Classic adventure enhanced for newcomers and on-the-go play.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
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Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
a little
Characters can engage in battle against humans and monsters with variety of hand-to-hand and ranged weapons, as well as spells. Damage is registered as numbers, and defeated enemies vanish without blood or gore shown. Some environments covered in blood, some cutscenes where people are impaled or shot.
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Normally, the adventure is challenging, requiring a lot of gameplay to level up characters and attention paid to items, attack timing, other mechanics. But players can turn on and off options at any time to eliminate random battles, accelerate on-screen action, and become invincible, making gameplay very easy to go through.
Positive Messages
a little
Teamwork, sacrifice, cooperation and courage are expressed over the course of the game, along with traditional good vs. evil messages. At the start of the game, there's a streak of terrorism and chaos, but this is moderated by the end.
Positive Role Models
a little
While main group of characters are mercenaries and eco-terrorists, they're fighting against a ruthless corporation, dangerous security troops, and other threats. The mercenaries eventually become heroes that save the world.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Final Fantasy VII is a downloadable action role-playing game for the Nintendo Switch. The game is a port from the classic game from a long-running franchise that was originally released in 1997 on the PlayStation, and has been revamped with new features for its debut on the new system to make the experience easier and faster than before. While players will fight humans and monsters, damage is shown by numbers, and defeated enemies vanish without blood or gore. There are some environments that are covered in blood, and some scenes where people are impaled or shot. There's sexual innuendo in some dialogue scenes, and one character wears a low-cut top with some cleavage shown. There's occasional use of "goddamn," "jackass," and "s--t" in dialogue as well. Under the CCPA law you have the right to protect your personal information. Make a Do Not Sell request to Final Fantasy VII
Classic RPG That Is Recommended for Long-Time Fans and Newcomers
Parents need to know that this installment of Final Fantasy has a battle system that is easy to process for newcomers. The story is quite dark as the Main Protagonist's allies are killed off early in the game. Fair amount of strong language in the dialogue, such as damn, godd--n, sh--, and son of a b-tch, and plenty of insults coming from Barret. On the plus side, Cloud has a strong relationship with Tifa and Aeris, especially during the Wall Market chapter.
- Spoiler Alert -
Throughout the story, it's war between Avalanche and Shinra. Cloud was a former member of Soldier, but later joins Barret and crew at the beginning of the game. After the second boss fight, Cloud is separated from his friends, and later joins Aeris.
Dec. 30, 2019 - I am playing the PlayStation Classic, and I had just defeated Reno.
I played this game many times as a teenager and even now it is unsurpassed in terms of gameplay, characters and storyline. The story is my favorite: a Swordsman mercenary leading a ragtag group of misfits against an evil corporation. Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart have since become my favorite VG heroes. On a parental note, there's some violence mostly mild with sporadic appearances of blood, some sex references, Tifa and Yuffie wear midriff baring outfits, One character smokes all the time, two times a bar can be entered and you can drink at one bar, and the language is limited to D***, H***, A**, P***, GD, and S***. Fortunately, all this is counteracted with plenty of great messages about heroism, loyalty among friends, respecting the environment, the dangers of capitalism, and diversity. All the characters are of different cultures and races such as several Caucasians, one African American, two Native American equivalents, two animals (though one is actually a robot), and one Asian. Even though the graphics are dated (except for the battle and cinematics), that's the only negative to this otherwise flawless and timeless game. It doesn't get any better than this.
What’s It About?
Decades after its initial release on the PlayStation, FINAL FANTASY VII has made its debut on the Nintendo Switch, bringing the RPG (role-playing game) classic to players at home and on the go. The game is set on a planet that has a special amount of processed energy called Mako, which helps to fuel many industrial machines on the world. Because of its many uses, an evil corporation known as the Shinra Electric Power Company has started siphoning this energy for dangerous purposes. An eco-terrorist group known as Avalanche has dedicated itself to dismantling Shinra and its schemes by all means necessary, including guerrilla warfare and targeted destruction of Shinra facilities. Players take on the role of Cloud Strife, former Shina elite soldier and new mercenary member of Avalanche, as he and the group attempt to dismantle the corporation, gathering like-minded individuals to fight Shinra, as they slowly uncover its dangerous schemes that threaten everyone on the planet. New to the Switch version of Final Fantasy VII are three new game enhancements: 3x speed mode to accelerate gameplay, battle enhancements to make fights easier, and the option to turn random battles off.
This classic RPG makes its debut on the Switch with a group of updated enhancements that make it perfect to take on the go. Final Fantasy VII has been considered a classic by many gamers over the past two decades for its sweeping story, its balance of tactics and action in combat, and its striking emotional moments that made many gamers cry. With its release on the Nintendo Switch, there have been some updates. While characters still look like chunky Lego figures with Popeye arms, their visuals have been smoothed out so that they're a bit more cartoonish and graphically appealing.
But true enhancement comes in the three updates to make the game more accessible to newcomers. The first one is 3x speed mode: clicking the left thumbstick turbocharges gameplay. With the exception of cutscenes, everything moves at an accelerated pace, which makes navigating the world much faster. The next enhancement is the option to turn off all random battles by clicking both thumbsticks. As many role-playing gamers know, random battles can drag out gameplay for multiple hours when players try to improve their party members. This option makes it easier to run through dungeons and areas without feeling like you'll be ambushed at any minute. The third option is the battle enhancement mode, which can be triggered by clicking the right thumbstick. This option effectively triggers a "god mode," turning parties invincible and continually filling their ultimate attack meter. While some players may be concerned that this would make the gameplay too easy, these enhancements are completely optional, and simply give players the ability to explore the game at their own speed and at their own skill level. For players on the go or under time constraints that won't let them invest more than 100 hours in leveling up all of the playable characters for their party, these tweaks to Final Fantasy VII are an excellent way to make it even easier to explore this classic adventure.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in video games. Is the impact of the violence in Final Fantasy VII affected by the lack of blood and gore shown in battle? Is the impact lessened by the unrealistic visuals and older, blocky character models?
If people are fighting for the greater good, should they be willing or able to do any and everything to accomplish their goals? Does this make them as bad as the thing they're fighting against?
ESRB rating:
T for Blood, Fantasy Violence, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes
Last updated:
April 2, 2019
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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Jeff Haynes
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