Final Fantasy VII

This game was the first of Squaresoft’s Final Fantasy series to gain a UK release and it certainly didn’t disappoint. It was released on the Sony Playstation and at various points was both the consoles fastest selling game and biggest seller. Anyone who sits down and plays will be able to see that it really is that damned good and was the RPG to own on the Playstation.

As with any Final Fantasy game, there was a strong, epic, storyline to VII. You played as a mercenary known as Cloud and initially you fight alongside a group of freedom fighters against the evil Shinra Corporation. However, the storyline soon weaves beyond this and leads you onto quests to save the whole world. You get so involved in the storyline that you actually care about the people in your party and I am not afraid to admit the ending to Disc 1 (Aeris’ Death) was a real tearjerker at the time.

I feel the main reason Final Fantasy VII is a truly great game is because of the sheer variety on offer. In what other game can you dress up as a woman to sneak past guards, take a trip to space, go snowboarding, explore the ocean in a submarine AND save the world? The thing is, all of these sections are done so well that the game never feels like a jack of all trades, master of none. This game is truly, truly a work of art and is simply beautiful. I would go so far as to call it a perfect game and can honestly not find a single flaw within it. If you haven’t played this game grab a copy off eBay and see what you are missing. You will never look at games the same again.

Bone: Out from Boneville

As computer games become more complex and start requiring higher budgets, it seems that the traditional point and click adventure game has slowly become forgotten over time. What happened to classics such as Monkey Island and Sam & Max? Admittedly there are the Broken Sword games, which do a good job of pretty keeping the genre alive, and most recently Fahrenheit is a game all adventure fans should play. Other then that, it seems to be rather slim pickings for anyone after an old style adventure quest.

Bone: Out from Boneville is going to become one of those games all adventure fans should play. It features a likeable hero and crucially, some well crafted puzzles. The game is also not without humour, for example a particular puzzle where you escape from some monsters by sparking off an argument between them over how they should eat you. The voice acting is superb and really draws you into the game, as do the environments which have a colourful and chunky feel to them. Overall, anybody who has played a point and click style game will feel right at home here and I urge anybody who wants to keep this genre of game alive to buy Bone: Out from Boneville.

Article comments

In many ways I do agree with both writers are saying about previews. They are not strictly that necessary when you can go online and get up to the minute previews about the newest games out, rather then every month having to read a load of previews and news about games just announced with could already a month old. Magazines should focus on big, in depth articles rather then take the approach they currently do. I particularly like the line “videogame journalists are mere extensions of the marketing machine” as I feel this to be true myself and certainly don’t consider them to be part of the videogames industry.

I think perhaps the people who make the games magazine underestimate the number of older gamers I.e. Over the age of 20, that there is out there. This means that the magazines could come across as patronising as they are geared mainly towards the teen market. I believe a group of people, such as the people writing these two articles, should get together and produce their own magazine geared towards the market that they want.

The Movies

Lights! Camera! Action! Now all you need to be the next Speilberg, Allen, Scorsese or Jackson is a copy of The Movies. Starting off in the 1920’s you have to develop almost every part of your studio in the quest to become the number 1 film maker in Hollywood.

There are two significantly different parts to this game; there is the studio management side, which encompasses everything from buying new sets, handling finances and dealing with your film stars’ tantrums over the size of their trailer. In practice this part of the game plays like Theme Park mixed with The Sims.

The other side of the game is in the film making. Sure, you can let the computer generate scripts for you but the real fun is had in making your own masterpiece. After picking a genre for your film, ranging from comedy to horror, you then pick the sets and decide what happens through a selection of pre-built shots, tinkering with things like the camera position and dialogue. Your creations can then be uploaded to The Movies website, for the world to see.

The downside to this is that at times it can feel like you are playing two different games but overall The Movies is highly enjoyable and rewarding.

90% - More Steven Speilberg then Steven Segal.

Weird Worlds - 304 Words

There is a lot that can be said for the genre of space exploration. After all, it gave us classics such as Elite and the Wing Commander series. Weird Worlds attempts to add to the genre by placing you in control of a space explorer charged with the task of making a fortune. This is achieved by an expedition through space, trading, exploring and fighting.

The highlight of Weird Worlds is unquestionably the combat. Should you discover a hostile race and decide to engage them, then the view is zoomed in to a field of combat showing both your ship (and any allies you may have gained) and the enemy spacecraft. Your ship is controlled through a point-and-click method which works well in allowing you to switch targets or make a sudden movement. There are great particle effects and sounds which really do draw you into the battles and they are certainly the most fun to be had in the game. The tragedy is that initially, your spaceship is about as lethal and fear inducing as a Fiat Panda, so don’t consider engaging anything until you have upgraded your rusty space hulk with some stronger firepower.

Sadly the rest of the game does not match up to the space dogfights. The map you play on is randomly generated for each play, but in practice this means that Weird Worlds is a game which it is impossible to get good at. There are no profitable trade routes you can establish or any consistency to the placement of the enemies. Combat doesn’t play as large a part as it should, meaning you can complete the game with a reasonable score without ever firing off a laser in anger. When the highlight to a game is something that is totally avoidable, then something is deeply wrong.


3/10