Chuck's Anime Shrine Game Review:

Developer: Square-Enix

Platform: PSP (Playstation Portable)

Reviewer: Chuck Gaffney

Gameplay:

Wheither you are a big fan of Final Fantasy or not, Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core brings out the best in gameplay for both RPG fans and action game fans. The use of commands in real time brings a level of play yet seen in any of the true Final Fantasy lineage and yet fits so well. If you want to just hack and slash away at the enemies, go right ahead. For many of the battles this could work just fine but of course strategy using the different materia slots available is needed for the harder battles. You also have the ability to do timed blocks, dodges and with the "Dash" materia, a quick sprint away from the enemies.

I felt like a little kid again playing these battles since there is a sense of danger and if not prepared correctly, you will die and be sent off to where you last saved, unless you are in one of the 300 mini missions available. These missions make perfect use of the PSPs portability. You can honestly sit down for a few minutes whether it be on break, in the train, or waiting for take-out and complete a few missions. The missions are an important part in leveling up and getting the best materia in the game. The missions also let you face enemies for more powerful than the main boss such as the riduculasly powerful Minerva. Even at level 99 the battle is a challege. If you die in a mission you are thankfully just sent back to the save point with no loss in progress. This kind of difficulty is not really seen in many modern games since difficulty and challege has been dumbed down, need I say, by many Western gamers not able to handle the challege like games in the past as much as the east can. Don't worry though, unless you chose the harder missions or simply don't do any missions to level up, you won't find much too much trouble with the battles.

Speaking of the monsters, unlike many action RPGs which include only a small variety of creatures, FFVII CC has a wide range of creatures all with their own weaknesses and strengths that become very fun to figure out. Tha ability to swich around, fuse, and level-up materia makes the battles very enjoyable and trust me; it gets very addicting. Do not place FFVII Crisis Core with that of a spin-off; the variety and depth even puts some of the pure numbered Final Fantasies to shame. The Materia Fusion part of the game adds a whole new level to the game that will be your key to even facing the hardest monsters.

Now to speak about the DMW (Digital Mind Wave), the slot machine-like thing you will see in the battles. This is what controls the limit breaks, leveling-up, summons and other cool add-ons. I feel this new addition to the Final Fantasy battle system is the best thing yet. Even though your limits, summons and even leveing up are all rather random, there is some control. Build enough SP (SOLDER POINTS; experiance) you will have a higher chance of leveling up. Add that to the ability have Zack's emotions raise with "Lucky Stars", gives more of a chance for powerful effects of the DMW. As you reach the latter parts of the game, you will also be able to get materia that allows you increase the chances of specific summons and limit breaks.

You do play as Zack the whole time so although this might have sounded a bit weird if you wanted a team, the way the gameplay is set, expect a fun and enjoyable experiance.

Music:

Takeharu Ishimoto does an amazing job remixing the tunes we all know so well from Final Fantasy VII along with adding some new tunes to give Crisis Core its own identity. From the opening scene to the very sad end we all know is to happen the music keeps you going. While doing the many missions, the battle music might get a slight bit repetitive but it's expected concidering the amount of battles you do. As a hardcore fan of FFVII, I got so excited just by the opening scene's music, I felt I was back in the 7th grade in 1997 playing FFVII (wow lots of 7s).

Graphics:

I thought that the PSP was in between the PS1 and PS2 in graphical power. FFVIICC blows that notion away by making the game look better than even a number of PS2 games. Of course there is the Hi-Def cut scenes that use the same graphics engine as Advent Children; even during the summons! As for the in-game graphics, the backgrounds flow very fluidly and you really see the characters as heart and blood people and not that of soul-less dolls. Square even went through the lengths to make sure the characters lipsynce exactly with the English dialogue. I know we saw this with Kingdom Hearts but that process has to be a detailed and tedious thing to do. Speaking of the voice acting real quick; all the voice actors did an amazing job and you will recognize some of them from FFVII AC, Dirge of Cerberus and from various anime titles.

As for the graphics, I can't wat for what is in store for future games in the FFVII series.

Story:

Last but not least, the story of Final Fantasy Crisis Core like any Final Fantasy series will stir your emotions. I don't believe the FFVII spinoffs are as bland as many people might have stated I believe the whole FFVII story is something Shakespeare would through in the towel for but maybe its because I'm loyal to the whole series or because I actually put the pieces together but no matter how you cut it, the story in Crisis Core is superb. You will get to love Zack like many did for Cloud in FFVII and we all know from FFVII what happens and that is what Square-Enix does best. Building up for the inevitable ending and the start of FFVII goes through your mind the whole time. The whole story is pieced so well and you won't be able to get it out of your head. Many of you will know what I mean during the scenes when Zack claims hold of the Buster Sword. To not let anyone get any spoilers, you will also get to know more about Genesis and the whole one-winged-angel situation.

There will be more of Genesis since he did appear in Dirge of Cerberus during the secret ending and yes that in fact means that there is going to be more adde to the most beloved of all the Final Fantasy stories, FFVII.