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Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - PSP Review     10/10

Absolutely Visually Stunning

Released 20th of June, this title takes us back to the beautiful, awe inspiring world of Gaia (or ‘The Planet’ as it is referred to in-game) the game fills in many unanswered questions that were asked in the original Final Fantasy 7 game, uncovering the truth about Zack Fair, Project G and why Sepheroth despises Shinra to such a great extent.

The first new title to be released on the PSP really pushes the PSP’s capabilities to the limit, with amazing visuals, expansive scenes, 300 extra missions to complete and explosive FMV’s that will make you completely forget your actually playing a game. You just have to watch the opening scene to the story to be immersed in a game that will take you through a new magical adventure.

Story
During a mission in Wutai, a large number of SOLDIER and there accompanying 1st class leader ‘Genesis’ go missing, this is where the plot develops as you and other executive SOLDIER members disembark to discover what has happened, unravelling the mysteries of Genesis and Project G.
 

Delve into the world with Zack Fair

Crisis Core
Square Enix have gone all out on this title to really bring the world of Final Fantasy to the PSP, keeping things original, yet updated giving you a mixture of classic Final Fantasy with a blend of new and improved Final Fantasy, the sounds have been tuned but are still those retro tones that you will recognize if you played the original FF7, even original enemies are there from Bombs to Tonberries, with fluid animations and crisp detail that really bring the game to life. 

There is no multiplayer function, although there has never been one in an FF game that really worked, so it’s not missed, and neither are the characters, you get so caught up and absorbed by the story that revolves around Zack that you don’t miss the support in and out of battle, they do make cameo appearances and add to the plot so don’t worry if you still have that crush on Tifa.

The gameplay and battles are relatively easy, with certain abilities doing damage over 9999 each time and its not as if you’ve worked for it either, unlike the Knights of the round table summon that you worked so hard to get, it seems Crisis Core doesn’t push any limits with strategic manoeuvres, even the bosses are easy to kill, although if you acquire an American or European release you have an added ‘hard mode’ that give enemies 10 times the health and double the stats, giving you that extra challenge. 

Even if you haven’t played the original FF7 new players that want to get into Final Fantasy can easily pick up the game and play it with very little background knowledge of what’s going on as most of it is explained, the controls are quite simple there’s the movement controls, and an execute command button, with L and R changing commands, there is no complex controls that will have you reaching for the game manual.

The game is very long, don’t expect this to be completed in a day, the excellent storyline is still there with plenty of things to do that can give potentially over 200 hours of gameplay, and even after completing the game you will obtain a New Game Plus option for a chance to re-play and be engulfed by the Final Fantasy universe all over again.
 

Even Bahamuts back for this one

Features
-    All new battle system, the player instantly can walk into a fight without the need for the ‘swooshing’ animation and painful loading scenes

-    The battle system gives you full control over Zack and you can run and dodge attacks and take enemies from behind often causing a ‘critical hit’

-    All new abilities and material for you to try out and combine your favourite abilities to customize and personalize Zack to how you want him.

-    A never seen before ‘Materia Fusion’ option, where you can fuse two materia together to create a new one, making it stronger or having extra attributes that can really benefit you.

-    Mission mode see’s you fight your way through various areas ranging from a Shinra base to the Midgar Slums, you can unlock more missions via various techniques, often via completing other missions, and rewarding you with special materia or accessories that will become essential to you.

-    The DMW (Digital Mind Wave) a new system designed to randomly level up during battles when fighting the smallest of enemies or the biggest of behemoths, this also is the way to activate a limit break which is completely random and will take some time to get used to, but love it or hate it, it will not obscure your view of the amazing world of Crisis Core

-    Shop anywhere in the game, no longer a need to run to the nearest store, do it via the menu and unlock more shops that sell extra items

-    A messaging system that allows characters you meet to message you with details of a new mission, details of a new event or just kind advice.

The DMW

The good
-    An expansive and incredible world to get swallowed up by
-    Amazing voice acting and visuals that are of movie quality
-    A new player to control that had very little to do with Final Fantasy 7 that you will grow to love
-    Combat initializes instantaneously and is extremely fun to play, with no load times for magic will have you blazing fire and striking thunder instantly.  
-    Excellent storyline

The bad
-    The player has no control over levelling up, often making you feel cheated for killing a colossal behemoth and getting rewarded nothing

The ugly
-    There are no visual glitches though there is a glitch that can stop you encountering battles by ‘hugging’ a wall as you run around a large area in the missions section, though this can be hard to do and won’t ruin your game.

Zack Fair and Cloud Strife

 Summary
This is a must have title for the PSP, taking everything into account there is no flaw in Square Enix’s effort to bring what is a legendary series to the small and mighty screen of the PSP, any fan of role-playing games will be spell bound by this resplendent masterpiece.

By Liam Copping