When news first erupted of another Final Fantasy VII related item, rumours spread from a spin off title, to a fully fledged sequel, or a movie that would appease fans for their devoted custom to Squaresoft.

First off I am a Final Fantasy fan, but of old rather than the new. After Final Fantasy VIII I rather lost faith in Square’s ability to provide a game that matched the emotional link between player and game experience. The eight title was a carthatic journey, and one I think many will agree with. What we wanted was more Cloud Strife and co. So Square has finally listened and released a movie in a sort of semi-sequel to Final Fantasy VII taking place 2 years after the events in the game.

Strife is spending his time drifting from place to place, inconsoleable after the events that took place, and cost the life of a dear loved one among the friends in the form of Aerith. However, a new danger has awoken as three ex-Soldiers have risen to bring back the chaos that was ended by the battle between Cloud and Sephiroth.

It seems they want to bring him back, to finish what was never completed. Strife becomes entangled in this matter, naturally, and is tasked with putting a stop to it while at the same time struggling with his long held grief. Of course, friends of old have come to aid Strife in his quest, from Tifa to Vincent and everyone in between.

Final Fantasy VII takes computer generated visuals to striking new level, like a bolt of lightning spliting a tree in two in a spectacular and grand entrance. What SquareEniz have managed to achieve is nothing short of admirable and awe-inspiring. In many ways, it’s an evolution of what was used in Final Fantasy – The Spirits Within taken a few notches higher. That already offered some level of beauty that was unmatched during it’s time, but now the graphics look truly exceptional.

For me, however, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children is a feature that is only skin deep. Beyond the lush visuals, the prolonged battles and a heart-stopping motorbike chase that almost exclipses the gravitas offered by the two-decade old Akira, there’s very little undearneath the glossy masquerade.

When it comes down to the crunch, Advent Children offers an arrogant display of visuals, that overwhelm the film. The story, it seems, plays second fiddle to the graphical feast. This sort of criticism was also levelled at The Spirits Within, and that spectacular flop offered the net result of Square shutting down their movie production studio.

While Advent Children will attract both fans and newcomers alike, many may feel cheated (particularly those new to the series) at the lack of structure in what starts to become a nauseating series of fights with no plot development. It’s repetetive, and the novelty of beautiful rendering does start to lose it’s appeal, in the hope of a glimpse of story to develop. It never happens though, and you end up with a series of inmpressive action sequences that turn out to be less interesting than watching a game og Pong (perhaps a slight exaggeration there).

Advent Children had little to go on as it was, in retrospect, and this was really a film-by-demand from fans rather than choice. It’s difficult to see how a game sequel could have been formed, so the final closure is provided in a movie, but just as there wasn’t enough materal for a sequel as a game, there’s very little material for a movie either, and it defintely shows how shallow the whole experience is. You know where everything is going, you know who Cloud will eventually meet, and you know the punishment he will dish out, and the likely result of how a notably absent character will save the day.

As marketing tool for the PlayStation Portable, and as part of SquareEnix’s resume in film production, it’s perfect. It will meet the expectations of those fans who waited with baited breath, and it will please Sony in sales.

For everyone else, it’s simply eye candy with no soul. You won’t feel engaged by the events that take place, and if anything you’ll be staggeringly confused unless you’ve played the game. You can watch it for what it is: a techincal demonstration. But if you want something more meaningful, and more engaging then steer well clear as Advent Children is another example of Square’s inability to tell a story in movie form.

Verdict: A benchmark in visual gimmicks at the cost of a plot