Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII with Limited Edition UMD Case
by Square Enix
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Video Game Reviews of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII with Limited Edition UMD Case
Customer Review: A PSP must-have
Summary: 5 Stars
Like many gamers, Final Fantasy VII was my first exposure to the world of RPG's. While initially it wasn't my favorite genre, I grew to love it and while I don't consider it the best in the series, there's no doubt just how memorable and nostalgic and even influential the whole game has been. But ever since X got a sequel, Square just loves revisiting their moneymakers and among the "Compilation of Final Fantasy VII" titles, Crisis Core is the latest and it easily beats the seriously flawed Dirge of Cerberus. With fun gameplay, great graphics and for once, a good story, Crisis Core is bound to be well loved by RPG fans or of the series and the original.
Story: At the beginning, it's 7 years before the events of the original and you play as 2nd class SOLDIER Zack who's sent to Wutai to investigate the disappearance of 1st class soldier Genesis. Along with mentor and friend Angeal and the legendary Sephiroth, Zack finds out about the reason for Genesis' disappearance and I don't want to say anymore because not only is it engrossing but the ties to the original are quite interesting.
Graphics: Even though it's tiny, the PSP has managed to create some of the most stellar graphics seen on any handheld and Crisis Core can probably win the prize for the best so far. With cutscenes that are Advent Children quality to the character animations and in-game cutscenes which kind of resemble Kingdom Hearts, these are some of the sharpest and vibrant looking visuals on the PSP. Only complaint is during battle missions where some of the environments look kind of bland but that's okay.
Sound/Music: Remixing a couple tracks from VII, these are probably the most successful musically with many themes being quite faithful to the originals but changing them enough to give them a different spin. From the Aeris' theme redo which has more acoustic guitars to the Opening/Bombing Mission which strangely I prefer here though for nostalgia reasons, nothing beat the opening movie back in '97. Voice acting is slightly divided since it's not really lackluster bad and it even works many times though some might not like it if you've ever heard English dubs for animes.
Gameplay: Strangely, Crisis Core seems to be a combination of Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy XII and even Crystal Chronicles for the Gamecube. Solely playing as Zack, you traverse the areas and opening chests and eventually you'll enter battle mode where you control who you hit based on where you're looking. Get enemies close enough and one attack can hit everyone and attacks can be blocked and dodged. For your other attacks, pressing L or R scrolls through your available materia which can range from the frequent fire, blizzard and thunder spells to special attacks like steal or jump dragoon-style. Pressing O resets it to Attack which comes quite in handy and is much better implemented than Chronicles was. It's not really repetitive since it wasn't just "press attack all day" but button-mashing can help though it's easier to use your brain and spells too.
Aiding in your battling is the Digital Mind Wave (DMV) which is basically a slot machine where character portraits have to be lined up 3 in a row which will correspond to a certain attack. For example, getting all 3 Sephiroth's will bring a Omnislash-esque move while getting 3 Tseng's from the Turks will have a Highwind-style air raid. Also, a number will show up and can yield unexpected benefits such as no MP cost or AP cost, prompting some free spell/attack spamming or Invincible, invulnerability to attack or magic and some will even level up your materia and getting 3 7's in a row gets you to level up. It sounds confusing but once you figure out how it works, it's very easy to figure out how to use the benefits to your advantage.
Where the game might find some criticisms is in its combat which can be quite repetitive and the bonus missions aren't really that involved and they're usually just "defeat monsters, get prize" types. The other thing is most of the music that isn't directly from the original is not really that exceptional and after awhile, it kind of grates. But the story which is way more interesting than the Cerberus game and seeing familiar faces or references throughout is more funner.
I'd very much recommend Crisis Core even if you haven't played the original. Though RPG's may not be everyone's cup of tea, you should definately try it out anyway.
Customer Review: Great Game for FFVII lovers
Summary: 5 Stars
If you've ever played Final Fantasy VII then you know how this game ends, but with that said it has an excellent story and you can't help but love some of the characters. A must buy for RPG lovers and anyone looking for a powerful and emotional story.Customer Review: Has to be one of the best PSP games ever!
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this several weeks ago and I'm still playing it. 46 hours and counting according to the game.
I'm not a Final Fantasy guy. This is my first FF game so I don't know any of the characters or the storyline. Basically, you've got magic and technology in this world. So even though you swing a sword and chuck fireballs, there are robots that attack you etc.
Gameplay consists of running around, getting into fights and talking to people. The actual story of the game might take a shorter length of time than trying to play the whole game through plus all of the option missions. And then, if you're nuts like me, you'll play it again.
Graphics rock! The in-game movies are some of the best that I've seen on the PSP. Game play graphics are just as good. Voice over work is good too. The only complaint that I could see anyone have with this is that the game gets somewhat repetitive. But it's still fun. Lots of fun!
Customer Review: Awesome Game
Summary: 4 Stars
awesome game, graphics are great cinematics are even better. gameplay is pretty solid too. if your a Final Fantasy fan and you don't own this you need help. buy it now =)Customer Review: Soldier First Class Zack
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a Final Fantasy VII addict, so my opinion might be a little biased since I love the story line. A lot of information is found out about who Zack was, since it is discussed very little in Final Fantasy VII. I always kind of assumed he was a low level flunky, since when playing in Cloud's memory, you have to rely on Sephiroth to beat any monsters that one runs into. There's a lot of growing up done by Zack in the game. I wish it was longer! "Protect your SOLDIER honor!"