World of Final Fantasy Maxima Review (Switch)

World of Final Fantasy was originally released back in 2016 to commemorate Final Fantasy’s 30th anniversary. World of Final Fantasy Maxima is an enhanced version of the original game that forgoes the Vita version for a release on the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the latter version we’ll be reviewing today.

The game’s story is the same as original, having you take control of Lann and Reynn, two siblings who adventure through Grymoire battling Mirages and save the world from the Bahamutians. The writing is a bit cheesy but has its own charm and nicely contrasts compliments the game’s art direction and design. The story does get really interesting towards it’s certainly slow in the beginning and won’t win any writing awards. What I do love is the character interactions, they feel natural and even had me chuckle every now and then.

I’m a huge fan of World of Final Fantasy Maxima’s battle system, which as a fan of turn-based JRPGs, is something I’ve been yearning for. If I had to compare the overall gameplay of WOFFM, the closest comparison would be a mix between Pokemon and Final Fantasy X. You can catch the aforementioned Mirages and use them in battle, but what makes the challenge fun is that each Mirage has their own conditions that you need to fulfill before you can ‘Imprisim’ them. The ATB based battle system, too, features new mechanics to add more strategy including the ‘Stacking’ mechanic that combines your character’s stats with Mirages granting huge stat boosts, plus its so funny seeing Mirages on top of your head acting like this is totally normal.

Players can also use Final Fantasy Characters like Zack Fair (FFVII: Crisis Core), Lightning (FFXIII), Squall (FFVIII) and many more as ‘Champions’ in battle by equipping their Champion Medals. Each Champion has their own unique style and moves and adds more options for depth to the already fun battle system. Collecting all the Characters is also pretty fun, as you have to complete small missions to get them.

The game’s art direction is gorgeous and translates really well to the Nintendo Switch. World of Final Fantasy Maxima looks really good in Portable mode, which I was concerned about since many games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 are a jagged mess in Portable Mode. The game also performs excellently and the weaker hardware of the Switch handles the game very well. The battle load times are super fast with no dips in frame rates, overall I’m very impressed.

World of Final Fantasy Maxima adds a ton of new content on top of the standard game which includes the ability to carry 2 more Mirages in battle, more rare items, a New Game+ mode, adjustments and balancing to difficulty, a Secret Ending teasing something I won’t go into detail, new content including questions, champions and mirages, a fishing mini-game featuring Noctis from Final Fantasy XV and much more.

We loved the original and Maxima improves on the experience even further, plus the Nintendo Switch is the perfect home for the game and we’re hopeful future entries maintain the same charm and quality.