This Week in Games

Is This Really A Final Fantasy VII Trailer? We Still Don't Know Sephiroth Or Nothing.

Welcome back, everyone! You've likely seen our review of Another Code: Recollection by now. What a wonderful experience that was. It's great that it got a second chance at bat. And it's been selling so well! Nintendo must've underproduced that title because it was sold out at a lot of retailers for a while! I didn't get to bring up a detail about that game during the review. It's a minor one that I think is more suited to here than in the review: according to my old issues of Tips & Tricks, you could get a little in-game birthday cake upon beating Trace Memory—and through the use of the Nintendo DS's microphone, you could "blow" out the candles on it. It was a cute detail, and I was curious how Recollection would handle it. Sadly, it didn't even try. That is understandable since the Switch doesn't have any kind of microphone. But it shows that remakes can't recreate the full experience of the game's original version. Sure, it would've been nice if Recollection had some ports of the original Trace Memory or Journey into Lost Memories. We're fortunate that Collection of Mana gave us an official way to play the original SNES version of TwialsTrials of Mana shortly before the 3D remake also came out.

I've talked before about Breath of Fire, Capcom's phenomenal RPG series about dragon-men and their bird-winged girlfriends fighting off evil. Last April was even the franchise's 30th anniversary. Just in time for the Chinese New Year, which will be the Year of the Dragon (it's your year, Hatori Sohma fans!), Capcom has done fans a favor and uploaded Breath of Fire II to the Capcom Town Museum and made it playable in your Internet browser! Through the use of cookies, it can even track your progress. You can even use a joypad to play it! They also added over 60 pieces of artwork and design documents, a complete PDF of the original English instruction manual, and the option of playing the Japanese Super Famicom version of the game. You can also play the first Breath of Fire if you so choose—or either of the first two Final Fight games, or Captain Commando, or Mega Man X, or plenty of other Capcom classics!

This is all great, but the real reason behind it all is that Capcom is hosting what they're calling the Capcom Super Elections. It's essentially a glorified survey polling fans for which Capcom franchises they're interested in and which ones they'd love to make a comeback. It also has plenty of room for fans to make (polite!) comments about Capcom and what they'd like to see from the studio. I do feel a bit miffed that out of all the franchises they list, they expect you only to choose three franchises you'd love to see brought back—I can think of at least ten (Dino Crisis, Breath of Fire, Okami, the Vs series, Darkstalkers, Rival Schools, Cyberbots, Gargoyle's Quest, 1942, Sengoku Basara). But it's all a beautiful affair, with a cute webpage featuring old Capcom mascots. Their registry of games and characters in the polls is quite complete (I know because Breath of Fire 2's Katt is actually available).

On the one hand, it's easy to lose hope because, let's face it, it's not the first time Capcom has polled its fans and not done anything about it. Darkstalkers fans are the shambling undead, what with their tenacity, and Cyberbots fans have been all but beaten into submission (alas, poor Jin Saotome...). And it doesn't help that so many of the loudest voices seem to act like there aren't enough Resident Evil remakes. Like, Resident Evil 4 Remake just came out last year, I think Capcom can spare a few dollars to give Dino Crisis's Regina the same TLC Jill and Leon get. But that's the thing about hope: you can't let go or have nothing left. Capcom is at least paying close attention to these Super Elections, and they're extremely thorough. So let's hope we can get through to them and get some RE Engine-fueled love for Red Arremer or Kyoko Minazuki—or at the very least, a version of Breath of Fire 2 that finally doesn't have such a god-awful translation...

Man, tons of news broke about Sonic the Hedgehog 3 last week, right after the column went live! It's a lot of fun stuff, and I look forward to sharing it with you guys. The Sonic the Hedgehog movies are a fun time; even if they're not particularly stellar films, they're extremely solid family films that do a great job on multiple fronts. They do an excellent job of bringing Sonic himself to life as an eager, fun-loving teenager with a pair of loving, protective parent figures (rest in peace, Uncle Chuck). You've got Jim Carrey and Lee Majdoub chewing the scenery as a pair of loveable villains with a fun dynamic between each other. And you've got just enough bits of Sonic the Hedgehog fanservice to keep the old Sega-sky-blue-blooded fans happy, like the tiled soil and polygonal flowers of Mobius or the celebrated casting of Colleen O'Shaughnessey in her longtime role as Miles "Tails" Prower (who, by the way, still has his iconic biplane). And the movies do a great job of capturing the irreverent spirit of the Sonic fandom, both in referencing classic bits like the "Sanic" drawing or in the way the films poke fun at themselves, like in Commander Walters' famous obsession with dining at Olive Garden (note: it wasn't even a product placement deal, it was just a bit that took on a life of its own). In a way, the Sonic movie did a lot of what Nintendidn't with the Mario Bros movie, but that's a discussion for another time.

Fans have also been abuzz since the stinger to Sonic the Hedgehog 2 teased a much-anticipated aspect of Sonic lore: the appearance of the Ultimate Lifeform himself, Shadow the Hedgehog. Wait no more, folks: it's real, and it's happening.

Let's ignore for a minute that they're likely tossing a stray "Sonic Underground" reference at us in 2024, or else we'll be here all day. This logo alone had fans frothing at the mouth for the whole weekend! The Sonic movies have already done phenomenal work by giving their logos tons of fanservice, from referencing Sega's old "WELCOME TO THE NEXT LEVEL" tagline to re-creating the beloved cover art to both Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and 3 (hint: Knuckles' eyes are peeping out from the giant "2" instead of the bushes this time). They clearly know the assignment. So mark one: the logo for the new film is referencing the beloved blue-and-red logo for Sonic Adventure 2—fitting, since that game was Shadow's debut. This was hinted at for months, apparently: the teaser image shared back in November has a very small glimpse of the "Adventure 2"-style logo on the clapperboard next to Shadow's shoes.

Mark two: the song played in the trailer is a dramatic orchestral rearrangement of Sonic Adventure 2's beloved theme song, Live & Learn. Crush 40's music was very central to Sonic's "spirit" for a good while. Even though they haven't composed a song for a Sonic game since Sonic and the Black Knight, they're quite near and dear to any Sonic fan's heart, like Trouble Man for Darkstalkers fans. Plenty of people (myself included) were pretty disappointed that there weren't more Crush 40 references in the earlier movies... but that's fair since the first two Sonic films were more in line with the classic Sonic games anyway. With Live & Learn being so important to Sonic Adventure 2 and a pivotal song played during the game's climax, it's good to see that folks at Paramount are pulling double-duty in keeping the fanservice alive.

Mark the third: we have a cast listing. Much of the established cast from the previous Sonic movies will be returning, along with newcomers Krysten Ritter, Cristo Fernández, and Alyla Browne. Folks feel convinced that Ritter will be playing Rouge the Bat (which seems likely unless that's what Sofía Pernas is slated to do). Folks are also convinced that Alyla Browne will be playing Maria Robotnik, which is pretty safe to assume since, uh, she's the only blond child in the cast. Speaking of Browne, I feel terrible for whoever is managing Sega's online communities because once Browne was confirmed, folks have been abuzz in anticipation of seeing the infamous scene where Maria gets gunned down by a G.U.N. agent, as per Shadow's backstory. I don't know how many people outside of the Sonic fandom know that the number of children killed by police brutality in Sonic the Hedgehog lore is greater than "zero."

It makes me think back to when I saw Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in theaters and bumped into a pleasant group trying to explain Sonic lore to one of their own—and their reaction when it was explained to them that aliens factored into Shadow's origin and that a President is a recurring character in the games. Given that these are kids' movies, it's likely that Maria's death will be changed to something less... just less. I don't know; maybe they'll change it to Dr. Gerald Robotnik making a deal with Black Doom to genetically engineer a cure for some weird terminal illness Maria suffers from. But—and I can't believe I'm typing this—Sonic fans want to see Maria get shot. And—I can't believe I'm typing this too—I get them because Maria being shot is pretty important to Sonic lore. Famously, even 4Kids kept that bit in for their Sonic X localization. Oh sure, they cut out the actual scene where the rifle was fired but arguably a smash-cut from young Maria pulling a lever while held at gunpoint to an old man sobbing over having killed an innocent child is more of a gut-punch. And if it passed muster for Standards and Practices in the days where even Cartoon Network was editing guns on Gundam Seed into disco-lasers, surely it can pass for a PG-13 film. Besides, Sonic as a franchise is nothing if not extremely critical of the industrial-military complex. Maria, notwithstanding, I don't think Sonic spent years fighting the Eggman Empire to sidle up with militarized police.

Speaking of casting, the other positive bit people have looked forward to is the confirmation that Jim Carrey is coming back for a third time to chew the scenery as Doctor Ivo "E.G.G.M.A.N." Robotnik. I need people to appreciate how wild this is: Carrey, a consummate comedian, had a strict policy of not doing sequels throughout his career. And I don't blame him; Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls probably paid well, but I can't imagine a spirited man like him who makes up jokes for every film on-the-fly enjoyed having to repeat so many of his wisecracks from the first Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

Carrey has also been trying to retire for a very long time. After decades of being a well-known funnyman, the rubber-faced Canuck is likely tired of the Hollywood hype machine. And as a guy who grew up on his antics, I'm fine with that. Let him rest. Let him live in contemplation in his home, painting his canvases away from the noise and bustle of Tinseltown. Money can't buy inner peace, and Carrey has always been a lot deeper than people give him credit for; he of the philosophy "you can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on what you love." (He's also an anti-vaxxer, which, as an Autistic man, I've never forgiven him for, but nobody's perfect.) When asked whether he'd return to the role of Robotnik, Carrey previously stated he likely wouldn't return unless the script were that good and he felt it was "going to be really important for people to see." He even wraps up his appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 with a triumphant ""Later, hater~!". Well, that script must've been damn good for Carrey to decide to go for a completely-unprecedented triple! The news makes me very happy; ignoring my love for Carrey's antics as a kid, Carrey does have a great grasp on what makes Robotnik tic as a villain. I can't find it now, but in an interview where a child asked why Robotnik hates Sonic, Carrey had a fairly profound answer, explaining his opinion that he envies Sonic's freedom and joi de vivre. That, and I think he really likes playing Robotnik. He gets to dance around and re-create Dick Van Dyke's "headless"-trick. He might also enjoy doing something that makes the young and young-at-heart happy. Good on you, Carrey. We'll keep your rocking chair warm once filming wraps.

The one mystery hanging over the casting is a big one, though: Who's going to play Shadow? We haven't heard any news yet, and folks are buzzing. Sure, Paramount cast Idris Elba as Knuckles, but Colleen O'Shaughnessey was able to reprise her role from the games. For some reason, many fans seem to have their hearts set on Hayden Christensen as Shadow. I'm not sure I vibe with that choice; the man was Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, and as much as people have rehabilitated the Prequel trilogy, I distinctly remember folks hating Christensen in those movies up until the Sequel trilogy came out. I'm indifferent—I think he's a phenomenal actor (anyone who's seen Shattered Glass can attest to that), but his work as Skywalker was poorly directed. And I don't think he has the voice-acting chops for Shadow. This feels like when folks had their heart set on The Rock voicing Knuckles because it's The Rock. I'm ever grateful that Paramount didn't do that and instead went with Idris Elba because Elba actually can voice act and is darn good at it (remember, he was also in Zootopia and Aqua Teen Hunger Force). Many fans believe that the evil laugh heard in the teaser is Christensen as Shadow, but that one's been disproved—it's just a sample of Carrey laughing from a scene from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. So, the jury is still out. In the meantime, I look forward to Paramount making a decision that disregards fan rumors and gives us something better.

Speaking of Elba, the last bit of news is that we can look forward to Knuckle's solo series getting teased during the Super Bowl. There's still precious little info going around about that series. A trailer popped up earlier in the week with some fun nuggets, like Knuckles getting his old hat from the Sonic OVA or the presence of Pachamaca the Echidna from Sonic Adventure, but in the meantime, nothing for us to do but hurry up and keep waiting: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 won't hit theaters until this December 20, 2024. I'm still a little bummed out that the movie isn't titled Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, but I'll manage.

Looks like Microsoft isn't having a good time of things. After decimating anti-trust laws, acquiring Activision-Blizzard in a deal that gave them more of a monopoly on game development, laying off 1900 employees in the wake of the $75 billion acquisition and laying off a ton of their physical media department (as part of the 1900 employee layoff), Microsoft has finally found itself back in the Federal Trade Commission's sights. See, before the merger, Microsoft made a pinky promise that they'd be very, very good and "maintain a pre-merger status quo". Many criticized this, convinced that Microsoft would renege, and Microsoft pretty much proved them right with the 1900 layoffs. Microsoft defenders have argued that there's no way to know if Microsoft wouldn't have laid off so many employees if the merger hadn't gone through. Still, with so many layoffs, including redundancies from Activision-Blizzard and Microsoft, the FTC has been given reason to pause the acquisition and examine the situation. If there's evidence to believe that Microsoft isn't allowing Activision-Blizzard to operate independently, well, I don't know what'll happen, but by God, would it be hysterical if the deal was undone? I don't know what that process would look like, but it would lead to many folks at Microsoft stomping on their hats.

And the news doesn't get any better from there. Scuttlebutt has begun circulating that there is a possibility that their big AAA would-be tentpole, Starfield, will be coming to the PlayStation 5. This was a big deal to a lot of Microsoft's faithful; Microsoft had also acquired Bethesda (because what else haven't they bought). It's one thing if Sony decides Spider-Man 2 should also be available on Steam; it would be another if Sony ported one of their killer apps to a competing console. This has shaken the faith of a lot of Microsoft's loyal player base something fierce—so much so that, being scuttlebutt, I'm nevertheless compelled to write about it.

In the wake of the uncertainty of the Xbox nation, Philip Spencer took to Twitter and made a less-than-encouraging announcement that they'd have another announcement about Xbox's future next week. So, uh, hurry up and keep waiting, I guess?

I'm not going to lie; if someone told me, "I know you're worried, but give me until next week to clear the air for you," I'd only get even more anxious. I could go into a lengthy discussion of Microsoft's woes, but I think that discussion would be rather premature. Being wholly generous to Spencer, there might be good news? Nintendo has pulled out from similarly nasty-looking situations, and Sony recovered from the fiasco that was the PlayStation 3's disastrous launch. Nevertheless, it does seem like there's blood in the water; I can't see Microsoft foisting Starfield onto a competing console unless they really, really needed to gain extra revenue from it that they're not already getting. A game that expensive that was in development for as long as it was needed to be a smash-hit right out of the gate for Microsoft and considering folks working on a co-op mod for Starfield gave up because "the game is [expletive] trash", I'd argue that Starfield hasn't succeeded on that front. Not good tidings when your company is already $75 billion in the hole after a massive merger they had no business pursuing.

We'll follow this story as it develops. Hopefully, the folks investing in Xboxes won't find themselves dealing with a $500 paperweight.

Hoo boy, two State of Play streams in as many weeks! At least this one was just for one specific game—Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, the much-anticipated continuation of Square-Enix's remake of Final Fantasy VII. The first chapter in this anticipated trilogy, Remake, might have ruffled some feathers with the changes to the original's story. But there is no denying the sheer artistry at play with that title: the expansion upon the city of Midgar made us all fall in love with Final Fantasy VII again, and the new flourishes on previously-minor characters like the tragic Jessica helped. Rebirth ended at a most tantalizing moment in the story, with Cloud and his gang of would-be eco-terrorists escaping the city with the talking dog Red XIII in tow. Final Fantasy VII: Remake Integrade expanded on the game further, establishing what the young ninja Yuffie Kisaragi was up to before she bumped into Cloud and company. Rebirth was highly anticipated since it covers a massive chunk of Final Fantasy VII's story—quite literally, since we're not only moving away from the confines of Midgar to the rest of the outside world beyond that pizza-esque city, but also delving deeper into Cloud's past and the truth of his time as a member of SOLDIER. And Sony had all the juicy deets on the game for us this past Tuesday!

Folks were very precious about this stream since people didn't want to be spoiled on the game. But it's time we start giving up on that notion, especially since Square-Enix has pulled the old bait-and-switch on their trailers for the past three major releases. Seeing a scene doesn't give us any context; there's no need to go off half-cocked. Besides, we still don't know Sephiroth. Anyway, the trailer covers a ton of material in the opening minutes. We see things you'd expect from this point in Final Fantasy VII's story, like the fight against what appears to be the Midgar Serpent, the Temple of the Ancients, Barret in a sailor uniform, the Turks showing up to throw hands with Cloud, and a teasing of the games available at the Golden Saucer. We have our first glance at Cait Sith and his moogle mount, we get a first taste of Cid's voice acting (I love his Southern drawl), and we finally see heartthrob Vincent Valentine encountering the gang. We see our first glimpse at Dyne, a man whose hands are too bloody to hug his daughter. Also, we get to see some of Red XIII being an awkward teenager around Tifa and Aerith in their cute Costa del Sol outfits (fitting because Red XIII is an awkward teen, the loveable scamp).

A few scenes stand out here. First, we have confirmation of Dual Techs! Folks had wondered if there would be combo techs in Remake, following some misconstrued footage where it looked like Cloud was launching Tifa off of his Buster Sword (it was just awkward camera positioning). Here, it looks like it's an actual mechanic: we see the gang combining their abilities in battle to make cool double-attacks. They're very characterful, too, like Aerith magically swinging Red XIII around with her scepter like a buzzsaw or Aerith stylishly donning Barrett's sunglasses before joining him in firing a full salvo.

But also, there are some key differences this time around. First off, we see good ol' Gilgamesh. Er, not "King of Heroes" Gilgamesh, "Battle on the Bridge"/"I tamed a chicken and painted him green" Gilgamesh. This is a twist! Gilgamesh has been a long-standing presence throughout Final Fantasy. While first appearing in Final Fantasy V, his many appearances in all of the other Final Fantasy games are canonically the same dude (in a series where continuity is made up and the serialization doesn't matter). Regardless, Gilgamesh famously wasn't in Final Fantasy VII—PlayStation fans wouldn't bump into him until Squall and company did in Final Fantasy VIII. Any encounter with the big lug is sure to be a fun time, so I'm excited.

But then there's the bundle of joy that is Cissnei. You remember Cissnei, don't you? Of course you don't—she wasn't in the original Final Fantasy VII; she was in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. Let me explain for the newer folks: in the late 00s, Square-Enix decided to expand upon the world of FFVII with a series of sequels and prequels in what was known as the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. Famously, this gave the world Final Fantasy: Advent Children. This extremely well-selling animated film detailed the consequences of defeating Sephiroth several years after the games' events. There was also Before Crisis, a Japan-exclusive cell phone game detailing the adventures of the Turks six years before the events of FFVII. Turns out, there were more Turks than appeared in the original FFVII—Cissnei being one of them, back when her name was "Shuriken". Crisis Core was a direct prequel to FFVII, detailing the adventures of one Zack Fair (of Gongaga fame) and establishing his connection to Cloud. Cissnei also made a few appearances in that game. Then there was Dirge of Cerberus, another sequel to FFVII that let you play as Vincent Valentine in a rather clumsy third-person shooter wherein you fought the forces of Deepground, who themselves are connected to a major antagonist from Crisis Core. And if you've been paying attention, you'll notice a trend here: all of these games have sequential initials! AC, BC, CC, and DC. This is very intentional, and the FFVII remakes have been tying into this not only by low-key mentioning aspects of the Compilation games like Deepground (wherein these references didn't exist in the original FFVII)... but also because the mobile gacha game based off of FFVII, Ever Crisis, continues the naming convention by being a much-belated EC.

So. Cissnei. Being a secret Turk and having bumped into Zack a ton in Crisis Core, I'm not sure how she'll factor into this—but it's another bit of evidence that the remake games are building upon all of Final Fantasy VII from the past twenty years. And honestly, I'm here for it. The new story choices are fascinating, leading to a ton of intrigue, like with the bit in the trailer where Aerith hands Cloud the White Materia. In the original Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth kills Aerith to keep her from potentially stopping his plans to summon Meteor with the Black Materia by using the White Materia to summon Holy. And Aerith being the last of the Ancients (a.k.a., the Cetra), if she can't use it, then nobody can. Famously, the White Materia falls out of Aerith's ribbon and into a pool of water when she dies, setting up the conflict for the latter half of Final Fantasy VII as Meteor looms above the Earth and the kaiju-like Weapons awaken to try and protect what's left of the world.

And for folks who think this is a spoiler, sit down. We don't have any context for any of this information. That's the point of bringing it up and speculating. Final Fantasy VII Remake has already implied that certain key players might have the knowledge they aren't supposed to have, that this is literally a "remake" of the events of FFVII, with the powers that be struggling to change events in their favor. Many have decried this as lazy "subversion of expectations," meaning people need to shut up and gain some literacy. Final Fantasy VII is a very influential, powerful game, and it's not unfair to look back at its monumental influence over its past two decades of influence and examine it all. If you're that hard up for the original Final Fantasy VII experience, the original game is available everywhere. Stop wanting the same thing only slightly shinier now. That's how you get the endless The Last of Us remasters. Do you want endless The Last of Us remasters? Because that's how you get endless The Last of Us remasters.

Anyway, new stuff? New stuff. Minigames? Minigames. So many minigames. The stream promises plenty of new ways to gather and create new materia, from accessing map towers to Proto-relics that reinvent the old strategy game in FFVII, complete with a cute throwback to the original blocky character models from the PS1. The trailer teases new surprises for players who manage to find all the Proto-relics on the globe, including meeting Titan, Earth's summon spirit? We've also got all of the fun stuff waiting for us at Gold Saucer, ranging from updated minigames from Remake to brand new games that are part of sidequests unique to Rebirth. The minigames aren't tied to story progression, so there isn't a time limit to them or anything. There's even a unique card game in Rebirth, giving FFVII its own Triple Triad/Tetra Master-style minigame after all these years.

The staff put in the effort to make sure the entire party feels essential in the overworld, with everyone having their own "gimmick" for helping traverse puzzles. Barrett shoots, Tifa has her iconic grappling hook that she's always had (it's what she's known for!), Cait Sith—whom the English translation is still pronouncing as "Kate Sith" when even the director has pronounced it as the more-accurate "Cat Shee"—can throw stuff around, Red XIII can climb up walls, and Yuffie can throw her shuriken. I have no clue what Vincent does, but for many, all he needs to do is stand there and look pretty (understandable, as his hair is quite luxurious).

They are also remixing Cloud's relationships with his party members. We now have Mass Effect dialogue wheels at certain moments, which can affect relationship values. These determine who goes with you on your fated date at Gold Saucer. If you have your eyes set on Barrett joining you on your gondola ride, well, you have to work for it. But there is also a new Party Level system where certain choices can grant you access to skills in your Folios. What are Folios? They're the key to those dual techs mentioned earlier! Each party set-up will have to unlock its synergized attacks before they can be used, requiring a certain level of Party Levels to unlock them. Thankfully, there is room for experimentation; you can reset your Folios anytime. Also, we can confirm that Cloud can finally launch Tifa off of his Buster Sword for real. Sometimes, gamers can have a little reference to old speculations, as a treat. As a final treat: haptic feedback! The PS5 controller will have contextual pressure on the triggers or HD rumble for certain moments. I've been a sucker for that stuff ever since I played through Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

Currently, players can download a demo for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on the PS5, which goes over the initial Nibelheim flashback (i.e., the part where Sephiroth has his famous shot standing in front of the flames). A demo released later this month will detail bits and pieces of Junon. In the meantime, we can all look forward to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's release on FeFebruary 29and we hope we finally know Sephiroth once and for all.

Yeah, that'll do it for this week, I think. As an aside, it's tax season, so I hope you guys are getting a head-start on all that. I know filing is a pain, but it's better to get it over with sooner rather than later. Heck, you can get some good games once your refund comes in. Also, my arms are officially in the clear! My fractures are all healed up; it's just a matter of me regaining my flexibility. It's an uphill battle, but I've never been afraid of the work. Don't worry too much about me; I'm not one to skip out on my stretches. If I can bear through it, I know you guys can knuckle through whatever you're working on too. Be good to each other. I'll see you in seven.