Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier: Free Battle Royale Review

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Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier: Free Battle Royale Review
final fantasy 7 the first soldier: free battle royale review

We catapulted back to Midgar with The First Soldier, a mobile systems experience that transports the Square saga into the Battle Royale genre.

In recent months, there have been numerous products announced by Square Enix and related to its most popular intellectual property of all time, namely Final Fantasy. In addition to the highly anticipated sixteenth chapter, the talked about Strangers in Paradise (to find out more here is our test of Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin) and the free remake of FF7 for mobile devices, Ever Crisis, among the titles based on the famous brand we also find a battle royale entitled Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier. While the other games are still far from release, this free to play has landed on Android and iOS, also enjoying some success among fans and reaching a million downloads in a few hours. Is it the umpteenth meteor or a work destined to last over time? Let’s find out together.

A little battle royale, a little MOBA

After creating our elite warrior Shinra through a not particularly detailed character editor, Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier immediately throws the player into the fray with a game that serves as a tutorial and allows you to understand the dynamics of this somewhat atypical battle royale.

Although it does not offer anything really original, the spin-off set 30 years earlier than the events narrated in the seventh chapter try to mix gameplay mechanics that we have seen and enjoyed in other products, to the point of being difficult to frame in a specific genre. The First Soldier is not only a third-person shooter, but also a melee action title with some role-playing elements.

Each game starts with a stage where the user has the total control of a helicopter from which to launch on the map, which consists of a pleasant agglomeration of historical places in the series, such as the Seventh Heaven, Tifa’s club that we enjoyed recently in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Once on the ground, we can freely decide what type of approach to adopt while the playable portion of the map is progressively restricted: the game implements a sort of MOBA-style progression system through which soldiers can acquire and upgrade skills by opening chests, interacting with devices and eliminating human opponents or creatures controlled by artificial intelligence (it is, on balance, a PvPvE battle royale).

The loot that can be found around is not composed exclusively of guns of all kinds, but also of pieces of equipment that alter the statistics, from Matter and even from Summons that allow you to summon a huge allied creature such as Ifrit, who will fight alongside us. Those who are not satisfied with this range of choices can always resort to melee weapons, not to mention the presence of class skills: just like in an RPG, The First Soldier includes five different classes to choose from, each with active and passive skills that can enhance specific styles of approach. There is also a permanent progression system linked to individual classes, so that users are encouraged to always use the same specialization to unlock new skills to replace the basic ones or rare cosmetic elements.

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It is clear that such a large amount of possibilities can hardly guarantee a gaming experience without imperfections and characterized by a balancing flawless. Net of these problems that concern only those players who are more attentive to the competitive component (however present with ranked matches), the gameplay is fun and immediate, regardless of whether you are using the touch screen or a compatible controller.

Of course, with the touch controls it is not entirely intuitive to be able to extricate yourself properly between equipment, Materia and parkour due to a ‘definitely flawed interface, however, the developers have implemented a series of options related to the shooting system which, just like in Call of Duty Mobile (to learn more here is our review of Call of Duty Mobile), allows you to aim and shoot with relative ease and enjoy the start even without an external device. By activating the appropriate settings, in fact, it is sufficient to move the cursor on the opponent to make sure that the weapon fires automatically.

Loot box and Battle Pass

As in any self-respecting battle royale, Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier also includes a season pass packed with premium and free rewards. Most of the objects with which to customize the protagonist, his arsenal and the Chocobo (one of the many vehicles that can be used to move around the map) can only be unlocked by purchasing the pass, but there are also several Shinra ticket obtainable with relative ease and with which it is possible to access loot boxes containing random objects.

Obviously the developers are betting a lot on microtransactions and expensive bundles are already available in the store that allow you to take on the appearance of Tifa, Cloud and other popular characters. During our test we got our hands on several free tickets that were distributed to celebrate the initial success of the game and, with the exception of one costume, almost all of the loot boxes contained camouflage for weapons that were not particularly satisfying to the eye.

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The First Soldier, moreover, proposes one fluctuating visual component: if we exclude the elements extrapolated from Final Fantasy VII, such as characters and settings, characterized by a certainly fascinating art design, we are faced with a product that tends to be anonymous on the aesthetic front, and with a graphic detail that is not surprising. In all likelihood, technical simplicity is linked to the willingness of developers to ensure compatibility with as many devices as possible. Even setting all the graphic options to the maximum, on the other hand, the character models are poorly detailed, as are the areas of the map, especially as regards the interiors.

Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier
Final Fantasy VII The First SoldierVersion Analyzed Android GamesFinal Fantasy 7 The First Soldier is not the battle royale that will upset the equilibrium of the market or will surpass the industry champions such as COD Warzone and Fortnite Chapter 2, but it is a product that, without particular pretensions, offers a gameplay that is all in all enjoyable and immediate. If you are a fan of the seventh chapter of the Square Enix series and do not disdain the battle royale, The First Soldier would at least deserve a try to explore Midgard in a different context from what you are used to. And who knows, maybe you will also have fun picking up every single quote posted by the development team in the various corners of the map. Those who are not a huge fan of Final Fantasy could in any case find a product a little distant from the usual battle royale and which, compared to the competition, offers a lighter gaming experience and less devoted to unbridled competition. In short, a game that fulfills its duty for a few games in the name of lightheartedness.

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