Final Fantasy VII is highly acclaimed by many fans of Squaresoft's long-running game series as the best Final Fantasy ever to grace a console. It brought about such radical changes to the games industry that for the following years it set the standard for other games to follow. In this review I plan to take an in-depth look at just why Final Fantasy VII was loved around the world, and why it leaves some of us wanting to play it again and again. And again.

The first thing we must remember about Final Fantasy VII was that it was different. It was Square's first attempt at a 3 dimensional Final Fantasy game, and their first game for the PlayStation. In fact, Final Fantasy VII was due to be released for the upcoming N64 at the time, but when it was announced that Nintendo's console was to use cartridges, Square looked to Sony for a platform they could build their games on.

The opening level of Final Fantasy VII gives the player control of Cloud Strife, a mercenary who takes on any job which pays well. Soon you gain control of another character, Barret Wallace, the leader of a rebel group known as AVALANCHE, who fight for the life of the planet, which is being drained by the mega conglomerate company, ShinRa. Already, just an hour or so into the game, a huge story begins to unfold before the player, who is immersed in the great graphics and sound which accompany the game play.

The graphics in the game, as I said earlier, were Square's first attempt at 3 dimensional graphics for a Final Fantasy game. I personally feel they did a very good job, with very detailed backgrounds and impressive FMVs. Some people have problems with the character graphics, commenting on the fact that they looked nothing like real people and that they missed some rather important features, such as mouths. Although true, this didn't stop Square from putting in the details in some of the FMVs, such as a particular video where the characters are walking inside the ShinRa building. Some claim that Square did the character style deliberately to imitate Manga, but no official statement has been released on the matter.

The Final Fantasy VII soundtrack is, in my opinion, one of Nobuo Uematsu's best works. I find myself listening to pieces such as 'J-E-N-O-V-A' and 'Cid's Theme' over and over again, loving every second of them. Even pieces that do not seem to stand out as much compliment the game very well and help set the mood for the events that have/are about to occur, for example 'Those Chosen By The Planet' and 'Crazy Motorcycle'. Tracks like those you do not usually realise how good they are when playing the game but listening to them whilst not playing makes you see (or should I say hear) just how much effort was put in to the soundtrack.

The game play of Final Fantasy VII was immense. It got the player doing a range of tasks from escaping on motorcycles to resuscitating an unconscious girl to flying an airship. The innovative battle system uses Materia, a completely different style of magic to previous Final Fantasies. You could buy it or find it. There were different types of Materia. Some edit your stats, some allow you to use magic and some add special abilities to magic such as All which uses the spell it is connected to to attack all creatures instead of just one. Some slots will be connected whereas some will not be connected. Being connected allows you to alter the effects on the spell using materia such as all materia or HP absorb materia, which can be very useful.

The Final Fantasy VII limit break system was also quite different. Characters used their so-called 'Limit Breaks' after their limit bar was full. The bar charged after the character has taken damage. Once it was full, the character could use a limit break of the level selected before the battle, usually doing massive damage, or in some cases aiding the party through healing. This could come in useful against some very hard bosses, so could be saved for those battles (a small touch, but nice nonetheless). The ability to have limit breaks of different levels, requiring certain conditions to reach the next one, worked well. Higher level limit breaks dealt more damage, but the limit break bar charged much more slowly and so could not be used as often.

You don't have to play Final Fantasy VII for very long to fall in love with the characters. The characters all have great back stories that often intertwine to great effect. Often long flashbacks are seen, such as Barret telling his story of how his hometown was burnt to the ground. Incidentally, this has to be one of the best back stories in any FF game, with Barret re-visiting his old town and being taunted by the residents, then ending up in a huge desert prison and finally facing his old friend and now rival, Dyne.

Another interesting point about Final Fantasy VII was the use of hidden (optional) characters. You could complete the game without them no problem, but they were greatly different to the other characters you had in your roster and made the game much more interesting and exciting.

Not all things in Final Fantasy VII were changes, however. There was still magic of the same type, Fire, Ice, Haste and the like, and there were still summons such as Ramuh and Shiva. You could still equip characters with weapons and armour, and make them learn new abilities through materia. And yes, there is still a character called Cid :).

Final Fantasy VII featured a lot of mini games and challenges that, sadly, did not appear in the succeeding games. The gold saucer was a whole location dedicated to fun and games, with a roller coaster, Chocobo racing and much more. There was also a massive Chocobo breeding quest which was quite time consuming but very rewarding. New materia and items could be found with special types of Chocobo that you could breed. There were also lots of mini games which were mandatory, such as two I mentioned earlier, the motorcycle chase and resuscitating an unconscious girl. Such small additions were one of the untold glories of Final Fantasy VII. They put the finishing touches on the masterpieces and helped make the game what it is.

Merits

Gameplay: 49/50. A great story, great characters and a great game to play.
Graphics: 18/10. Square's first attempt at 3d graphics worked a treat.
Character graphics not bad, got better in later FFs.
Lifespan: 20/20. Can last for ages and will make you want to play it again and again.
Sound: 10/10. One of Uematsu's best works.
Value: 10/10. It was worth every penny at full price but now that it's been re-released at £20 you have no reason not to buy it!

In conclusion, I think Final Fantasy VII is one of the best Final Fantasy games. Since VII, Square have not been able to create a Final Fantasy game that lives up to the standard of VII. They are getting closer, though, with Final Fantasy X being a big improvement on IX and also being on the PlayStation2.

Overall score: 97% - A true classic. Don't have it yet? Why not?

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