Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

For the first review, I thought I'd make an expansion of a previously reviewed game on my personal blog. The game this preludes is one very close to my heart, and one that most definately had an influence on my current gaming status, as well as my love for RPGs. It's Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, which is (as mentioned before) a prequel to possibly one of the most loved games in existence.


Crisis Core is set a bit before VII, and shows what happened between Cloud, Zack, Sephiroth and Genesis. It also shows (from what I can ascertain) the link between Zack and Aeris (written Aerith in this, but it's fair enough as either are acceptable translations for アエリス,　which is her Japanese name). The game is very enjoyable, and as well as the main story, there is the 'distraction' of side missions. These missions, although not integral to the story, are a collection of short missions required of SOLDIER. They rank from easy, to very hard and each give a different reward, varying from a simple potion or crappy equip item, to valuable equip items and summon/rare materia. The recurring theme, is that you've been told to go somewhere, you have to fight a 'main enemy' (which is actually visible so as not to confuse you how to complete the mission I assume), and when you win, you get some kind of reward. I would like to say there's more to it, like having to parry hits in some sort of minigame, or maybe doing something other than just beating into enemies, but there isn't. I hate to say it, but the missions get repetitive quickly, and the only reason you end up going through the missions, is to get the rewards like summon materia.

A new feature to the VII universe, is the materia fusing. This is explained a short time into the game, and is upgraded to allow items to be thrown into the mix a bit later. I must say, it's a brilliant addition. A basic change is, combine one of the basic three elemental attacks, with another of the basic elemental attacks, say Blizzard and Fire, and you get the third of the basic elementals out, Thunder in this case. However, it goes into more depth, not only do the materia types need to be thought about, as do the bonus stats. It seems random, but as you go through you will figure out what gives what out. Combining a melee materia with a spell materia gives a pretty awesome spell/melee combo move, like a Firaga combined with a powerful melee hit. The sheer volume of combinations here cannot be overestimated, and I am yet to find what happens when combining an Ultima or Holy materia with something gets, although this is due to not having found either of those yet.

The other new addition is a device called the DMW, but sadly the main niggle I have with Crisis Core is that the DMW is a bit of an issue at times, and like some reviews said, it can make boss battles vary from stupidly hard, to flukily easy all due to the DMW rolling a powerful limit break/summon. Levelling doesn't work in the traditional way either. Most of you out there who play RPG's would be wondering how, 'you gain XP, it takes you to the next level, you gain stats'....WRONG. What actually happens is, it's linked to the DMW again. If the DMW enters the Limit Verge (which is when 2 images are the same, and it's waiting to see what the third one is to initiate limit breaks or summons) and after the images finish (they don't have to be the same for this, or have to initiate a powerful ability), the numbers that have been rolling land on 777, then Zack levels up. Leveling materia is similar and also depends on the DMW. If the DMW goes into the Limit Verge, and the 3 numbers read as 111, 222, 333, 444, or 555, then the materia in that materia equip slot gets levelled up, which can be to a maximum of 5 (otherwise known as master for those that don't remember VII's materia system). The downside of this, is I've never actually had a 444, so the fourth materia equip has never leveled.

I do admit, it's refreshing to see Square Enix trying something new again, but it's just a shame to not give the player ANY chance to dictate what level they are before attempting a certain point in the game. At one point, I actually found it almost impossible to continue with the story as my DMW had just been unforgiving with my levelling, only to have the DMW be recklessly kind in levelling me 3 times in one fight later in the game. I would also like some input as to when I use a limit break, and when I cast a summon, but again, a nice try to bring something new into the mix, although I still much prefer either the classic RPG format of gain experience > level up/gain stats, or the Final Fantasy X Sphere Grid system, which was one of the best ideas Square Enix ever came up with in my opinion.

Visuals I must say are stunning. I forgot I was playing the game on a handheld at times, and the cinematics...amazing. I keep going back to a cutscene depicting what it was like when Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis trained together as friends, all due to the sheer beauty of it. Not quite Advent Children quality, but you'd be hardpressed to find a PS2 game that can outmatch it. I don't know whether I have sensitive eyes though (not as far as I am aware), as certain cutscenes just hurt to watch. The Ifrit summon is a prime example of this. It's an amazing scene, but it's difficult to watch due to the sheer brightness. It's a minor issue though, and no reason to at all avoid this game.

Pros-
1) Final Fantasy!
2) Stunning visuals
3) Gripping storyline

Cons-
1) DMW is schizophrenic
2) Bonus missions don't add much
3) No imput into powerful abilities

Verdict - 8/10
A solid game, and well worth picking up. Debatable as to whether you should a PSP for this, but definately one of the many reasons to get one.