Game Review - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is the latest in a series of games based on and around the events of the original Final Fantasy VII. This game, for the Sony PSP, is actually a prequel to FFVII and is centered on Zack Fair. While he only appeared in flashbacks in the original game, Crisis Core explores his character further and his influence on Cloud and Sephiroth.

The game consists of two main components: the primary Story mode and a side-quest style Mission mode. The story mode is the meat of the game and is where you’ll be getting attached to these now iconic characters all over again. Mission mode, on the other hand, is a long series of one-off mini levels that have you battling for unique materia, equipment and even bosses as you go. There are roughly 300 missions in this mode and each take about five minutes to complete.

In my opinion, Mission mode was a genius addition to the game, especially on a handheld system when 5-10 minutes might be all the time you have for a quick game. Not only can you knock out a few missions and get that all consuming sense of accomplishment, you can also build your character for the encounters you’ll face in Story mode. All of the leveling and equipment you gather applies to both modes of gameplay. Even after completing the main story mode, I still want can’t leave the world of Crisis Core thanks to these nifty little missions.

The gameplay here is actually pretty simplistic. This is real-time combat, not the turn based fare we know and love from most of the other FF games. So, this plays roughly similar to FF XII except you only control one character. You can queue up moves as you fight and scroll through abilities, materia, and potions with the L/R triggers. There are no complex combos or mini-games to learn, however you must understand the type of monster you are fighting and adjust your tactics accordingly. Materia and gear must be equipped before an encounter so this keeps you constantly thinking about how to best outfit Zack as you progress through the game.

Graphically this game is amazing. I’d say it’s right on par with God of War: Chains of Olympus in being one of the top two best looking games for the PSP. The in-game graphics are superb, with excellent characters, backgrounds, monsters and spell effects. The scenes that present the major materia summons are breathtaking and the CG portions of the game are straight out of Advent Children, so they are as good or better than anything you’ve seen in the theater. Most of the in-game cinematics are even done right in the game engine and everything still looks amazing. Square is one of those few developers that can perfectly capture emotion with their animation. I found myself locked into the facial animations of the characters during these scenes, just because they were so perfectly expressive.

As with most RPG’s, Crisis Core is fairly lengthy. I completed the game along with about 50% of the side missions in just over 35 hours, and could probably have done the core game alone in 25. For a handheld title this is pretty impressive, especially considering the tons of in-game and CG cut-scenes packed onto the disc.

Of course, the real reason to play any FF game is for the dramatic storyline. This game does not fail there, and even knowing the gist of what I should expect, Square Enix once again sucked me in with stunning visuals, incredible CG cutscenes and even the humor mixed in with the over-the-top Japanese style dialog. I really enjoyed Zack’s clichéd characteristics, for some reason in these games you just couldn’t have it any other way.

There is a ton of replay value here as well. Once you complete the game you can go back and replay it on Hard mode, while keeping your DMW, materia and stats. There is also the aforementioned Mission mode. There is a final boss in Mission mode not included in the main game, Minerva, who is undoubtedly the most difficult boss in the entire game. Clocking in with over two million hit points, it’ll take a lot of grinding and materia fusing to defeat her. I plan on working my way towards this goal now that I have the main campaign out of the way.

If you are a RPG fan, or a Final Fantasy Fan, or just looking for a great game to play, you should really try Crisis Core. Adam Sessler be damned, this is one of the best games for the PSP and would make a kick ass PS2 game as well.