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 Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Developed By: Square-EnixReview By: HeavyBlade Written on: Saturday, July, 15th, 2006 at 07:14:38 pm Rating: 92% Site: here System: PSP / DVD Final Fantasy 7 is one of a few games to be genuinely special to me. Exceptionally so. I doubt you care much, but please let me indulge these few sentences. I found FF7 during a time of great struggle in my life, and as time went by (and I played through FF7) I began to finally resolve these struggles - successfully at that. Naturally, thatsuccess has been partially projected onto that game. In addition, it was Final Fantasy 7 that at last convinced me, to this day, that I want to program games. I don\'t mean in the half-hearted sense. I mean work-my-heart-out, happily-injure-myself, hardcore want to make games. Nothing will deter me from reaching my goal, nothing short of God. Obviously, Advent Children was great news for me. I sought closure that the ending of FF7 simply didn\'t provide me. After hearing a rumor one day on a message board, I tracked the movie from then on (this was from the time when there was only ONE trailer, and in low quality). Eagerly searching each new day for new information on it. I did this until they released it. My pre-order by that time was more then a year old. I guess it only makes sense that I review it. Re-watch Factor: 5/5 It\'s a love-it-or-hate-it film. If you love it, you\'ll happily watch it time and time again. It doesn\'t take up too much of your life, at a short 1 hour 45 minutes running time, and the scene selection feature is great for replaying a favorite sequence or two. Storyline: 9/10 The story in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is two parts; the resolution of the Geostigma Crisis, and Cloud\'s own quest for forgiveness. Considering the relatively short timeframe of the movie the story is incredibly well made, although, you\'ll have to be prepared to look behind the scenes to really get it all. For example, the Densel short story that shipped with the japanese version (we can get a translation via the \'net) is an additional 14 pages or more that greatly fleshes out what\'s happened to the people since the crisis, and, obviously, explains Densel\'s relation to Cloud and Tifa. Some story bits are almost pure symbolism, so once again, you\'ll need to keep a sharp eye. I didn\'t mind this though - didn\'t the story in FF7 leave you thinking long afterwards? It certainly did for me. The cast once again takes a backseat to Cloud, our favorite brooding hero. Through his story we finally receive the answers to the many unanswered questions of FF7. The title \"Advent Children\" refers to the fate of humanity after Holy/Meteor clashed. The hope of the slowly rebuilding civilization lies on what happens to the children. In my opinion, we also recieve an answer to Cloud and Tifa\'s relationship -while it is not explicitly implied (what? you thought it would be? Haha!) that they end up together, they\'ve been living and working together for the two years since FF7, and the with Cloud\'s welcoming of his friends - the \"cold shoulder\" being the only real barrier between a proper relation with Tifa, well, you do the math. Not everyone will agree to this, of course. I fully expect people to have Cloud-Tifa/Cloud-Aeris arguments more then a century from now. Cloud, unable to forgive himself for the deaths of both Aeris and Zack, has elected to live a life of solitude. This is all about to change with the latest threat, the three brothers - Loz, Kadaj and... someone else - who seek to revive Jenova. Through the conflict that results, Cloud comes to grips, arguably at long last, with his past, and finally, is able to forgive himself. At this point, his life of solitude comes to an end, as well. A fantastic story, all in all, but like I said, it\'s not all given to you as easily as it was in FF7. Graphics: 10/10 Wow. The graphics in Advent Children are literally second to none. Done entirely in CG, with motion capture, the world of Final Fantasy 7 is brought to life as vividly as the mind can capture it. Combat is lightning fast, with insane stunts, and often six things happening in the span of a single second (not exaggerating). It leaves you reeling with a smile of pure joy across your face. \"Oh my God, that was %*@!*ing cool\" stuff here. Whether it\'s a fight on motorcycles on the passes of old midgar, or a sword duel in a tower that\'s literally falling apart with each moment, you\'ll find yourself fully loving the grace and intensity with which the combat is portrayed. Cloud continues to display his mastery of the survivalist mindset - he\'s managed to merge all his old blades into one \"master sword\" for lack of a better word. Each blade is detachable as the situation warrants, and Cloud can detach a second blade (yes, he fights with TWO swords in several scenes, which looks beyond amazing) with a flick of the wrist. This second blade is about half the width and an inch or two smaller then the original sword, if memory serves. In particular, party combat is handled very well. Cloud\'s party strikes and covers, with the characters nearly anticipating the actions of the other and using it to their best advantage. It makes it easy to imagine the countless battles they fought and won together, and the fluidity of it all is truly unparalleled. Kadaj\'s team fights with great fluidity as well, working so well with one another that they often give the impression of being telepathic. Unlike Cloud\'s party, however, they focus on attacking only - often setting up incredible combos in an attempt to beat down their opponents defenses. Sound/Music: 10/10 Music is once again a thing of beauty. I mean, it\'s Square-Enix. You know the music is gonna be good. The master composer took a slightly different direction with this version, merging rock and symphony (you read that right) to create a distant brand of music for this title. The result is a lot of hard, fast-paced music with symphony pieces in between that works... surprisingly well. The music is - I\'m sure - synched to the action - when things slow down, so does the music, and vice versa. Several themes you know and love return with a make-over - the battle theme, the One Winged Angel theme, the JENOVA theme (woot!), the Final Fantasy 7 main theme (often referred to as Cloud\'s theme), ah, and the victory theme, in one hilarious fan service. Shinra\'s theme also makes a return, in the form of \"The Tyrant\". You\'ll know when you hear it. \"Cloud Smiles\" is easily one of my favorites, and is by far the \"softest\" theme of the movie. Sounds are incredible. From the roar of motorcycles to the roar of firearms and the clash of swords, it\'s all covered, and covered very well. But the real reason for this paragraph, as you probably already guessed, is the voice acting. Some people didn\'t like previous FF7 character voice acting. Maybe those people suck. Maybe not. Regardless, the new voice acting is damn hard to dispute. It\'s good. Whether it\'s Cloud\'s brooding tone, or the soft, yet iron menace, in Sephiroth\'s voice, every character has a unique, and strong, voice. To say that it is without it\'s quirks is a lie. Even my eyebrows rose when I discovered that Kait Sith has an Irish Accent! Features: 7/10 The features are pretty ranged - from deleted scenes, to the \"Reminensence of FF7\" a well thought out feature that\'s about 45 minutes long, providing summary for the story from FF7. Seeing it uses actual screens and dialog, it\'ll be a pleasant walk down memory lane for some of us. On the con side, all the deleted scenes are short, and excellent cuts, IMO. But there\'s a large amount to view here, and none of it shabby. Unfortunately, one of the most important features is only available on the pre-order special addition. This feature is a large series of interviews with the various production staff on their feelings/ thoughts of the movie. Several important story features are also explained properly through here (they aren\'t explained in the actual movie). One more annoyance - you have to set the movie to play in English EACH TIME you run it. Unfortunately, it\'s set on Japanese with no sub-titles by default and doesn\'t like having to change. Slightly annoying? yes. A deal-breaker? hardly. Last Word: Advent Children\'s greatest weakness is that it doesn\'t explain enough of FF7 for the non-fans to understand it. It does try, really, and does a decent job of overviewing the story of FF7 in a matter of minutes. But stuff like Cloud\'s identity crisis, and the IDENTITY of the other characters simply aren\'t mentioned. In addition, Jenova\'s relationship with the soldiers is not covered to a strong enough degree for proper understanding. It\'s really quite a pity, as the film itself is excellent - and one I\'d recommend to anyone. Even if you don\'t like the story, you\'ll love the graphics and the action. Not even Mystic (our noted FF7 critic) can dis-agree with that. Score: 92 / 100 How on the ball am I? The Edmonton Journal recently scored Advent Children at 4 out of 5 stars. Screenshots       write a review
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