Silver

"Silver come in second,just before gold"

When people say rpg,the name Squaresoft always comes to mind.With Square only backing up the Playstation,what does pc owners have to look forward to? Except for the recent Baldur's Gate amd of course Square's very own Final Fantasy 7,the rpg genre have been relatively quiet.Well.....quiet untill Infogrames came along annoncing they have a game-a Final Fantasy killer.

As soon as the statement was made,the expectations for Silver rocketed. Infogrames was very bold for issuing such a thing.But the big question comes.Is Silver better than FF7?C'mon.Let's be realistic here.Better than FF7?

Silver does boasts lots of interesting feature.The navigation in the game is excellent.In ff7 you have to travel through a world map and with frequen random battle's popping out of nowhere,it's hard to explore area withour being frustrated out of your mind.In silver though,all you have to do is to access a map,and you just click on the location you want to go,and hey presto you're there.Also the battle system is one of the finest i've seen in the game.Your trusty mouse acts as your sword.A push to the left performs a swipe and a push to the front causes your characer to lunge forward and so on.The only weakness i could spot here is that the battle gets too tedious when you're controlling 3 charactes at a time.Sure,you an put in under AI control,but the computer's really dumb.

Do you remember battling Sephiroth in FF7 and then you were dissapointed because he's just way too easy?And how you wished Clous could have tackled Sephiroth 1 on 1?Well....your dreams do come true in Silver.The satisfacion you get after killing the guy who murdered your own grandfather was overwhelming.Especially when you do it 1 on 1.

Sadly,the good stuffs ends there.The storyline is Silver is exceptionally BORING.You seek out to find your wife who was stolen by the evil sorcerer Silver.On the way,your grandfather who accompanied you was killed by Silver's son.Then you go out seeking for revenge and to ensure your wife retuens safely.None of the brilliance the people in Square posseses.The musical score is also quite uninspiring.Infogrames just can't emulate Square in this depratment.The music just don't seem to suite the environment you're in.

All in all,Infogrames do deserve a round of applause for trying their very best.It is no Final Fantasy but some great ideas implemented really make this game an enjoyable one.Do yourself a favour and go out and buy it.you won't regret it.Trust me on this.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99