FINAL FANTASY XV: POCKET EDITION REVIEW
by Tom Bradshaw
Feb 27, 2018
Triple-A games can’t be ported to mobile, the hardware just isn’t there. That was the common consensus before Square Enix got involved. February 8th 2018 marked a change in the mobile gaming climate, the day the world saw a full game appear on their handheld devices, a game which only hit consoles less than two years ago.
Enter, Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition. FFXV: PE is a streamlined, stylised experience. And it works.
Square Enix has taken an objective approach to this project, it's true that mobile devices simply can’t compete with modern consoles or PCs, the hardware just doesn’t exist. So what can be done to bring such a huge game to Android and iOS?
​
Well for starters cut out the open world. The sprawling map of Final Fantasy XV can push consoles to the limit, causing frame drops and even crashes. This simply would not work on mobile devices. So cut it and have individually loading areas, simple.
This has some side effects though, some quests have been cut from the game and the areas don’t feel as visually spectacular, a shame when the visuals were such a huge part of the original game.
There is one other downside to it though. It’s episodic. Square Enix are no strangers to the episodic format, especially on mobile devices. From Life is Strange to Hitman Go, Square has been releasing games bit at a time now for years.
So what does this all mean? Well for one it means that FFXV: PE costs £19.99 to unlock all 10 episodes, a pretty steep price for a mobile game in my view. Secondly, it means that for the best part of £20 you get a toned down title, a title locked behind pay-walls and released bit-by-bit.
But what you do get is a fresh experience. Mobile gamers are finally being offered big titles, even if they are toned down. In that respect, we could be seeing a turning in the tides for mobile gaming. Moving away from casual games like Candy Crush and towards rich stories and fun mechanics. A hopeful view of things to come.