Change Your Image
j_applebaum
Reviews
Fainaru fantajî VII (1997)
Arguably One Of The Greatest Games Ever Made
Final Fantasy VII, otherwise known as FF7, is one of the major titles ever released for any video game console, and one of the most influencial titles in Role Playing Game history. Final Fantasy VII was created by Squaresoft, a Japan-based video game company, for the SONY PlayStation game console. The Final Fantasy series originally began in 1987, when Squaresoft was a struggling video game company. Hironobu Sakaguchi suggested the first Final Fantasy, called so because the project would be the final Squaresoft product if it failed, and Fantasy because it was a magical adventure game. The game was obviously a hit in Japan on the Nintendo, and came to U.S. shores in 1990. More games came for Super NES, and also for GameBoy. Squaresoft took it's enterprise to the PlayStation in 1997, after wanting to use different technology than the Nintendo 64 would allow. What became of this project as is follows.
This game is hailed as one of the greatest games ever created, and the fans agree. The fans are of a diverse crowd. Male and female, young and old, and those of different ethnic background. What brings this many people to one game? Excellence. The whole game is played out in a masterful way. The excellent storyline, the deep characters, the emotion played out in the dialogue (in text, unfortunately), and the graphics (the cutscenes are breathtakingly amazing), plus the compelling musical score make this game a classic title that was held as the standard for all following RPGs.
The story follows Cloud Stife, a 21 year old mercenary who used to work for the military group SOLDIER. Cloud starts his adventure in Midgar, where the underground freedom fighters AVALANCHE payed him to help destroy the evil Shin-ra Corporation's Mako Reactor. Mako Reactors draw Mako energy from the planet, and are using it for their own evil purposes. The Mako energy can be turned into Materia, magic orbs that allow the user to cast spells. The reason AVALANCHE, led by the Mr. T'esque Barret Wallace, wants to destroy the Reactors is because the Mako Energy drawn from it is killing the planet's life-force. After Cloud joins AVALANCHE, after being confronted by his old childhood friend Tifa Lockheart, they set off on an epic adventure, gaining new allies along the way.
There is Aeris Gainsborough, a mysterious flower girl who has immense magic power. Red XIII, a lion-like creature that speaks English and is wise as he is fierce. Yuffie Kisaragi, a strange young Ninja/Materia Hunter. There is Cid Highwind, a cocky almost-astronaut, who just wants to fly, and Cait Sith, a silly fortune telling cat with an enchanted giant Mog to ride on. And Vincent Valentine, a mysterious gun-slinger with a gruesome power hidden inside. This diverse band of heroes makes you remember the Mystery Men and the X-Men. A group of different people who each have an amazing power in their own way. The great thing is you can play all of them!
The team gets deeper into a conspiracy of Shin-ra, the evil/crazy/demented Sephiroth, and the power of the Ancients, the people who lived on the planet before all this take place and saved the earth from an immense evil. The group of rag-tag heroes travel across the world and gather materia, weapons, and more reasons to stop Shin-ra and Sephiroth from destroying the planet.
This game takes place across three discs, and is now available for about $20 as a PlayStation GREATEST HITS title. If you do not have this game, you are missing out on a great journey. You will feel emotional anger, sadness, and joy when you play this game. You literally get sucked in. So buy this game now!
Perfect Dark (2000)
One Of The Greatest Video Games Ever Made
Perfect Dark is the long awaited sequel to GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 Entertainment System. Following the exploits of new Carrington Institute Special Agent Joanna "Perfect Dark" Dark, who achieved a more than perfect score in her agent training. Right away, she is caught up in an interplanetary conspiracy to unleash Armageddon on Earth. At the heart of this conspiracy is NSA Director Trent Easton, dataDyne Corp. CEO Cassandra DeVries, the President, and a man known only as Mr. Blonde, who represents the alien species called the Skedar. Soon Joanna is not only fighting for herself, but for the fate of the universe.
Combining first person shooting action, sci-fi drama, and thrilling espionage, Perfect Dark received PERFECT ratings from most reviewers. Perfect Dark takes the innovative GoldenEye multiplayer to a new level, where you design your character, customize the settings (including guns and limits of the match), choose different scenarios (King of the Hill and Capture the Case), to going against 6 levels of CPU Simulants (from the stupid MeatSim to the smart and evil DarkSim). This game is one of the last great N64 titles, and is now a Player's Choice - Million Seller Game.
You would be wrong not to check out Perfect Dark.