TGS: Booth Round-Up - Square Enix Wins Hearts, Tames Cerberus

Author: by Simon Carless, Tokyo

Square Enix's booth at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show was somewhat smaller than some of its major competitors, and located in the more minor of the two halls, a fact that surprised some attendees. However, this was due to the fact that a stand-alone Square Enix Party 2005 had already taken over the Makuhari Messe at the end of July, and the company found it un-necessary to be quite so ostentatious for TGS. In any event, with major titles such as Kingdom Hearts 2 and Final Fantasy VII: Dirge Of Cerberus at its disposal, the company's showing was still very strong, with one notable exception. As mentioned above, it was the Tetsuya Nomura-directed Kingdom Hearts 2 that seemed to be getting the most attention on the Square Enix TGS stand - it also showed to great interest on the Sony booth, and the melding of the Disney and Square Enix universes for PlayStation 2 was looking extremely comely, with Disney team-ups and wonderfully animated special moves abounding. In addition, Final Fantasy VII: Dirge Of Cerberus was a potentially intriguing PS2 game, with dark visuals and a switch into an over-the-shoulder but essentially first person aiming mechanism for much of the action - it wasn't yet clear if RPG masters Square Enix can pull off such an overt move into action, though. The other parts of The Compilation Of Final Fantasy VII were also in place on the Square booth, with new art for mobile phone game Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, presumably relating to in-game upgrades, and several screens playing footage from the recently UMD and DVD-released Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. So, rounding out coverage of the Final Fantasy titles, we have the following: as well as showing Final Fantasy XI for the upcoming Xbox 360 on Microsoft's booth, Square announced a new expansion pack for the PC version of the game, Treasures of Aht Urhgan, likely continuing the careful blossoming that is making the title one of the biggest Japanese MMOs. However, regarding long-awaited franchise sequel Final Fantasy XII for PS2, there was nothing new, besides a relatively uninteresting video trailer with no new gameplay footage - a shock to some, and an indication of how far behind development has fallen. Elsewhere, another surprise stand-out was Code Age Commanders, an action RPG with cyberpunk elements which sported extremely good PS2 visuals and looked to have solid gameplay. PC MMO EverQuest II, licensed to Square from Sony Online, was also notably trailed, as well as PS2/PC mech hybrid Front Mission Online, PS2 conventional sequel Front Mission 5, a mysterious videoscreen clip for presumed RPG The World Of Mana, and homegrown PC MMO Fantasy Earth, plus a Slime-themed DS title, and a number of cell phone titles. Yet overall, this was certainly a good showing from Square Enix - somewhat diverse, but sticking largely to the role-playing guns that have made the company great.