Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition Reviews
Despite shallow gameplay compared to modern role-playing games, this edition of Final Fantasy offers a lot in its charm.
- Posted Jul 25, 2007 4:48 pm PT
- Recommended by 1 of 1 user.
- Gameplay
- 7
- Graphics
- 8
- Sound
- 8
- Value
- 6
- Tilt
- 8
- Difficulty:
- Just Right
- Learning Curve:
- 0 to 30 Minutes
- Time Spent:
- 20 to 40 Hours
- The Bottom Line:
- "Been there, done that"
Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition’s concept boils down to a single premise: To provide gamers with the same classic from twenty years back in an appealing package. Like previous versions of the game, the story starts with the four travelers called the Warriors of Light, each of whom bears a crystal necessary for their goal of bringing the world to peace and order. The story revolves around this singular objective and does very little to keep gamers interested from beginning to end. Still, considering how the game released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, there’s very little need to expect a Shakespearean plotline. The lack of story engagement serves as a double-edged sword; while on one hand the journey seems unfulfilling, the other hand leaves room for appreciation of core gameplay experiences. As mentioned before, the game starts gamers off with a party of four characters ready for choosing and name customization. From the basic four characters, a pool of six classes is all the game has to offer. Each class has something unique to bring to the table and a careful balance ensures the party’s success in both the short and long run. For example, the Warrior class brings a consistent steadiness between attack and defense while the Mage classes bring heavy magical dependency. Still, the classes fundamentally result to stat growth and magic types to differentiate from one another. This makes for a very shallow selection and only gives the illusion of open-ended selection.
The designs used for the party characters look fantastic compared to previous counterparts and add to the charming look of the game. In fact, all of the characters and enemies look well done and make the appeal of the game lie mostly in the graphics sector. Unfortunately, some of the enemies are palette swaps off another design and these fill up most of the game’s bestiary of over two hundred monsters. Beyond the character and enemy designs, the redesigns for the environments are accented with new looks and new visual effects to compliment them. Towns look more vibrant and lush with sunbeam and cloud effects while caves and dungeons look more sinister with tunnel vision and fog effects.
As much as the graphics have changed, the music has also. All of the new tracks jazz up the originals and pay tribute to the action and environments on the screen. The musical score sounds excellent for what it is and the sound effects keep in line with the charm of other Final Fantasy games. The only downside to the audio relates to an absence of grandeur that the music is supposed to reflect. All of the audio consists of synthesized tracks and an orchestral composition would have been more welcome. There was certainly room to put such a soundtrack on the game disc.
The presentational aspects of the game are nice, but when weighing out the value of the game, nothing can truly validate the purchase. There is an extra dungeon along with the ones featured in Dawn of Souls, the Game Boy Advance remake, but the dungeons are presumably reserved for some of the more dedicated Final Fantasy fans. If you haven’t had the pleasure of playing the first game of the Final Fantasy series and have no other alternatives to do so, Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition is worth a purchase even at its current $30 price point. If you have played the game before, it’s best to leave this game behind even though it’s barely comes out as the definitive version. Like most anniversaries, this is one to acknowledge but not one you need to show up at.
More Player Reviews
-
Some game should just die. Continue »
- 1 out of 7 users agrees with this review
- Posted Jul 23, 2007 10:22 pm PT
-
-
Still good, even after all this time. Continue »
- 1 user agrees with this review
- Posted Jul 12, 2007 8:56 am PT
-
Frustrating old gameplay that can't compair to todays games! Continue »
- 3 out of 6 users agree with this review
- Posted Jul 9, 2007 7:09 am PT
-
A solid game for the PSP....its been seen before again and again on other platforms... but this time around its cooler Continue »
- 1 out of 2 users agrees with this review
- Posted Jul 8, 2007 8:02 pm PT
Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition Quick Links
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- GameSpot Score6.5fair
Check Prices: $17.75 – 19.99
| Amazon.com | $19.82 | SHOP › |
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| eBay | $17.75 | SHOP › |
Critic Scores
- IGN 6.9 / 10
- Gaming Age C-
- Worth Playing 7 / 10
- Thunderbolt 5 / 10
- Eurogamer 6 / 10
- 1UP 7 / 10
- GameZone 7 / 10
- Pocket Gamer UK 8 / 10
*The links above will take you to other Web sites and are provided for your reference. GameSpot does not produce or endorse the content on these sites.
User Submissions
User Videos
-
FFCC: The Crystal Bearers V5
The latest trailer of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers for the Wii, The video is basically to get gamers pump up for the game release.
- Posted Dec 6, 2009
by Serbine | 1'27" | 0 Views
- Posted Dec 6, 2009
-
Dirge of Cerberus (Trailer)
A trailer to the PS2 game 'Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus'
- Posted Sep 19, 2006
by Doelli | 2'06" | 1,014 Views
- Posted Sep 19, 2006
User Images
- Square Enix
- Role-Playing
- Release: Jun 26, 2007 »
- ESRB: Everyone 10+
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