Retroactive Reviews: Uncharted 2, Tekken 6
As a reviewer, I don’t take perfect scores lightly.
It’s always a big debate when other publications give upcoming, overhyped games a perfect score. People have always criticized such decisions, saying that the magazines were paid off by the developers, as a means of giving their games the best kind of advertising it could receive. Or maybe the guys reviewing the game are just like the majority of gamers who have been suckered into the hype for a massively anticipated title, and feel that it’s a life privilege to finally get a chance to play the game.
As a freelancer, one of my earliest, personal vows was to not conform to such practices. When I review a game, I deliver the most honest opinions and criticisms I’m capable of mustering, even if it’s a game I was personally looking forward to. I also consider myself hard to please, which only strengthens my resolve to not toss out perfect scores like they were free candy.
I’m not shy about giving a game its due merits, however. By my count I’ve given at least three games the perfect pass, with this year’s Shadow Complex just one percent shy of missing the mark (a decision I still get some scrutiny over). I wanted to state though that just because I do give a game the highest score it can achieve (whether it’s a 5 out of 5, 10 out of 10, or 100% of 100%, depending on the site that assigned me the title), that does not make the game itself flawless.
Only a handful of titles remain truly “perfect” in my personal list (which incidentally features a Zelda title, but not a Mario one, and absolutely no RPGs), but besides those holy grails, every game has, in my opinion, room for improvement. That’s why technology improves and sequels are made. Unlike with movies, I never believe in “no more games from this series or genre”, because there’s always potential to take a great thing and make it even better.
So despite my iron will to judge it as harshly as I always judge my games, I gave a major, highly anticipated title like Uncharted 2 the perfect pass, even though I can point out a few critiques that make the game anything but “flawless”. But despite that, I don’t regret my decision one bit; the truly great games are the ones that play out its strengths in order to mask its minuscule weaknesses, and Uncharted 2 is indeed great. I don’t regret my score, and I don’t regret calling it the best game of the year, and an inspired look into the kind of games the PS3 can pump out when running on its maximum potential.
Well then again, Modern Warfare 2 is out next week, so maybe I’m speaking too soon about GOTY.
Retroactive Reviews: Afrika, Dirt 2, C.O.R.E.
Got another batch of reviews for you guys, including my exclusive review of DS First Person Shooter C.O.R.E., a sleeper hit that stands a chance of becoming Game of the Year.
No, actually, that’s a lie. It was the worst piece of crap I had to review since Everlight of Magic and Power. The only thing that managed to surprise me about that game was that someone actually paid $13 to buy it off me from Ebay. Enjoy it, buddy.
My next review will be my biggest yet this year, which will remain a secret UNtil it’s posted, but I’m sure it’ll be a cinCH for you readARs To figurE it out in Due time. It should be up in 2 days.
And with Halloween creeping its way up this week, I plan to make a special blog post in commemoration of the season.
Anyway, gotta wrap this up since I’ve got some Tekken 6 to start playing.
Retroactive Reviews: Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Muramasa, Trials HD
Been quite a while since my last post, hasn’t it? As always, I’ve got a pretty good excuse for that, though whether you find it justifiable or not is up to you.
About two and a half weeks ago, this happened:
As if my 360 red ringing wasn’t enough, my 20gb PS3, which I’ve owned since launch day, yellow lighted on me in the middle of the night. And conveniently past its warranty too. I’ve read that many other owners experienced a timely death of their systems as well, which makes me wonder if this was some sort of timed conspiracy on Sony’s part to get people to buy their Slim model.
With no BC? No chance. Sony sent their coffin, and I quickly packed in the system. The good news was that the turn-around time for receiving the repaired system was much quicker than Microsoft’s Xbox repair. The bad news? Pretty much everything else.
What resulted upon receiving my “new” 20gb system was a string of misfortunes and repeated callbacks. This includes:
1. Bye Bye Data: All of my HDD saved data, from my saved PS3 games along with some PS2 titles (the most painful? Persona 3 FES, of which I spent 50 hours on and wasn’t even halfway done) have been completely erased. I knew this was a possibility, but I had also hoped it wouldn’t happen. I later learned that this was pretty much an inevitable outcome, because it turns out what I received back in the mail wasn’t my original system, but a brand new one (or most likely refurbished). Since HDDs are linked to the system it was formatted on, moving the HDD to another system immediately formats it.
Worse yet, I figured at the very least I could download copied saves from Gamefaqs on games I had finished, but hadn’t obtained all the Trophies for. No can do, because it turns out that using a copied save that isn’t your own will negate you from obtaining further trophies. So even though I legitimately finished Batman: Arkham Asylum and collected all of the Riddler’s riddles, I’ll have to do the whole thing over if I want to collect the remaining trophies. Not that I have any real problems playing through Batman again….but I was really hoping to achieve a 100% completion the first time out.
I was “recommended” to do a back-up of my data before shipping in my system, but that was impossible since I couldn’t turn the damn thing on. Of course, I should have taken the time to back up my data to my PC when I had the chance, since I was experiencing some warning signs about a month prior, when the system would freeze or turn off on its own. That’s not even close to the biggest mistake I’ve made during this whole mess….
2. -100 GB: Once I started re-downloading my PSN games and DLC, I was given a message that my hard drive was full, and this was before I reclaimed even half of my stuff. To my immediate horror, I discovered that the 120gb HDD that I included with the dead system had been replaced with a generic 20gb one. Panicked, I called up Sony, who told me that they would have to call the warehouse (aka “graveyard”) where my dead system would be boxed in, see if the 120gb HDD is there, and then ship it back to me.
This one is partly my fault, since I should have left a note that I had replaced my 20gb with a 120gb. Despite that, I thought it would be obvious enough if they opened up the system and looked at the drive. And of course, I’m kicking myself for not having the foresight to just swap the drive with my old 20gb drive, which I still keep packaged and within viewing distance.
At least there’s good news in this case. I was informed that the HDD was found, and that it’s scheduled to arrive at my doorstep on Monday. Good thing too, since Uncharted 2 is out this Tuesday.
3. Maximum Shares Reached: So I have no problems admitting that I’ve shared my account with other people online, so we can download and share each other’s PSN games. It’s not illegal, and it’s something Sony’s aware of.
Unfortunately, since I had shared my account up to four times out of the maximum five, since I had received a new PS3 and logged in my account information, that meant that I had filled out that final slot, thus keeping me from re-downloading any of my games. Worse still is that Sony can’t or won’t de-activate those systems linked to my account, not even the one from my now dead system. They said that was the reason for the five limit in the first place.
Fortunately I was able to get a hold of one of my shared users, and have him de-activate my account from his system. Just having one free slot lets me resume my downloading, but I still have to get a hold of the other guys I shared games with and decide if I should sever my ties with them as well.
What sucks is that with that one dead PS3, I’ll never have a full 5/5 sharing like I did before.
4. $150: And yet despite all these setbacks, I still have a $150 bill to look forward to for repairing my system. I tried to see if I could get a discount since I am, with no exaggerations, a member of the gaming press, but nothing doing.
Well, at least there’s been some good news from the last couple of weeks. I signed on with Massive Damage as a reviewer, who provide games by having me physically purchase the copies, and be reimbursed the cost through Paypal upon review. I actually prefer this method, as it gives me a bigger chance in requesting a particular game to review, plus not having to worry about shipping delays that ultimately result in a late review. In fact, MD demands that I have most reviews ready within a week of purchase. Again, not a bad requirement, since it’s a good test of my ability to meet deadlines as well as retain the feelings I get from a week’s impression. I just better be careful not to request any RPGs though.
My debut title for them is Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 for the PS3, and my next title will be Afrika. I’ve also been approved for Tekken 6 on the 360, my second most anticipated fighting game this year after the recent Street Fighter IV.
I’ve got two other reviews that have been put up, with a couple more recently submitted. Also plan to have my review of Dirt 2 to go up soon, which was unfortunately delayed due to my PS3 going kaput (plus the disc was stuck inside the damn system, though it was shipped back to me without a scratch).
More good news: I managed to order a full version of Windows 7 from the Microsoft Store for just $30, using my college e-mail address. I’m also currently using Windows 7 on my laptop as I type this, which I installed using a purchased activation key from Ebay for $12. Not exactly the most secure way to install a new OS (and probably not too legal either), but it’s worked great with no problems. Speaking as a Vista user, you definitely want to make the jump to 7, which is much faster and more convenient than anything that was released prior.
Anyway, on to the reviews.
Retroactive Reviews: ‘Splosion Man, Shatter
One of the very first reviews for Batman: Arkham Asylum was from this unknown magazine, who went to great, fanboyish lengths to praise the game, clearly arousing suspicions of moneyhats. What would you expect when their most positive comment was “play as Batman” while their biggest negative was that “the game ends”? Let’s face it, there were tremendous odds against Batman’s newest game, namely the fact that it was based on a licensed property. I remained hopeful, however, since it looked great, sounded great (Conroy and Hamil, of course), and because Batman was probably the one superhero to actually have some legitimately good adaptions (in particular, Sunsoft’s NES games, and my personal favorite, Konami’s Batman Returns on the SNES).
Well, color me shocked to learn that not only did Arkham Asylum not suck, it was awesome. And not just “awesome for not sucking” or “awesome for being Batman”, but legitimately, utterly awesome. One person compared it to Resident Evil 4, and I have to agree on that; Batman: AA is like one big thrilling blockbuster that starts with a bang and doesn’t let up until the end, while steadily dropping kickass items and weapons on your lap as you face off against new challenges and intimidating bosses. I’m saddened that I wasn’t given the chance to review this game, but I’m also pleased to give you my biggest off-the-record recommendation. Buy this sucker, posthaste.
I’m planning a new Prospective Preview soon, but in the meantime, I’ve got two more reviews for you.
Retroactive Reviews: Shadow Complex
I’ve got a little late-night treat for you guys. I was supposed to have my review of Shadow Complex ready next week, but I decided to follow suit with every other reviewer and have my thoughts ready just before the game’s launch. I was privileged enough to experience this wonderful game a week before the general public, so I felt it was only fair that I have my review out at the precise moment of its impeding release.
Take it from me as a gamer, this is a title you don’t want to miss out on.
Also, take it from me as a movie fan not to miss out on District 9 either, which I watched the other day. Amazing how despite having a quarter of the budget of Transformers 2, the CGI and aliens were far more believable than in this movie than in the former. An excellent sci-fi romp that will bring about a variety of emotions from you, it deserves all the praise it’s getting, and I can’t wait for the inevitable sequel.
Ironic that I can say the same thing about Shadow Complex here. I can only hope Epic doesn’t pull a Gears 2 here.
Retroactive Reviews: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled, KoF XII
Had Wingman been the defining multiplayer feature of Gears of War 2, I would have given the game a much, much lower score. By far the worst mode in the game, Wingman seems to be a meeting ground for every asshole on Xbox Live to congregate. Carrying the bulk of glitches, host lag and other exploits, it’s practically impossible to win a match without resorting to such dirty tricks. I should know, as I spent the last three days and several wasted hours frantically trying to win a single match in order to acquire the achievement. You know a multiplayer mode is bullcrap when you’re the last guy standing in a round, but still lose the match because the other guy achieved a higher score before getting his comeuppance. I’m only thankful that I finally got that achievement, and that I’ll never have to suffer playing this terrible mode again. I still can’t rest easy knowing that Epic continues to make big bucks while millions of idiots continue to play through Gears 2’s broken multiplayer.
Ironic, then, that at the peak of my Epic hate is also the moment they send me a review code for Shadow Complex, a week before its official release. I’ve been continuously receiving some uplifting hate-mail from my friend’s list over this privilege, and it only took an hour of playing to see why: This game is, in a word, spectacular, and is a prime candidate for Game of the Year. I could go on about what makes Shadow Complex so great, but that’s what the review is for. All I’ll say at this point is that you most certainly must purchase it the moment it’s available.
I’ve also been given a review code for Trials HD, which I still haven’t tried, but heard great things about (including that it’s frustrating, but the good kind of frustrating). I also traded a spare Splosion Man code for Marvel vs Capcom 2, thus rounding out the Summer of Xbox Live Arcade, and should entitle me to 800 MS points as part of their promotion.
In the meantime, I’ve got a couple more reviews for you today. Enjoy.
Retroactive Reviews: Point Lookout, Monkey Island SE, and Cogs
Now and again, I get these sudden urges to watch, read, or play something with a pure horror theme. I’m a huge fan by nature of horror, even if I rarely experience anything spine-tingling these days. Recently I’ve been entertained by campy horror such as Left 4 Dead and Drag Me To Hell, but I want to experience the cold chill that only real horror such as Silent Hill can provide (and even its latest game failed to truly terrify).
It was yesterday that I was made aware of an Indie film called Paranormal Activity, a film that has been toted by many as “the scariest movie since The Exorcist”. Even in a world of overhype, that’s a pretty prestigious claim. I’m also admittedly a fan of the mockumentary style of horror films, which was made famous with The Blair Witch Project (yes, I liked it, and I still do); low budget shaky cams is the way to go, since you don’t have to be distracted by mood destroying cliches such as bad monster CG or loud, intrusive music. Cloverfield and [REC] were both very entertaining, so I’m certainly interested in Paranormal Activity.
Well, there’s the problem: it’s not available anywhere. The movie was picked up by Dreamworks, and they’ve been sitting on the license while they work on an American remake. This trend of taking an existing horror movie and Hollywooding it up is pretty sickening. [REC], Let The Right One In, and now this. The originals were perfectly fine on their own, and the remakes usually end up inferior in comparison. The Ring seems to be the only Hollywooded movie to get it right, with better effects and a less boring middle portion.
The rumored release for PA is November 2009, which probably means that Dreamworks will work to get its own version out by Halloween. The sooner they chug that out, the better, since it means we can experience the original and see if it lives up to the hype.
On the gaming side of horror, I’ve decided to focus on Fatal Frame II, one of several titles I’ve purchased but ultimately left on the back-burner. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great horror game, but it’s also a really slow-paced one (it doesn’t help that the main sister walks as slow as her handicapped sister); the quiet moments in the dark rooms certainly lead to a never-ending tension, but it also leaves me rather sleepy. It also didn’t help that my saved data was deleted thanks to a shoddy third party card. Nevertheless, I’m going to commit to this game and see it to the end. Until Silent Hill: Shattered Memories comes out, I don’t have any other alternatives.
Now for the reviews: I’ve submitted four reviews last week, three of which are up for reading. I also received King of Fighters XII in the mail today, though unfortunately I was misinformed, as it’s a 360 copy instead of a PS3 one. I don’t know how much of my review will be affected by the terrible 360 d-pad, but that Tekken 6 arcade stick bundle can’t come soon enough. I also received a PSN code for Shatter, a title I wasn’t made aware of, but ended up a pleasant surprise as an addictive puzzle game. Expect a review sometime next week.
Meanwhile, enjoy the next three of my summer reviews.
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (PC)
Retroactive Reviews: Battlefield 1943
Despite the already hefty amount of reviews I need to work on, I’m pleased to add two more reviews to the list, titles that I was genuinely interested in purchasing, but can now enjoy as well as professionally critique.
Fallout 3: Point Lookout: This is one of those sandbox games that has a mystical hold on me; it’s never enough to just go from Point A to Point B, I also have to make several hundred detours along the way, or just veer off the beaten path completely to discover a new area to explore. After several countless hours of working toward Achievement-specific quests, and having already finished the main storyline in a separate file, I began to consider shelving the game for a while.
But today I was pleased to receive a requested download code for Point Lookout, the newest DLC quest. I’ve been highly interested in Point Lookout from the screenshots released, as it follows a different tone and feel from the rest of the game, and looks like a post-apocalyptic Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with dark woods and grotesque rednecks looking to give you an ax shave. I’m looking forward to this one.
Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection: The release of this map pack couldn’t have been more timely. After getting back my 360 from warranty repair, I was itching for some multiplayer action, and Gears 2 was there to answer the call. Pretty ironic considering my previous rants toward the game; while most of those complaints still stand (especially the frequently unstable automatching), things have improved a bit, making those updates less than useless. In particular, the feature of replacing quitting players with AI bots is something that should have been implemented from the start. Regardless, I find myself enjoying Gears 2 more than bitching about it these days, although much of that may be the result of the pain and suffering I endured from Metal Gear Online.
In any event, the All Fronts Collection was quite tantalizing, collecting all the extra maps at once as well as a “deleted scene” (which is, in fact, an alternate path that players could have taken in one of the later levels. Why they didn’t just patch this choice into the original game is beyond me, but I digest). To add insult to injury, the pack was briefly available to download last week, and at half the price. Unfortunately MS fixed their little boo boo before I could take advantage of it.
But thanks to the awesome PR skills of Z Connect, I was given the download code for All Fronts today, after just one day of requesting it. At 19 maps, I’m going to get my fill of multiplayer action, and if my review is glowing enough, it may give MS further incentives to provide codes for the rest of their Summer of Gaming titles.
Let’s just hope they don’t read my “Best and Worst of 2008″ article.
Now then, here’s my latest review for The Armchair Empire, Battlefield 1943 for PSN.
Retroactive Reviews: Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
In Michael Jackson’s guest appearance in The Simpsons, there is a scene where the mental patient pretending to be Micheal is greeted by Springfield’s eager mob, who upon their shock and awe declare the following:
“He weighs 300 pounds!”
“He’s white!”
“He’s dressed without flair!”
Pretty ironic how two of those three claims eventually came true.
Also ironic how I’ve probably spent more time listening to MJ’s music upon his death than I did while he was alive. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always listened to bits and pieces, but I haven’t actively sought out and played his hits like I’m doing now. I guess I feel like a part of my nostalgia had died along with him.
According to Microsoft’s hotline, my Xbox 360 has passed the repair phase, and is on its way back to me. I’m hoping it’ll be within the next two days, as I’ve been itching for some LIVE action, and need to take a break from the abusive relationship I’m having with Metal Gear Online.
Anyway, I had mentioned before how I’ve been given the funds to review Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and all subsequent episodes. I’ve got the first two episodes up and ready, but since the sites I work for need the bandwith, I’ve decided to post direct links to them from now on, rather than just copying and pasting the reviews on this blog. My hits have flourished nicely (almost 15k), so it’s only fair that I repay the favor.
Retroactive Reviews: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete
Well, it finally happened. My Xbox 360 just experienced the coveted Red Ring of Death.
I’ve been a 360 owner for about 2 years, so I was well aware of the RRoD issue, but I still believed that I would be the exception to the rule.
But it seems that it’s an inevitable fate that all 360 owners will go through. Amazing that Microsoft has yet to address such a ridiculous flaw, or perhaps it’s cheaper for them to just receive bricked consoles and apply the quick repair patch. Even so, it’s still pretty silly that no other console carries such a flaw.
And I hadn’t even received my data transfer cable in the mail yet, to transfer the data from my paltry 20gb HDD to my recently purchased 120gb one. Why won’t they just include the cables with the hard drives?
Sigh…Microsoft.
That was just one of several strings of bad luck that have happened to me this week, but hopefully the worst is over. In the meantime, I’ve been quit overdue in my report on Advent Children: Complete.
So let’s get started on that. This particular review hasn’t been made for any specific website, and is just a personal write-up that I’m doing.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete
When I had first learned about the announcement that Final Fantasy VII would finally get a sequel, via a CG movie, I literally went nuts. The original game remains one of my all-time favorite RPGs, with what is quite possibly my favorite story, setting, and characters.
Which is why I despised the ending so very much. Sure, lots of people applaud the game for taking a “unique” and “open-ended” approach, leaving the fate of Cloud and friends to our own interpretation, but I’m one of the few who saw it as an indication that the developers had run out of time and money; After spending 50 some hours with FFVII’s main characters, journeying with them, laughing with them, crying with them, the lack of a proper epilogue to assure us that they made it out okay felt like a real slap in the face. No amount of fanfiction or fan speculation would fill this void, and considering how Final Fantasy VII remained consistently popular and consistently debated many years afterward, I wasn’t alone in my hopes that Square would one day revist FFVII’s world.
So, once again, I was overcome with joy when I learned about Advent Children, and that hype only increased more and more with every new trailer, the revamped character designs for Tifa, Yuffie and the other party members, and the myseterious but seriously cool looking new villains.
Like all Square-related titles, however, Advent Children soon brought out the anger out of people along with the joy. The movie had been criticized as a mindless action flick, devoid of story or character interaction in favor of glorified fanservice action.
Well, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Advent Children was never meant to be the epilogue that many people wished for, but rather a re-introduction. With three more spinoffs already planned, it looked like the world of Final Fantasy VII would finally continue, and an action-packed CG movie wasn’t a bad way to start.
But with the release of Advent Children: Complete on Blu Ray, we now have a film with stylish action and an engaging story. That’s right, while most “director’s cuts” of movies merely focus on adding more action scenes, Nomura and his team decided to use their return to the drawing board to take their time and tell a story, rather than fast forward right to the action.
“Fast Forward” is precisely the term I would use for the original movie, and it only takes the first 15 minutes of Complete to see what an improvement the new footage makes. The city of Edge is no longer a backdrop that viewers only have ten seconds to take in, but is now a sprawling city that is constantly under construction, full of citizens who no longer live on upper or lower plates, but must all live together as one unified class. Geostigma is no longer an unexplainable disease that looks like charcoal that got smeared on the kids, but is now a deadly, often graphic illness that looks like something out of Resident Evil, and we are now shown what happens to people who are on their last stages of infection. Kadaj and his brothers are no longer a trio of Sephiroth cosplayers who showed up out of nowhere, but now have additional dialog and motivations that explain why they’re attacking one person or raiding another place.
I think the one scene that easily shows the difference between the two cuts is the conversation between Cloud and Rufus; the original conversation barely lasted two minutes, and mainly consisted of “Hey Cloud, there’s a guy named Kadaj doing bad stuff. Please stop him”. Now, the conversation lasts much longer, bringing people up to speed on the last two years, as well as potentially stating the stage for future entries in the Compilation.
But it isn’t just dialog that carries these new scenes, but the facial expressions as well. AC’s CG work is still gorgeous, and now the tech is being used to convey a variety of emotions, from anger to sadness, and the tears resulting from both. The best new moment, in my opinion, is Denzel’s flashback to when he first meets Cloud. Even though this scene is already covered in the standalone anime (more on that below), the AC:C version is still powerful, using a haunting version of FFVII’s main theme, as well as the aforementioned facial expressions that elevate Denzel beyond “some kid that came out of nowhere” and turns him into someone you might genuinely care about, especially since he brings about a tender side of Cloud that was thought to be lost.
Indeed, the theme of “moving on” that was the basis of the original movie is much more prominent in this cut. Cloud’s inner pain is further explained through his interactions as well as some additional flashbacks, and coupled with the existing footage, leads to an ending that may tug at fans’ heartstrings, even if the original cut already succeeded in doing so.
But it isn’t just the new scenes that make up AC:C. The original scenes have been touched up as well, with some new details including physical damage (Tifa is now covered in dirt and bruises after her famous battle with Loz, and other characters share similar damaged features including blood), newly sampled or added music (including Anxious Heart and Crazy Motorcycle Chase), and even some redubbed dialog (Marlene and Denzel have been recast from scratch, and both do an admittedly better job than their previous voices. New lines have been squeezed into existing scenes as well). The new scenes merge with the original moments so fluidly, you might not notice the changes without having watched the original numerous times.
Nomura had mentioned that Advent Children: Complete is staying true to its name, as he has now added everything that he wanted to in the film. That said, there are still a few scenes here and there that could have used some further expanding, but remain untouched; Cloud’s conversation with Vincent, for instance, still sounds a bit ackward and is paced rather slowly, while even more unfortunate is that Yuffie, Red XIII, and the other party members aren’t given any new scenes or dialog whatsoever, with the exception of a new introduction for Cid and a quick scene with Cait Sith. Tifa, meanwhile, does have some new scenes and dialog, including another brief but satisfying demonstration of her awesome martial art abilities, but for fans of her and Cloud’s relationship (myself included), nothing new is added. Well, there is one brief moment that I felt was a terrific touch, and further expands on some of the messages conveyed in the original game’s ending as well as Advent Children’s main theme, but I don’t want to give it away.
As for the final showdown between Cloud and you-know-who, you may have read comments over how the battle has been extended, and is even more intense than before. While this is indeed true, the additions to the already chaotic battle only occur near the end. However, it certainly does expand the battle to new levels of brutality (again, no spoilers), and has more than a few added fanservice moments that will become immediately obvious to fans.
Special Features are mostly paltry carryovers from the DVD cut of AC, but the most notable extra is Episode: Denzel. An anime adaption of the Case of Denzel short story, this feature focuses on Denzel during specific moments in FFVII’s story (namely, the attack on Sector 7, the final day of the Meteor’s arrival, and the events following after), showcasing the many perils of his life that leads to his eventual adoption by Cloud and Tifa. The feature is a talkie, which might upset those who preferred Last Order’s fast paced action, but it does an effective job on showing the struggles that Midgar’s residents had to endure, from salvaging the remains of their city as well as putting aside the tensions between the upper and lower plate citizens. The animation is done by a different studio than Last Order, and while the latter did a flawless job of adapting Nomura’s artwork, the style used for Episode: Denzel is still great as well, offering a different but acceptable look for mainstay characters (despite their brief screentime) as well as Midgar’s citizens and architecture. It’s a very well done feature, and as an anime fan I can only hope that there will be more FFVII-related works in the future, including adaptions of the other short stories.
While it might not immediately change everyone’s perspective of the feature as a whole, there is no doubt that the changes and additions to Advent Children have greatly improved the movie. No longer is the film a guilty pleasure full of action, but is now a competent tale that balances its over the top action along with its emotional weight. It’s something that should be experienced by every Final Fantasy VII fan, and is a great sendoff for the beloved series.
Except the story isn’t over yet. We can only hope the next entry can carry on the high note established by this film along with the recent Crisis Core game on PSP.
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