Source: Gamespot

Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding Hands-On

Game Developers Conference Mobile, San Francisco--Square Enix, which has been regarded one of the US mobile games scene's slumbering giants, is officially out of its bed and trundling towards the shower. The Japanese firm is on the verge of releasing two brand-new games on an as-yet unannounced handset--and one of them is sure to stoke the eternal flame of Final Fantasy fan sentiment to a roaring bonfire. Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding looks like a solid recreation of the snowboarding mini-game from the seminal PlayStation game's "Golden Saucer" casino area.

Like the minigame that inspired it, Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding challenges players to race down an icy track, collecting balloons and dodging hapless moogles in the process. Once again, you'll be able to choose from three difficulty settings, each more moogle-ridden than the last. The games controls are handled entirely by the navigation bar, but they don't seem much less fluid than on the old digital PlayStation controller.

Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding's simply-textured 3D graphics animate at a respectable fifteen-plus frames per second. For a racing minigame, speed is all that's truly essential. Cloud's character model is less detailed than its PlayStation counterpart, but his spiky hair is in full evidence.

However, the game's graphics are nothing compared to its background music track--a mobile mix of the series' infectious Chocobo race tune, which is still just as evocative of the game's heartwarmingly goofy animals as it ever was. Call it Square Enix's Baby Elephant Walk.

While the appeal of a minigame doesn't last forever, mobile gaming is about compromise. Besides, if you've got spiky hair and speedy gameplay, what more do you need? Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding is a game that will most assuredly appeal to a wide audience.

See pictures from the snowboarding game here: http://www.gamespot.com/mobile/sports/fina...creenindex.html

Haha, that's great! Now you'll be able to take mini Cloud anywhere you go? I wonder if it's possible to play as other FFVII characters? I was never too hot at the snowboarding game though, I crashed into everything it was possible to crash into. It's a wonder Cloud survived to see Gaia's Cliff. I was better at the motorbike game. If they ported that over to mobiles, my life would be complete. :lol:

...I find that hard to believe! Well maybe because I just read EGM's April issue and they like to play jokes.

But if it is real, yay for more Cloud! I always thought there should be more of Cloud on a snowboard!

:woot:

::dies and goes to Heaven::

EGADS!!!!*goes nuts*
SO! EXCITED!!!*in Heaven with HB*

how cool!!! is this?
im like soo happy :lol:

I'd love to see this in AC!! Seriously, how cool would it be to see AC Cloud having to snowboard the glacier on his way to the Northern Crater? I think that'd be awesome! :lol:

But lookit what SPOnG had to say about it! :unsure:

SPOnG News New Final Fantasy VII: A New Reason to Cry
Snowboarding for mobile phones. Really.

The most requested re-make on the Square Enix back catalogue by a long chalk is Final Fantasy VII, the controversial Nintendo-enraging debut of the series on a Sony machine. Although debate is fierce among fans, the seventh game in the series, is widely considered the best in the standard-setting RPG franchise.

So it was with great interest that SPOnG had its attention drawn to an all-new game in the world of Final Fantasy. Then we heard it was for mobile devices. At a stretch, this could even be PSP and DS re-makes. It wasn’t. What is was, we use the past tense here as the thing has truly faded away, was Final Fantasy VII: Snowboarding. For mobile phones. And it looks rubbish.

However, there is hope. This revitalised interest at SE, which includes the UMD and DVD movie of FFVII: Advent Children surely points towards a full-scale game set in the world of Cloud in the not too distant future.

Source: SPONG