete side missions such as Expert Trials which require higher levels and even breed Chocobos to ride around Orience. Though cities of Orience only open up after progressing through the story, it adds up nicely, and there are a lot of cool little events which you can miss, such as gaining an airship through a series of side missions, resembling something from FFVII. That being said, if none of this takes your fancy, you can skip time and start Ops straight away. All in all, Type-0 lasts about 25 to 30 hours, but adding on extra missions – as well as New Game+ which adds several extra missions to the game – could easily increase that.
As a HD upgrade, Type-0 is not as successful. The handheld origins can be very obvious, as the camera is narrow and cramped, levels frequently become bogged with loading times and the lock-on is sketchy at times. Disappointing, multiplayer functionality has been cut completely, meaning Type-0 is a journey you'll have to experience solo. And the visuals particularly disappoint. Class Zero, on the one hand, look fantastic, getting a gorgeous overhaul during cutscenes and gameplay. But when they talk to less significant characters, it's obvious that NPCs have had little-to-no work on them, sticking out like sore thumbs. And while environments can be well lit, they also can suffer from muddy textures and bland design. It feels disappointing that more work wasn't done to bring Type-0 up to eighth-gen standards.
The sound, on the other hand, benefits from a boost. The music is excellent, mixing remixes of more iconic tracks which excellent new material, some of which features newly recorded parts. The audio fidelity in general is cleaner as sound effects sound crisper and fitting on the console. Only the voice work is a bit mixed, as while dialogue can be engaging and – surprisingly – humorous, other characters sound like a high school student trying their best Tolkien impression. In other words, they're preachy and filled with awkward pauses.
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is certainly a mixed blessing at times, but it also finally sees one of the best-playing Final Fantasies in recent memory reach the rest of the world. It bodes well for future FF games, as its tactical and challenging real-time combat is supremely fun. And though its story isn't as successful at conveying the brutality of war, the missions often pick up the slack. It's a shame more was not done to bring all of Type-0 up to standard, especially in regards to the graphics, but those not too picky with their games – and are hungering for a solid new Final Fantasy – would do well to pick up this one. And it marks a positive trend towards more tactical Final Fantasies.