Sound: 7/10
Music was so-so. Many songs were repeated, and there just weren't as many tracks as the previous Final Fantasy's. However a few songs stick out, namely Man with a Machine Gun, and The Extreme. Lastly, I for one, did not like that Eyes on Me song.

Story 7/10
Not as good as say Grandia, or FF7. The story was just not up to standard for me. Squall was a jerk, and I hated him as the main character. Quistis was pretty cool though, Seifer and Zell were well done and their quarrling was pretty funny. Selphie wasn't as annoying as some say, and Irvine was humorous in trying to get a date with one of the girls. All in all the characters were developed pretty well (hey, they convinced me that Squall was a jerk), minus the final boss. However I found it stupid that (spoiler: highlight to read) nearly all the characters were given the same background. Plot twists were few, but many small hints were thrown in and many gamers have come up with their own ideas.

Gameplay: 7/10
First off let me just say that I really dislike the junction system. (Hate is such a strong word as I've been informed many times, thanks mom!) The whole thing just makes the game so uneven. Two characters can be miles away in levels but both can do 900 damage. I for one, liked it better when each character had their own limitations or abilities. To begin an expination of the system first let me say that MP is gone, instead magic is drawn from special points on the map, or from enemies. Summons allow you to do this, if there's one thing I like it's how summons are set up. Each one gives you certain special abilites that you get to chose. When you equip a summon you can access a separate screen which shows a list of the abilities you are able to learn. Pick one and fight, as you level up the Summon (aka Guardian Force) does too, and it'll learn the ability. Sometimes adding new abilities. For instance, the lighting bird (I don't want to try and spell his name) has an ability that can turn enemies into cards (More on cards later) after learning that a new ability will appear on the list that allows you to turn cards into useful items. When summoning a GF, your HP changes to the GF's and any attack on you will result in the GF losing HP. If the GF's timer bar fills up then the summon will initiate. Unfourtunately the summons are extremely long, and although great to look at the first few times gets annoying the next several hundred times. (Not kidding, you probably will use summons that much) Luckily the ability boost is available which gives you something to do for half the summon. Anyway, back to the Junction system, each GF allows you to draw magic, and lets you place it on certain slots. Draw 30 cure spells and junction them to the HP slot and the characters HP will rise. This also applies to strength, vitality, speed etc. Not only that, but you can junction magic to your weapon, if you junction 100 sleep spells to Squall's sword, chances are that everytime he attacks the enemy will be put to sleep. You can also junction fire spells to help agains ice affiliated enemies. Lastly you can junction spells to your...um attire I guess...(armor is non-existant), junction fire spells to up your resitance to fire and so-on. As I said, I don't enjoy this system all that much. Battles are random as usual, luckily they don't happen every two steps, sometimes you'll go a few screens without fighting. As mentioned armor is non-existant, while weapon's exist the way you acquire them is different. No more walking into a shop and just buying what you need, nope you have to work to obtain new weapons. And let me just tell you this, it really sucks. First you need to find a magizine that shows the new weapons and what they need, then you have to fight and fight to hopefully get the needed materials. Some materials are incredibally hard to find, and others are just annoying to obtain. The later items are found in the hands of ultra-powerful enemies, not only that but most of the time they won't even drop them! Luckily the cards you obtain can be changed into the needed items. So what are these cards? The cards are the only mini-game in FF8, and boy is it a fun mini-game. The game, called Triple Triad, can be played around the world each with different rules (some good, some bad, some that just make you want to destroy that part of the world)as you play you spread these rules around, which can be a good thing, or a bad thing. Cards can be obtained by changing enemies into them, or winning them from an opponet. Other cards are automatically given to you, mainly the summon cards. So see if you can collect them all! The best part is that you can change these cards into items you need for creating weapons, for instance 5 of a certain card will make an elusive energy crystal. And if the game isn't easy enough you can change a certain card into 100 potions that make you invisable, joy!

Replay Value (Lasting Value): 6/10
Well the most replay value lasts in the Triple Triad game. Collecting all the cards is a challanging task. The game itself seemed a lot shorter than FF7, mainly due to the many CG cutscenes. However worth at least one play through.

Difficulty: Easy
Find the right magic, (Ultima junctioned on attack anyone?) and you can breeze through the game. Not many of the bosses provided much of a challange, hell the hardest enemy I faced was the Ruby Dragon! The final boss is a joke, unless of course...well you'll see.

Buy or Rent?
Well I suggest a buy now that it is part of the Greatest Hits. If you think you'll like the junction system then definately buy it, if you think you'll hate it more than me you might want to rent it and try out the system. That's all I can say.

My Score 7/10

Review by: STARSCOP33