Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation Portable, 2008)

The Good

* Incredible and poignant story, starring a likable and complex hero.
* Every aspect of the production design, from cut-scenes to voice acting, is utterly amazing.
* The DMW is a weird but fun way of leveling up.
* Enjoyable and addictive combat.


The Bad

* Combat is on the easy side.
* Player has no control over limit breaks and leveling .

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII achieves a striking balance of old and new, and juggles fan service with pure role-playing satisfaction. It's striking how these elements have been shaped into such an appealing and emotionally affecting prequel. There are some new characters and plenty of fan favorites too, such as Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith. However, the characters you're most likely to empathize with are unlikely ones, including protagonist Zack, and Sephiroth, who is complex, troubled, and even sometimes likable. The way their personal stories weave in and out of each other--and set the stage for the events in Final Fantasy VII--makes Crisis Core not just the finest role-playing experience available on the PSP, but also one of the best Japanese RPGs in years.

Zack isn't new to the franchise, but he was a mere flashback in Final Fantasy VII, which may not make him seem like the best choice of leading man for a prequel to one of the best RPGs ever created. Yet he's as interesting as any Square Enix star, and transcends the usual spiky-haired heroism and teenage angst with an uncommon maturity that develops as the game continues. Revealing almost any plot point could be a spoiler; the Gaia world is rich with mythology and complex character motivation. What's important is how the characters interact, change, and grow. Scenes between Zack and Cloud are both effortless and poignant, and stem directly out of Zack's most impressive character traits: trust and loyalty. As each plot thread twists together and the game reaches its inevitable conclusion, your heart will soften and you may shed a few tears. Crisis Core tells a memorable and exciting tale, but more importantly, it makes you care about its characters, even if you are new to the lore. The game's final scenes are amazing and heartfelt, and one sequence in particular that brilliantly mingles gameplay with narrative is one of the most incredible and moving moments in role-playing history.

The game's stunning cutscenes have an immeasurable effect on the emotionally resonant story. There is a harmonious mix of prerendered cinematics and in-engine cutscenes, and both were created with precision. Dramatic camera angles frame Crisis Core's greatest moments, from earth-shaking soliloquies to the quiet pauses Zack and Aerith share. There is a standout scene in which Sephiroth comes into deep focus using a cinematography technique familiar to Alfred Hitchcock fans. This kind of range is rare in cutscenes, even in RPGs, yet it's never forced or overdone here. The quality is further enhanced by incredible voice acting. Past Final Fantasies have sometimes suffered from awkward English voice-overs, but each actor here delivers the right degree of emotion at the right time, which in turn gives weight to the story. As Zack matures, you can hear the newfound confidence replace his adolescent arrogance; when Angeal tells Zack that he's just a little more important than his sword, you can hear a subtle grin in his deep, commanding baritone.

I'm gonna say like the old time FF fans and say that FFVII wasn't the best of the FF series, but sure gathered one hell of a following. I'm going to be honest; I was excited for this bad boy to come out. FF:CC would relive the excitement I had when first playing FFVII... battling ShinRa, fighting Sephiroth, traveling Gaia and Cloud's mind... none of that, sadly, was relived in FFCC. FF:CC follows Zack, a second-class SOLDIER making his way to become first-class and eventually acheive his goal of becoming a hero. In the first game, Zack is Cloud's "alter-ego" if you will; the man Cloud mistakes himself for for the better part of the game. FFCC revisits parts of FFVII not seen and just briefly eluded to. Sadly, FFCC had to have its own story meddled in there. Although I find Angeal and Genesis to be rather developed characters, it seemed like their struggles took second place to Sephiroth's eventual emotional anguish in Nibelheim, Zack's dreams and Cloud's ironic medocracy. The dialogue seems forced at times but the voice acting makes up for it. The graphics are surprisingly well done. The music revisits Nobuo's originals. And the combat is fairly easy to get into. Unfortunately, as for the combat, the "random" battles break up the game's speed. And the leveling system seems just thrown in. For a system that relies on "luck" it does little of that and works pretty much to it's own content; much like regular RPG leveling, just much more elusive. The controls are reponsive and you also have the choice of skipping through long summons (Knights of the Round anyone?).

Story: 8.5/10
Gameplay: 8.0/10
Music: 9.0/10
Learning curve: approx. 1 hour
Overall: 8.5/10

It is one of the best PSP games with GREAT graphic, cinemas and a story to blow up your mind! One of the best games of the Compilation of FFVII, as a matter of fact second only to the original FFVII game! And also one of the best games of the whole Non-efonumbered FF Series, if not the best one!

With 300 mission to keep you busy for more than 60 hours.
With two dificulty level to select from.
With a new game + feature.
And ending that, even you know it because you play the original game, it will take a couple of tears out of your eyes!
Link all the events from FFVII and the ones that happened before. If you didn't like Zack before, you will like him now, and if you like him before, you will love him now! It is one of the best characters in the whole FFVII world, find out why!

When Square-Enix announced the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, many fans were skeptic and fearful that the numerous new titles will only tarnish the reputation of the 1997 masterpiece. For many fans, these fears took on a body with Advent Children, which, while visually stunning, felt a little shallow and lacked the feel of the original game. Then came two other projects: the half-baked Dirge of Cerberus and the untouched, almost unheard-of Before Crisis, which only intensified the consensus that the true purpose behind this so-called "Compilation" was to use the reputation of Final Fantasy VII as a money magnet, fooling the loyal fans in the process.

Pros
- FFVII prequal. People that have played FFVII will feel right at home with recreation of the areas visited in the past
- Abundant great cinematics. No really there are some great CG moments and also great scenes using in game engine.
- Voice Acting that is great and conveys emotion (some of the actors could have done a better job. Zack and Airith are greatly done)
- Action based battle sequence, much like the one used in Kingdom Hearts. This time a slot machine (no really im not kidding) controls your limit breaks. Depending on the face you land on your limit break will be different. In areas of heightened emotion the chances of limit breaking are much greater.
- Save points are plenty

Cons
- battle sequences get repetitive feeling like a bogged down hack and slash. I found myself going into battle casting all the barrier, mbarrier, and regen and just hacking and dodging. Occasionally using cure to heal myself.
- No other players battling but you. 7hrs into the came I can confidently say there won't be anyone assisting you in battle. It does feel weird especially when all the final fantasy games have teammates helping you fight with their own unique abilities.
- Missions are little mini-games that require you to beat a set amount of monsters to unlock the next mission and so on. The only reason you might want to do this is to lvl up outside of the storyline or if you are a perfectionist then go for the sometimes rare loot that can be found.
- No overworld (WTF?? T_T)
- 1.67GB compared to the ps1 (11 years ago) 650mb x 3 = 1.95GB

Gameplay: 7/10 - Interesting and unique at first, but you soon realize that hacking is the best method and battles become you pressing the same buttons again and again.

Sound: 9/10 - The voice acting is great, but cheesy one-liners thrown in there as well. Excellent music from Square with a rock music during battles. The little things they did with in game sound that made the difference, like your footsteps change when you are walking over wood, stone, cement, tile, etc...

Graphics: 10/10 - Square does it again with excellent graphics great lighting. CG cut scenes are honestly better than Advent Children and on the PSPs screen look gorgeous.

Value: 10/10 - If you are buying any psp game this month then this should be it.

Bottom line: if you are addicted to FFVII (personally i liked FFIX the best) then this is definitely a buy. If nothing else its a great psp game. There are too few good psp games out there. The graphics in this game definitely rivals that of the console. It is most definitely better than psx/ps1 and just a tad below the ps2 (lack of very large open environments). Its definitely worth it for the story.

Crisis Core is the best tale out of the compilation series, second to only the main story of Final Fantasy VII itself. There is a straightforward approach in the story telling for this game that was sorely lacking in the other installments.

One of the stand out appeals of this game is the fact that side quest are not designated. Being allowed to pick and chose your own "Missions" really do shave off a good deal of time that would other wise force you to perform tedious and (on some accounts) treacherous battles. For someone who isn't a hardcore gamer this option is a delightful treat. Although, as any Final Fantasy fan will tell you, neglecting fights will cause you to lose the opportunity to level up. And make no questions about it, down the road such decisions will cost you dearly.

The expansion of details regarding old characters is rather engrossing. Taking what little we knew of Solider First class Zack Fair from the original game and turning him into a solid protagonist with hopes, dreams, ambitions, and even love in the form of our favorite Flower girl. In the case of Sephiroth, you actually find yourself having sympathy for (whom we were all lead to believe for years was) the devil. As for the first time it's explained how isolated, confused and betrayed he must have felt by the company that raised him. The establishment of the origin for Cloud is a well done surprise, stressing his weaknesses as well as his admiration and friendship with Zack. Square humanized Mr. Strife again, a factor that caused me to regain respect for the character after the brooding hero plastic surgery that was preformed on him for Advent Children.

The newcomers are equally as welcome and are introduced and woven into the scene without being overbearing, complementing the old fan favorites well. Genesis is slightly of obnoxious, but Angeal will break your heart and you’ll even run into an old familiar hidden character!

If your into RPGs and only buy one game for the PSP, this is the one to get.
Five Gold Chocobos Up!

-Lisa