Platinum Demo: Final Fantasy XV Review
A Platinum
Insight
As of a few days ago, the demo for Final Fantasy XV titled “Platinum Demo: Final Fantasy XV” has made its way onto the Playstation and Xbox Live stores, free to download. After around 40 minutes, the special demo offers an unexpected and unique insight into the main games’ protagonist. Is it worth your time? Definitely.
The entirety
of the Platinum demo is a dream sequence within the mind of Final Fantasy XV’s
main character, Noct, as a young boy. Being guided via telepathic text message
with a Carbuncle (adorable unicorn, rabbit, cat-thing), the demo takes you
through four different levels. Each level has its own intriguing scenery, music and several
gameplay elements added casually whilst journeying from one dream level to
another.
Visuals
 |
| Awwww! |
Whilst not a
massive package of gameplay, the demo is more of an engaging showcase that
tries to suck in the player to show what this world can be. Even though these
levels are all parts of a dream, each one is beautiful and enchanting. Scenery;
weather patterns, soundtracks and creatures, the Carbuncle included
successfully sucks you into admiring your surroundings as you’re running
through them and offers excitement to look forward to all of the environments
the final game will offer.
Gameplay
Even though
gameplay has taken a bit of backseat to offering a look into FFXV’s world, some
interesting fighting mechanics and features are provided. As you are mostly
fighting as a younger Noct, you are provided with toy weapons and some
creatures to fight throughout the four levels. Though on the 4th
level, when the viewpoint into the combat becomes as that you’ll expect in the
full game, the combat in the previous three levels may become a bit repetitive.
As I was trying to explore as much as I could on the 2nd level, I
was beginning to exhaust my fighting options before my attention became a tad
worn-out. However, there are some interesting environment/transformation panels
which you can step on throughout the whole demo in between portions of combat.
There are even transformation panels during the 3rd level which
reinvigorated my attitude towards fighting random creatures for the tenth time (I may have turned into a fighting alligator),
before finally entering an enthralling final fight on the 4th level.
Characters
 |
| Being able to see into this world through young Noct's perspective. |
Alongside
another sneak peek into the look of FFXV, the most prominent aspect of the demo
is into the backstory and mind of the character, Noct, himself. Throughout
levels of the demo and delivered with the narration of the Carbuncle; we’re
offered an interesting and deeper understanding into Noct’s relationship with
his father, Regis, involving both events in his childhood and how close they
were prior to the main game. I definitely came away understanding Noct deeper
as a human character and even enjoyed watching his bond with the Carbuncle
during this dream sequence, that helped explore it all.
Verdict
Despite
dragging on through some portions of the levels, the platinum demo for Final
Fantasy 15 continuously showed off a decent variety in terms of the look and
feel of this world, alongside a further look into understanding the character,
Noct and how we might see the relationship with his father in the game. As a
non-diehard fan of the Final Fantasy series, the demo certainly appeals as a
gateway for new entrants into the franchise, with new characters and
interesting creatures to engage with in this invigorated world. If you have
a spare 45 minutes or so, it’s free to download and you have nothing to lose.
Give it a go and see what you think. It’s short, sweet and a good bit of fun.
Rating: 8/10.
Final
Fantasy XV graces our Ps4’s & XB1’s September 30th, 2016.
By Ben Williams, Pineapple Carpet.
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