No one would deny that Square Enix’s output has always been of a very particular nature, its games a product of its environment and very much catered to those within its home territory. But even a company as rooted in tradition as Square Enix would be foolhardy not to heed the implications of narrowing its audience when an entire planet is embracing gaming as a pastime.

Nier is the latest of several games that prove Square Enix has no intention of restricting itself, and along with Front Mission Evolved, Order Of War and Supreme Commander 2 highlights the steps the Japanese giant has made to become a more globally-focused entertainment company.

Square Enix’s Yosuke Saito has said that Square USA and Europe were involved with the design process on Nier, creating characters and settings that would be popular in the west. Indeed, even the trailer has a deep, American voice narrate over dramatic bells. “No one saw it coming,” it says. “It took over with a vengeance.” If we didn’t know better we’d say it was the trailer for Michael Bay’s latest.

Tokyo-based cavia, inc. is on development duties, a studio with some experience in the western market. Unfortunately, this experience comes largely from titles ranging from mediocre to dire, the likes of Bullet Witch and Drakengard doing little to instil confidence in cavia’s abilities. But with the support of Square Enix, there’s hope.

The game’s story is centred on the titular Nier, the father on a quest to find a cure for a daughter who’s been infected with the Black Scrawl virus. Square Enix is reticent to give away any more detail than this, save for the fact that like the game, Nier himself has been designed with a western audience in mind. It’s interesting to note that the last time Square Enix made this claim it concerned The Last Remnant’s Conqueror; another aging, weather-worn warrior with long grey locks. It appears this is what Square Enix believes western gamers want.

It’s the gameplay that’s the most important, though, and it’s here that Square Enix hopes its western ambitions are most apparent. But with combat that evokes Japanese titles Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden – albeit with a lot less flair than those genre masters – we’re not sure just how ‘western’ it really is. Nier uses his sword to carve out combos on his enemies, with a counter tallying up the number of successful strikes. He also has a special attack he needs to charge to execute – not unlike Hayabusa’s Ultimate Technique – and occasionally a magic book will appear next to Nier and shoot fireballs at the enemy – again reminiscent of Ninja Gaiden’s Ninpo.

It’s not what Nier’s got, however, but what it hasn’t that causes concern, and that’s personality. Unless it begins to feel more unique and less a sluggish mishmash of existing games Nier will be all-too-easily ignored by gamers, and not just in the western hemisphere but the world over. In its current – although admittedly premature – state, Nier offers little other than a bland collection of awkward dialogue and standard combat. It’s going to need a lot of work if it’s to stand out among the stalwarts of the genre.

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