LUUnl tbY rrlUlU
With vastly superior sound, graphics, story and play control. Final Fantasy VII' torches its competition
The final word in video games
University students try to
wean themselves off the
world's greatest video
game, Final Fantasy Ml'
By Evan A. Denbaum
Entertain merit Editor
It has three CD-Rom discs, ap
proximately 200 hours of game
play and enough multi-million
dollar computer-generated imag
ing sequences to make a Spielberg
feature film. It has been the single
most-anticipated video game ever.
Now it has arrived, and when Uni
versity students play “Final Fanta
sy VII,” grades start to suffer, social
lives are squelched and daylight
hours disappear.
The sophisticated ad campaign
for the game, which has spanned
television, newspapers and maga
zines, uses the catch phrase that
when you play, “you can hear
your pupils dilate.” When Univer
sity students Alex Rajeff and Eric
Freel play, you can not only hear
their pupils dilate, but you can see
their eyes bulge and their mouths
drool.
“This game,” says Alex, pausing
mid-sentence to push the Playsta
tion video console’s power button,
“is epic.” He then reclines back
into his seat with a deep breath as
if he’s just taken a hit of a drug.
“Don’t start!” he warns. "It’ll pull
you in. It’s habit-forming.” This is
a realization he’s come to only af
ter combining with Eric for more
than seventy hours ofgameplay.
Eric and Alex are definitely not
the only ones waging war and
casting spells. Game sales are
booming. Even the Sony Playsta
tion’s sales are up, apparently be
cause people want to play Final
Fantasy so bad they’ll buy a new
$150 dollar video game console to
get the chance. (“Final Fantasy
VII” is produced and marketed
solely for tire Playstation).
This enormous success, in a
large part, is because Final Fanta
sy can boast the most sophisticat
ed graphics in the video game
market without achieving them at
the expense of game playability
and fun.
“Most games with great graph
ics you get sick of as soon as the
mystique of it wears off,” Eric says.
“Quickly you’ll realize that the
play control is terrible or the
plot is one-dimensional.
But Final Fantasy
has so much
substance,
so many *
nuances, sto
rylines, games within games and
such an attention to detail that I
could play it forever.”
At the same time, it is Eric’s atti
tude that makes Final Fantasy
great for vacations or down-time,
but potentially dangerous to stu
dents here at the University who
have just started classes this week.
"I almost missed my first math
lab of the year because I was so en
thralled in the game,” Eric admits.
"I know I’d better start weaning
myself away from playing before it
gets me into trouble grade-wise.”
Alex, the skeptic of the two,
doesn’t believe they have the
willpower to stay away from the
game and concentrate
on classes. "It s
already meant
a lifestyle
change. Eric
plays until 3
a.m., goes to
sleep, wakes up and
plays before classes,
then comes back and
plays before work
and after work plays
until 3 a.m. again!”
Alex says. “The
® only way to make
it through this
term is to win the thing!
Well, if it takes them as long to
win as "the average gamer,” then
they only have 130 more hours of
gameplay to go.
WENDY FULLERY/Emerald
Obssesionfor men: University students Eric FreeI and Alex Rajeeflog
even more hours playing Squaresoft's multi-million dollar game.
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