Final Fantasy 7: Ten years on

Ten years ago, a solitary videogame dragged me kicking and screaming away from my until then relatively normal existence and into the dark, cold and lonely world of the so called ‘Hardcore’ gamer.

It triggered a change in me that would remove any healthy social activities I had left in my life. Sunday league football was abandoned, in favour of lazy lie-ins recovering from the Saturday nights gaming session. Playing out was replaced by browsing various games related internet forums, conversing with complete strangers.

You would think I would resent this game intensely, for turning me into a academic underachiever and a social recluse in the space of a few short years. But I don’t.

So what mere videogame could be so good to excuse this unsightly metamorphosis? Well as you may have guessed from the title. It’s Final Fantasy 7.

In the days before internet forums or even indeed the internet *shudder*. I chose it from the shelves of my local rental store on the strength of the cover art alone . I didn’t get far, I didn’t even get out of Midgar during the following 3 days, yet my eight year old self was hooked and wanting more.

The pure scale of the thing was what initially hit me, fresh out of the 16 bit Mega Drive era, the game was huge. In the same way people are today struck by the enormity and immersion of game worlds offered by Oblivion or even the Grand theft auto series. For a impressionable eight year old with little previous gaming experience to be introduced to a large, varied, vibrant and most of all 3D game world as impressively pulled off as in FF7 was a devastatingly huge leap from the 2D sprite based levels of Sonic the Hedgehog.

A few months later and Santa Claus delivered this bundle of joy to me, overjoyed, my love affair with the game continued unabated over the next few months. Being young and not yet ‘Hardcore’ in my passion for gaming the game took me the better part of a year to complete, which perhaps goes some way to explaining my obsession with the game. It was a constant presence for a sizable length of my childhood. The clock had stopped rolling at 99:99 long before completion as I aimlessly stumbled about soaking in the game’s delights. It had taken me a timeframe similar to the game itself, the better part of a year, to complete the game, which inevitably gave me a feeling of resolution, relief and joy somewhat similar the characters themselves that a more hardened gamer completing it in the space of a week might not have.

However citing this as the main reason for my love of the game would be unfair, on my subsequent visits to the game In more recent years in more mature, cynical state the quality still continues to shine through as brightly as it did 10 years ago.

Final Fantasy 7’s story is as clichéd as, well, other Final Fantasy’s. Hero faces inner struggle, village gets burnt down and world is doomed by mysterious villain, it’s textbook fantasy. What separates it from its predecessors and even now from its followers is the deceptively dark game world. People died in FF7 despite your best efforts to save them, not only supporting characters but the central cast were also not invulnerable from the grip of the Grim Reaper. Every beautifully rendered member of your party had its own convoluted pasts and intertwining sub plots and reasons for being other than ‘saving the world!’. Your hero; Cloud, was and remains the very definition of the troubled, but not (too) angst(y), anti hero in videogames, rather than your generic whiter than white poster boy that still plague videogames and even the series itself today.

All this, set to the backdrop of the near future alternative reality of Gaia, where castles were replaced by Corporation headquarters and dungeons replaced by MAKO reactors gave a dark twist to the traditional ‘save the world/princess’ storyline, which Final Fantasy, for the most part, still followed.

Every member of the Squaresoft team was on top of their game for not only the series first foray into the fifth generation but its debut on the yet unproven Sony Playstation brand.

Nowhere is this excellence more personified in the musical score written by the legendary veteran Nobuo Uematsu and the bold distinctive Manga influenced character designs of relative newcomer Tetsuya Nomura.

A constant presence on all Final Fantasy scores since FF2, only recently taking a break on FF12 which unfortunately suffers from a bland inspiring soundtrack in his absence. Uematsu’s score for Final Fantasy 7 was and remains his opus. His songs carry the memories of long forgotten locations and long since fought battles in their rousing melodies. They personify ably each character without simplifying them and stir emotions from the games many highs and lows. None more so than the rousing Aeris’s theme, which both serves to not only remind you of the game’s lowest low but also carries a hopeful, stirring vision of hope. It is one of the few original game scores that deserves to be listened to in its own right, rather than just to serve as a nostalgia trip and compliment the game it stands out on its own as a brilliant piece of music. The many live orchestral and, in the case of the Black Mages, rock renditions of the soundtrack confirm this as a serious standalone piece of music all created on the most constricting of audio technologies, MIDI, it is nothing short of amazing.

Despite the graphical leap from previous incarnations Nomura has stated he felt the graphical limitations prevented him from achieving his ‘true style’. The clean manga style does stand out In particular from the more photo realistic designs seen in future Final Fantasies in particular 7’s immediate successor FF8. However they remain amongst the strongest seen in the series and definitely show no signs of compromise which is testament to his versatility as an artist.

The bold and simple designs make no apologies for revealing the characters traits in their attire, however the game is not cheapened as a result. As much as the strength of Uematsu’s soundtrack is displayed by its many live renditions. The quality of the cast of FF7 is shown not only by the dozens of badly dressed Clouds and Sephiroths at any self respecting Cosplayers convention, but by the wide range of favourites the game generates, many love the quiet struggle of Cloud Strife, just as many love the spunkiness and vitality of Yuffie Kisagari.

However the highest testament of the character design is the love shown to the villain of the piece, despite shedding a tear as many other’s did over the result of his most dastardly deed, I still love Sephiroth, I wanted to be him for a brief period. He was the very definition of badass cool, his long flowing grey locks and ridiculously sized Masumane outdid even Clouds admittedly impressive Barnet and Buster Sword and like all good villains you wanted him to win just a little bit, deep down you know you did.

I could go on forever about the quality of every aspect of the game, In particular the gorgeous map design and the ingenious battle and Materia system that has yet to be bettered. But if you don’t know about it already, you owe it to yourself to find out about these things for yourself and treat yourself to the most cinematic gaming experience ever created. Forget Metal Gear Solid, this did it first and better.

Dead Rising Review

The final draft of my AS level English coursework. Feedback as well as general thoughts appreciated.



Dead Rising, Capcom’s long awaited first venture into the next gen market on the xbox 360, is finally with us, having received much publicity and hype since its first showing at the now defunct E3 exhibition back in 2005.

The 360 also received much praise and anticipation when it was first revealed, since then enthusiasm has waned for the Microsoft’s vision of the next gen. A summer drought of quality titles only serves to amplify voices questioning the 360’s robustness, especially with the release of the Wii and the PS3 now not far off. Microsoft will be hoping that their patience with developers will reap a 2nd wave of quality titles to end the summer drought and drown out voices of dissent.


No pressure on Capcom to deliver then.


But unsurprisingly for a company of the stature and reputation of Capcom, they have delivered. Dead rising is an interesting fusion of other Capcom classics such as Devil May Cry and Resident Evil 4. The only striking differences are the surprisingly normal ‘hero’ of the game Frank West, an overly zealous photojournalist and swapping the eerie gothic castles and run down mansions for the relatively friendly, inviting setting of a shopping mall. One of the first not so subtle nods towards George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.

Unlike Dawn of the Dead however, the goal isn’t simply to survive the zombie outbreak. Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to investigate, strange goings on around the sleepy rural town of Willamette. It soon becomes clear that the town is ground zero of the beginnings of a zombie uprising, as you swoop over the town in a commandeered helicopter, flown by an equally overzealous pilot.

The next 10-15 hours that you should spend completing this title are well spent, slaying zombies in a seemingly unlimited number of ways, saving the many stranded survivors of the Willamette incident and killing the frenzied psychopaths that are peppered around the mall. Or alternatively you could progress through the main story thread. If you like that kind of thing.

Although, the sandbox design does mirror GTA at times, Capcom ventures into this increasingly popular genre in its own trademark style. This is Dead Rising, not Grand theft auto: Willamette, you have 72 game hours (6 real world hours) in the mall until your ride out of Willamette arrives, and takes you and any rescued survivors to safety.

This large amount of freedom the game affords you, mixed with the limited time before the game ‘ends’, is pulled off well keeping you focused and working towards whatever goal you’ve set yourself to achieve. It also gives what is essentially a short game, huge amounts of replayability, extending its life massively.

As the game retains any level you’ve reached on previous attempts, restarting the game due to time constraints is not a problem. Infact at least one restart will be most probably be required if you intend to beat the main story arc on your first go, even if you are cold hearted enough to ignore all those helpless survivors.

The system of being able to restart without necessarily losing progress, along with the GTA style mission tree’s also ensures the game remains fresh and enjoyable even after many hours and restarts.

The controls as you would expect in a Capcom title are slick and smooth, only slightly let down by the clumsy inventory system, which often causes you to gulp down that last precious carton of orange juice when you intended to whip out that mini chainsaw, to carve a path through the undead.


The other nightmare for developers creating a game in 3rd person, the camera, is tamed well and is generally co-operative and smooth, occurrences in which your death can blamed entirely upon a unhelpful camera are rare. Which is a relief considering the number of enemies you encounter on your journeys around the mall.

On the same note, fears arisen over the games difficultly due to the extreme number of zombies and limited amount of weapons to slay them with are unfounded. Zombies are generally passive and unaggressive during daylight hours, however when the sun sets your enemies become more ferocious and agile (although not to the level of the zombies in Zack Snyder’s remake) and quick wits are often required to get out of danger. Especially early in the game when you are weaker. Images released showing a seemingly impregnable wall of zombies to navigate through are thankfully not the case in the game. Whilst the number of zombies milling around can seem slightly overwhelming if you are under armed, or with survivors, it is never impossible or difficult to the point of frustration, and in many cases it is more than possible for Frank to simply sprint, climb or shove his way through the undead hordes, and if one of the undead do grab you in their cold grip it is relatively easy to escape with only a scratch.

However whilst on the point of navigating through the undead, the survivor AI can often be just stupid, willingly charging into groups of zombies,(although perhaps this is a another homage to the general intelligence of humans in survival horror movies?) or getting stuck in ridiculous places. combined with the games unforgiving save system, can often leave you unwilling to backtrack to save an idiot who was clearly too stupid to deserve to live. The ability to arm them with weapons and restore their health with foodstuffs makes this less of a sore point, but it remains a major flaw.

The idea of basing the game in one enclosed area was a risky one, but the vibrancy and variety of the locales inside and around the Mall make it seem as ‘limited’ or enclosed an area to explore as other ‘free roaming’ titles, such as the Grand
Theft Auto and Elder Scrolls series. You could argue that it creates a better illusion of freedom with its map than GTA or Oblivion does, your travelling isn’t ever halted by an invisible wall or a bridge that is conviently out of use. Rather brick walls
and blockaded entrances, decorated with several dozen stumbling zombies, reminds you that you are probably safer in the mall. Only a few times as I was wondering around on the roof of the Mall did I look longingly to the ‘outside’ world and wonder if they could have expanded the game world. The limited time you spend in the mall soon stops any daydreaming though, and reminds you to get back to the story at hand.

However short, but illusion shattering load times, on travelling to different 'areas’ of the mall are quite annoying. You often wonder how hard it would have been for Capcom to implement a GTA (yes im comparing it to that game again) or Halo style long load time at the beginning of the game, followed by short brief load times, which would have helped keep the player immersed in the story, a feature available and used in the last gen, and one that should be expected to be used this gen, especially by a developer as experienced as Capcom.

The story is surprisingly deep, extremely deep for a video game, especially one based on a B movie zombie horror. The game would be thoroughly entertaining with little or no plot, but Capcom, ever generous to the customer, have placed an interesting story, which has stolen its central themes directly from Dawn of the Dead, like the movie criticising American
consumerism, materialism and the powers that be.

It is executed well in its own right though to not feel like too lazy a rip off or an afterthought as is in the case in most games, the story also posses a interesting twist, and is well paced, draws in your interest and keeps it there, encouraging you to continue playing.

By the conclusion of the game you genuinely feel as if you have been taken on a journey, a feeling you often don’t get with videogames. Whose worlds whilst carefully crafted often feel depressingly constant despite all your achievements.

In conclusion, Dead Rising is a brilliant title, the gameplay is fun, killing zombies by ripping their fetid guts from their rotting stomachs as well as literally mowing them down with a lawnmower is laugh out loud funny. The impressive story line threads you along through the game, with it rarely feeling like a chore. The game world and its cast, Imparticular the wide cross section of society the survivors (and psychopaths) represent. Survivors all of whom react differently to the situation the uprising has placed them in, making you feel a little bit of empathy for them, even when they go and kill themselves stupidly. All this is displayed ‘impressively’ although by no means breathtaking graphics, (You’ll have to wait for Gears to blow you away graphically im afraid) serves to make you feel fully immersed in the game, it only rarely suffers from blips that remind you ‘its only a game’

A game however full of little quirks and hidden treasures demanding to be found. Such as the twang the electric guitars make from the music store as you crash them over the head of a unsuspecting zombie amongst many other things. This game oozes quality, whilst it adds nothing new to the action/adventure genre Capcom dominates, rather than juxtapose it in a new interesting setting. The ‘lack’ of originality isn’t a bad thing, when Capcom does it as well as it does with Dead Rising.

This and the occasionally flaky controls and NPC AI, combined with the unforgiving save system, limit it somewhat, but Dead Rising is still a great game, that every 360 owner owe’s it to themselves to play if only until Gears of War and company turn up.

8/10

Joseph Richards