A close up on Aerith’s eyes. She drops a flower. It’s crushed underfoot. The camera pans back to an overhead view of Midgar as the orchestra swells and the horns fanfare. We zoom in on a train, Cloud perched on top.
It’s an opening that will be familiar to any Final Fantasy 7 fan, from the original game to the recent Remake. Now it’s present and correct in Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis too, a new free-to-play mobile game from Square Enix that encapsulates the whole saga and its spin-offs into a single, mission-based package. Initially, with this opening, it makes a good first impression.
But it’s all a facade. Ever Crisis is an avalanche of microtransactions and frustrating mobile design that makes one of Square Enix’s greatest achievements a miserable experience.
At least the visuals are good. Story missions are presented in a cute overhead style reminiscent of the original game’s blocky Lego people, now with revised yet chunky almost Kingdom Hearts-esque models. It’s how the original seemed back in the day, nostalgia flooding in. In battle, the character models are similar to Remake but viewed from behind, full of stylish magic effects. It all looks typically Final Fantasy.