Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Review

I went into buying this game because I was mildly (and by mildly, I mean seriously) addicted to Final Fantasy VII. It was the whole reason I started writing! It was, technically, the first story I ever expanded on in Fan Fiction. I was absorbed into the amazing details of the story, and how great the characters were and their personalities. I wasn't completely an "nerd." I didn't cry when Aerith died, though I did end up replaying it several times to try and find a why to bring her back. She wasn't, by far, my best player, but I didn't like having one less picture on my menu.

On opening day, I bought the game and guide for later referencing after I beat it by myself for the first time. The art in both was simply amazing, and the guide in the game case was enough to give me the basic understanding in what I was going to be doing throughout the game. Mash on X, basically. Simple, and for me, wasn't that bad, since I've played through games where it's simple button mashing and they weren't that bad, honestly.

Now, comparing it to the original story, based purely on graphics, Crisis Core would win hands down. The cutscenes are pushed beyond the limit for the PSP, and are breaching PS3 graphics. I'd say some of the cutscenes even beat out the Advent Children movie they made not too long ago. The final scene is pure magic, music wise, script, and graphics.

The voice acting was done with amazing details, even though the script was, at times, very awkward and translated over to English incorrectly at parts. What might be easier to understand in Japan, doesn't necessarily mean it sounds as correct over here.

The character development is very good, considering we get to look into the life of the character that Cloud had once thought he was. Now we understand why a little better, since in the original game, the script was translated over very poorly in '97.

Music is amazing, as always, and the battle system is unique. Much like Kingdom Hearts, though it is very much played down. The majority of all the combat will be mashing on X, and after a while, you become so strong that one attack will kill any basic random encounter in one move, which can be frustrating if you're trying to use the DMW (the meter in the upper left hand corner that randomly controls how your Materia and yourself level up) to level up and find yourself killing off all the enemies in one move.

There are still flaws in Crisis Core. For instance, it's on a hand-held, so your neck starts to feel it after 40 minutes of playing. The game doesn't allow you to skip past scenes, so on a second play through, you can be getting a little bored, though most of all Enix releases doesn't allow you to do so, other than Kingdom Hearts II, it seems to me.

Other little flaws include the inability to control leveling up on materia or yourself, and script isn't necessary translated over correctly, so there are points where it seems weird. They stay very close to the story line though and have expanded several parts that definitely made the original Final Fantasy VII much better.

Another kick-back though is how the main antagonist, Genesis, continues to use the same lines throughout the game. Quoting scripture out of a play called 'Loveless' doesn't make a character look cooler, have a better understanding of the mindset, or build upon the scene for the most part. Maybe once or twice, but not 38 times.

Overall, compared to the rest of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core beat out Before Crisis, and Dirge of Cerberus, easily, but only fought the for second with Advent Children, the original being ultimately better than the rest, merely because it held out so much more in the game, and was revolutionary at the time it came out, not only for RPG's, 3D Graphics, and for Sony, but also for many gamers, who had never dealt with such a game in their life before that time.

Rumors also sparked at the end of Crisis Core saying that Final Fantasy VII will be remade for the Playstation 3. The chances of this happening are pretty likely, merely because of all the junkies signing petitions and how much money they're making off one story, though it won't be released anytime soon and won't start development until after August because of Final Fantasy XIII being developed and planned to release until December 13th, which will ultimately be pushed back, because Enix doesn't send a game out on time that often.

It is well worth being picked up and given a try if you like Action RPG's and fell in love with the original story, like I had.

8/10