Final Fantasy VII Review by Sky Render Tagline: Looks bad, sounds bad, but plays well. Graphics - 3/10 There are worse graphics on the PS1, which is about the best thing one can say about FF7's visuals. The character models are laughably poor, looking more like Lego men than humans, and are animated very clunkily. The 2D is usually decent, but often monochromatic and overly dull, plus hard to make out clearly at times. The FMV's are probably the most distracting part of the game's visuals, though: there are 3 distinct styles used in them, and they all clash badly with one another. Needless to say, you don't play FF7 for the visuals. Sound and Music - 4/10 FF7's music is so blatantly synthesized, it hurts. The songs aren't really horrible, for the most part (notable exception and a serious ear-bleeder: the Gold Saucer theme), but they all sound like they came out of an early 90s PC game, they're so poorly sampled. The sound effects are markedly worse than the series norm, too, with many of them sounding like 80s arcade game sound clips, and almost all of the sound effects are used in ways that make no sense at least once each. FF7's appeal doesn't lie with the music. Gameplay - 8/10 The gameplay of FF7 still shines through, helping take a bit of sting off of the bad graphics and music. Though it is a bit simplistic on the whole, simple isn't a bad thing, and it works in FF7's favor. The Materia system lets your characters use skills and spells, usually at the price of a few stat drops. Basically, if you want a warrior-type character, you need to keep that Materia off of them, but you'll be wanting to load your mage-types up nice and heavily with them. The big problem is, magic outclasses physical power so grossly in this game that you'll basically never bother not using Materia. The Materia themselves also gain levels via AP, which accumulates slowly as you beat up enemies. The Materia leveling process is very slow early on, but the overall pace fits the rate of increasing enemy difficulty, so it's not a big deal. Indeed, few will have much difficulty with FF7. FF7 is a first in the series in one regard: it has a LOT of mini-games, most of them mandatory at some point. The upshot of this is that the mandatory ones are almost always very simple and easy to finish. Most of them are just temporary distractions that you practically don't even notice (like the CPR one), while others are actually kinda fun (like the submarine mini-game, and Fort Condor). There are a few stinkers in the lot (especially the snowboarding one), but those often have some redeeming factor (like the very handy stamina recovery trick in the Chocobo races). On the whole, FF7's mini-games are entertaining distractions that don't detract from the main game, particularly since most of them are so very easy to win. The side-quests and main game engines aren't anything to complain about, that's for sure. Most side-quests aren't missable, so that's a nice touch. And a lot of them involve the mini-games, which actually can be a good thing (though Chocobo racing is admittedly boring, it at least gives you a break from Materia leveling). Lastly, the load times in FF7 are stellar, some of the best on the PS1. Story - 7/10 FF7's story is pretty corny, all right. It follows the 16-bit RPG norms almost to the letter, with the big difference being that the game is set in a semi-futuristic world instead of a Neo-Victorian setting. It's a decent story on the whole, but nothing new or unexpected. Not a lot else can be said about it, really. You're unlikely to play FF7 for the story, either. Oh, and on a related note, FF7's translation is really freaking bad. It kind of goes without saying nowadays, but it should be thrown out there for those who like coherent scripts to read. FF7 will disappoint in that regard. Replay Value - 8/10 This game has a lot of replay value, thanks to the Materia system being so very flexible. The mini-games, too, give some added incentive to replay (surprisingly, given later FF's and their penchant for annoyingly bad mini-games). Certainly you wouldn't replay FF7 for its story, visuals, or music, but most people don't replay a game for those things anyway; they replay them because the game was fun. Overall - 6/10 The graphics and sound drag the game down considerably, but the gameplay and replay value make up for it and redeem the game nicely. It's still not any sort of tour-de-force world-changing RPG experience, but it is at least worth playing again and again for the gameplay side. FF7's a one-trick pony, but that trick is pretty nifty. Pros: + Very full-featured gameplay engine + Mini-games that are actually fun + Plenty of replay value Cons: - Laughably bad visuals - Laughably bad music sampling and sound effects - Doesn't have anything new or interesting to offer story-wise Target Audience: Besides the obvious FF fan-base, it should also appeal to fans of turn-based RPG's who don't mind the fact that the graphics and sound are hilariously bad. Buy or Rent? May as well buy, given the replay value. Just understand when you do that you're getting the game for its gameplay, and pretty much nothing else.