Brian Alves

Dr. Mirrer

Broadcast Journalism

Review Assignment

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII was released for the Sony Playstation back in 1997 nearly 15 years ago, and fans are

still clamoring for a remake. That shows you the kind of impact it made. Before the release of Final

Fantasy VII, role playing games didn’t really have much of a following on the mainstream market. When

people thought of RPG gamers, they thought of 30 year old men who live in the basement of their

parent’s house. However, this edition of the Final Fantasy series got rid of that belief, thanks to the

terrific plot and the unique characters that gamers still talk about a decade later. The story revolves

around Cloud Strife, a mercenary for hire, as he works with a group of rebels called AVALANCHE and aids

them as they try to topple a corrupt corporation called Shinra. Throughout the main storyline Cloud

struggles with his identity, his past, and his inner demons that constantly torment him. At the time of

the game’s release, the graphics were considered to be the best of it’s time, as the characters were

detailed with many colorful and vivid polygons and photorealistic, hand drawn backgrounds. The game

was so groundbreaking because there was nothing else like it. For the first time in an RPG, everything

was rendered in full 3D (RPG games were previously only in a two dimensional state) and the first 8

hours of the game are spent in an industrial city that’s only a tiny blip on the massive world map (which

is fully traversable). Pair the story with a complex battle system and dozens of distractions and rewards

from the main story and you got yourself one of the greatest games of all time. Just ask me, I’ve spent
over 100 hours playing the game, and I would literally cry tears of joy if they re-made the game for the

current generation of consoles.