Many games cause me to feel a wave of warm nostalgia wash over me, whether it’s thinking about slide-tackling penguins in Crash Bandicoot 2, reminiscing on my first-ever Pokémon in Blue (Charmander, of course), or my favorite memory of all, back-seat gaming while my older brother played Final Fantasy games on the PS1, with the rain pouring outside and the smell of our mum’s spag bol wafting through the house.
I love Final Fantasy. I attribute it to why I’m in this career, and it’s been with me for what feels like my entire life. The original 7 is my favorite game of all time, and now, as we approach the 30th anniversary and part three of the remake trilogy, it feels like the perfect time for me to finally review this gem and let you know why it’s time to pick it up if you’re yet to. Now, with that ‘this review is definitely going to be biased’ preamble out of the way, let’s get into it.
From the first few seconds after you hit ‘new game’, Nobuo Uematsu’s absolutely masterful ‘Opening – Bombing Mission’ song plays, slowly building up to a crescendo where the game’s logo bursts onto the screen before the protagonist leaps off a train. I get chills every time, and that’s just the beginning. Venturing from town to town, creating strong friendships with the characters you meet along the way, and finally managing to defeat that boss you’ve been training for will stick with you, and have you returning for ‘just one more hour’ over and over again.
Read the full story on Pocket Tactics: Final Fantasy 7 review – my GOTY, every year