Let me tell you a story. One year not so long ago, when I had just finished my GCSE's, I found myself with a whole summer ahead of me and not much to do. My beloved mother, having seen the effort I had put into studying for my exams, gave me what was at that time of my life a fairly substantial sum of money. I took that money and decided to spend it on something that I loved, something I knew I would enjoy; a game for my PlayStation. I had seen an advert on TV for a game much unlike anything I had ever seen. The graphics were stupendously good and the sheer outrageousness of the images portrayed reached deep into my soul, grabbed hold of me and simply would not let go. I had to own it, I didn't know what it was but I just had to own it. It was £50, I bought it from Woolworths, it was on four disks. It was Final Fantasy VII.

I rushed home with my new prize and quickly put the first disk into my console. The introduction flared onto the screen and my eyes became transfixed. After a mind-blowing introductory cut-scene I was off and navigating a spiky haired character through a futuristic building. He was wielding the biggest sword I had ever seen, even in a game. I played for two hours before my mother, bless her, entered the room and began reeling off a list of chores I was to perform that day. This simply would not do. How could I devote my attention to this new world, the doorstep of which I was waiting on, poised and ready and eager? I would need another location.

And so it was I found myself at my aunt's house, a place I knew I would be free from oppression, distraction and responsibility. I created a comfortable setting for myself in the form of a camping bed, complete with a television and my PlayStation. Once I entered that room, there was nothing to stop me, nothing to take me away from this, my beloved new realm. For two weeks I sat in that room. I would only leave to go to the bathroom and that was at a brisk jog. My aunt was forced to bring me food for fear of me wasting away. I would sleep only three or four hours a night. I was lost in this magical place, this intricate world with these fascinating characters who I felt like I knew, like they were my friends. After the two weeks were up I emerged, bleary eyed and estranged from the real world. It took me days, weeks, to reintegrate myself into the really real world. Never before or since has a game had that much of an impact on me. Final Fantasy VII. God bless you Squaresoft.

So, after that delightful introduction you may have realised that this review may be a little biased in favour of those who joined me in their addiction to Final Fantasy VII. This is a review of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the new movie set two years after the events of the game. I've just watched it and I've still got the tingling sensation in my fingers.

Firstly, it's awesome. If you were a fan of the game, as I was, it's simply awesome. It's brimming with nostalgia, virtually bursting at the seams with it. I must admit, I was struggling a little bit with some of the characters' names and remembering exactly what happened in the game. After all, it was several years ago (eight, I think…), so my memory of the story and events is a little hazy. However, the main characters bring all of those fond memories back; Tifa, Barrett, Red XIII, Sid, Vincent, Yuffie, Cait Sith and of course, Cloud Strife, they're all present and correct. They've all got voices too and none of them matched what I had allocated to them in my head whilst playing the game. Whoever has chosen the respective voice actors has done a sterling job though, as all are believable and none are irritating. The choice of Mr. T as Barrett, for example, is genius (sorry, that's just cruel, it's not really him, it only sounds like Mr. T!) There are dozens of peripheral characters from the game that come to life as well, such as Rude and Reno, Rufus Shinra, Tseng and Elena, Zack, loads. Iconic images such as the buster sword, the city of Midgar, the legendary Sephiroth, they all stirred something inside me that I haven't felt since I was in that room.

There's a new design dynamic that compliments the old as well. The locations are decrepit and partially destroyed from the events of the game but new buildings and structures have risen in and amongst the old. The rendering and attention to detail is superb, as you would expect from Square. If you remember Spirits Within, you'll remember it was absolutely beautiful, and that was how many years ago now? Yeah, they've come a long way since. The vehicles look good too. Fans of the game may remember the image of Cloud on the back of a motorcycle, an image that is built upon in the movie. This bike's a little different though, as the sides mechanically open up and expose a dozen different swords, which Cloud can access while on the move. He does this regularly, as he often finds himself fighting on the back of his bike whilst travelling at a hundred or so miles per hour.

If you didn't play the game then this movie will undoubtedly leave you bewildered and more than a little confused. I watched it with my housemate for that very same reason, as he'd never played the game and he spent most of the first twenty minutes repeating the question "What?" before falling asleep. He was totally non-plussed, but that's the thing, this movie is a complete indulgence for those of us who want to see more from our favourite fictional universe.

And it looks so pretty! Square Enix have once again outdone themselves with the animation. The detail in the textures, the light effects, the character motion, the art direction, it all combines beautifully to create a hyper realistic movie that will shock and astound you. It's very Square though, and does speed over the line of ridiculousness without even a second glance. But it's allowed to, it's a Final Fantasy movie, and one that's based on actual Final Fantasy characters, not just some weirdo woman that has strange dreams. [Hoi! I loved Spirits Within, it's an ingenious sci-fi classic, so lay off! Insult-Ed].

In one fight scene all the game characters (Cloud, Barrett, Tifa, Sid, etc.) meet for the first time, which is epic by the way, and fight the recently summoned Bahamut Sin, which is also epic. The whole thing just looks incredible. Whoever designed Bahamut was really thinking outside the box, but he looks brilliant. The fight itself goes from the sublime to the ridiculous as each character bounces from building to dragon, hacking, slashing and shooting with their respective weaponry. They run up the side of buildings, fall from great heights, dodge explosions with the greatest of ease and look perfectly natural as they do it. It culminates with each character taking turns to launch Cloud further into the air to attack the mighty dragon and, as he gets faster he starts to glow, before powering through Bahamut's fireball and cutting the mighty beast in two. Within the Final Fantasy universe this is all perfectly acceptable behaviour of course; they operate under different rules there, that's why the universe was created in the first place!

The sound is fantastic, the music grips you tighter than Kong grips his bananas and it doesn't let go of you. During a fight scene between Tifa and one of Sephiroth's clones the music is incredibly dynamic and really compliments the pace of the scene; as they pound on each other you can hear wood splintering and stone crumbling, and as they dart around you can almost hear their speed. The sound effects really are phenomenal; crisp, clear and superbly detailed. It's great when you hear the engineering precision in the *shink* sound that Cloud's sword makes as it separates into two smaller weapons. There is one sound effect that really does stand out above all others, and it follows the fight I just mentioned involving Tifa and the clone in Aeris' church (you know, the one with the flower garden.). As Tifa seemingly finishes the inferior clone with a wince inducing piledrive into the floor, you hear the familiar fanfare from the game, played when a battle is won. Suddenly you realise that it's not just a blatant insertion of nostalgic noise, but the clone's mobile phone ring tone! Genius!

The music in general has been composed beautifully, reflecting the brilliance that Square applies to the whole series of games. The music will make you cry when the scene is sad and have you gripping your seat tightly when the scene is full of action. There are also nods to each character in the composition too. If you remember the game you'll remember that each character gets a little theme tune, much like Darth Vader had his march. The film incorporates those tunes into the overall music when each character is on screen, which really puts you back into the original story.

The plot is a little convoluted. I won't even attempt to recap what happened in the game for those who don't know, my computer simply doesn't have enough memory. For those who are familiar, the story is set two years after Cloud & co defeat Sephiroth in the Northern Cave, and Cloud has become a bit of a loner. Shinra, the dastardly corporation most responsible for the downfall of the entire planet, has retrieved and hidden the remnants of Jenova, the creature that fell from the stars with the first Meteor. A deadly virus called Geo Stigma has infected many of the survivors and it is suspected that there is a link between this mysterious disease and the Jenova genome. Sephiroth was created when Jenova's cells were spliced with those of a human, and now Kujawa and his brothers, inferior clones of Sephiroth, want to retrieve Jenova from Shinra. By doing this they believe that they will be reunited with their mother and become whole once more, i.e. become Sephiroth.

I won't tell you whether this happens, but I will tell you that when it does, the fight between Sephiroth and Cloud is simply out of this world. You know he's back when you see that overly long samurai sword, the Murusame, come into view, and the deeply evil "Hello, Cloud" echoes through the speakers. It sends a shiver through your spine as you anticipate the battle to come.

Its all just a bit too good really. There's even a recap from the original game as an extra on the disk, so you can watch the now terrible graphics outline the story so far. Unfortunately that's the only extra, but I imagine Square will later release a Special Edition with a making of and more nostalgic trivia. I cannot communicate to you how excited I was to watch this; it was sat in my bag all day at work and I could almost hear it calling to me. I got home, rushed to my DVD player and put it straight on, and once it was on, the only movement I made was my jaw getting wider and wider. On the other hand, my housemate became more and more bored; he had no idea what was happening and the ridiculous images simply made him want to fall asleep, which he promptly did. This is the conundrum I face in reviewing Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, as it conjures such opposite emotions within those who are likely to watch it. Those who love the universe, played the game and want to see more of the characters will absolutely adore this movie. Those who don't and are simply intrigued by the pretty looking trailer are going to be left a little bewildered, I'm afraid.

Reviewed by Jim Powell for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).