July 10, 2009 - It will be a challenge, but I promise to do my hardest to not allow the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia affect my review for the re-release of this RPG classic.

With that said, it becomes difficult to fully detach myself from the history that Final Fantasy VII shares with the game industry, and even in my personal life. I remember being a wide eyed 13 year old boy, fresh off my bar-mitzvah, wishing, wishing, wishing for a Nintendo 64. Then, during an innocuous viewing of Beavis and Butthead on Muchmusic, a commercial came on that made switch console allegiances in only 30 short seconds. The cinematics were incredible. Who was this spiky-haired protagonist with the bitchin’ sword and badass motorcycle? Was this a true sequel to my beloved Final Fantasy III? (Call it VI all you want, the SNES version will always be III to me.) What adventures awaited in this steampunk world? We were told to “never underestimate the power of PlayStation.”

When my 14th birthday rolled around, a couple of friends chipped in to get the game for me, but I lacked on crucial element. The game console. For the next three weeks, I read, re-read, and re-read the instruction manual. Finally, I went to visit my sister in Vancouver who bought me that little grey box that held so much of my hopes and personal hype for so many months prior.

I was not let down, and few gaming experiences I’ve had in the 11 years between then and now have stuck with me the same way that Final Fantasy VII does.

Therefore, it was with a certain trepidation that I chose to review the re-release of the game on the PlayStation network. As such a fond childhood cultural item, I was worried that I would completely tarnish those fond memories by playing the game today. I hadn’t picked up the adventures of Cloud and company for eight or nine years now, and was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to get past the primitive graphics, or the antiquated battle system. Would the infamous typos ruin the story that I once held so dear to my heart in less discriminatory times? Only time would tell. I downloaded the game, and quickly transferred the game over to my PSP’s memory card and began playing.

For those of you who didn’t spend their public school years playing the game, here’s a quick rundown of the story. You play as Cloud Strife, a former member of an elite military force called SOLDIER, which works for the mega-conglomerate Shinra Inc. Cloud, disillusioned with Shinra’s ways, becomes a mercenary for hire and is promptly hired by anti-Shinra extremist group AVALANCHE. Their first mission involves blowing up a Mako Reactor, an enormous power plant that gathers its energy by sucking out the life essence of the planet. The deeper you get into the story, you’ll find out a lot about Cloud’s murky past, and a new enemy will emerge, one that threatens the entire future of the planet.

The storyline takes roughly 40 hours to get through, but there’s lots more room for play if you take advantage of the myriad of optional side quests. Doing it all could easily suck up 100 hours.

From the moment I saw that impressive opening panoramic view of Midgar (Shinra’s enormous capital city), I knew that my fears were already laid to rest. Several parts of the game show their significant age. The character designs look goofy with the pencil-thick biceps and boxy arms, and the pre-rendered backgrounds that once blew our minds looked pixelated compared to the photo-realistic environments of games like BioShock and Fallout 3. But here’s where another element of the visuals presents itself, the art style and animation. The characters are very expressive in their motions, and the battle sequences still pack a visual punch with the proper expectations. While the game doesn’t look all that impressive on a 32” widescreen HDTV, shrinking the game down to the PSP is a wonder to behold. On the small screen, the game still has the power to wow and surprise with it’s phenomenally designed environments and the still impressive cutscenes. Sure, the game lacks a bit of consistency from one CGI cutscene to the next, but it doesn’t stop you from falling in love with the well developed characters all over again, or perhaps for the first time. If only the character models on the field and world map weren’t so poorly detailed and bizarre looking.