Before Master Chief and his brethren of first person shooter protagonists came along and stole our hearts, there was the epic RPG era. This era was started by none other than Square Enix's first foray in the world of 3D, Final Fantasy VII - a tale set in a dystopian future where magic and technology collide.

It was a very good game for its time, and now, after six not-really-sequels, a cellphone expansion, a full CGI movie that can only be described as hardcore AND a follow-up anime series, it's come back to haunt us in the form of a PSP game, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. This is our review, and we hope you like it.

 

Alright. Soundtrack, visuals, gameplay. All cards on the table - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is truly a Square Enix title. Just like how Ready at Dawn's God of War: Chains of Olympus pushes the boundaries on just how good a portable game should look, hear and play like, Crisis Core looks, hears and plays like a masterpiece with a large helping of whipped cream and cherries and chocolate syrup.

The graphics are very sharp, very detailed, to the point that my saying that the in-game visuals reach almost the same amount of gobsmacking factor as the CGI sequences doesn't make me want to check myself into the loony bin. Yes, they're that good, only the in-game parts only let you play as Zack. From the ridiculous hair styles, to the armor, to the clothes, to the monsters themselves - everything is rich and vibrant in life and color.

Sonic-wise, the game also exceeds expectations. While we can all appreciate just how sweet the sound of Zack's fine weapon grinding against robotic armor or slicing into monster flesh, it's in the voice acting that Crisis Core definitely shines, and that's saying something.

From Angeal's deliberate musings to Zack's own brand of naive optimism, every line uttered in Crisis Core definitely bleeds emotion and aplomb. If you were worried about the localization being half-assed, then those worries are unjustified with this one. Even Sephiroth's voice actor manages to come across as the war-weary veteran-hero that he is, although sometimes it's hard to reconcile the Solid Snake-like voice with a svelte, silver-haired warrior in a black trenchcoat.

 

So it sounds good and looks good. But does it play good? The answer is an audible, well-modulated 'yes' with no 'but' forthcoming. This is due to the fact that it puts an entirely new spin to the combat and materia system, in a way that it makes it easy for players to blast through the entire game without micromanaging everything.

You can still micromanage to squeeze every drop of damage out of your setup, of course, but having  the option to blast through the game without worrying about stats or materia is quite considerate of the developers.

How does Crisis Core do this, you ask? Two ways: first is the Kingdom Hearts-esque real-time combat system. During the combat phase, your main and only character, Zack, is fully controllable inside an ample (but confined) field, with your enemies also able to move wherever they want to.

You can attack at any time, use any materia you have equipped, block incoming strikes or even roll out of the way - thus giving positioning and reflexes a lot more emphasis rather than just selecting the correct spell or move at the correct time. You depend more on Zack than you do on your materia.

The second way is through a newfangled system that adds yet another element to battle - chance - in the form of a slots-like system called the Digital Mind Wave. What it is, pretty much, is a trio of spinning reels of character portraits and numbers that govern nearly everything on your side of combat, from what sorts of random buffs you get, what Limit Break you'll pull off - it'll even decide when and where you'll level up.

 

While this sounds a bit too arcane, it actually isn't - in fact, I could say that it's one of the better combat additions Square Enix has thought up. The Digital Mind Wave requires zero participation from the player - all you have to do is fight normally, and the Digital Mind Wave, depending on Zack's current state of mind, will pile on the benefits for you and make you an unstoppable killing machine.

Running out of MP? It'll buff you so that all your spells have no cost. Low on HP? Have a level up and points boost, courtesy of three smirking Angeal portraits! Have a boss battle? Wait for the DMW to do its magic, and it'll summon one of the franchise's signature beasties to come to your aid - full-blown world-destroying CGI attack animation included. It's almost unfair, and that's the second way that Crisis Core makes combat easy, even for the non-micromanager.

And FOR the micro-managing of us, yes, Crisis Core isn't going to hang you out to dry, oh no. Crisis Core introduces in the world of Materia yet another new feature: Materia fusion, where you can fuse two or more materia pieces together to form something just a tad more powerful than the original ones.

The possibilities are endless with this feature, as you can literally mix-and-match your most powerful materia to make one end-all, be-all piece of magic that scores damage in the thousands. Even the most strategy-minded of Final Fantasy players will no doubt spend long afternoons trying to figure out the best combinations.

What about the controls, then? Simple as can be. Out of combat, you use the analog nub to move Zack around, X as the overall context-sensitive button, Circle as cancel, Triangle as the menu. In combat, it's the same story - analog nub for movement, Square for dodging, Triangle for blocking, X to execute action, and the shoulder buttons to select just what action you want to perform.

The entire setup makes sure that you have everything at your fingertips, and even while playing on the commute, suffice to say that it's one that ensures you have a good grip on your handheld.

 

What are we forgetting here? That's right. No Final Fantasy can ever be Final Fantasy without a certain element being discussed - story. How is the story of Crisis Core, and how does it jibe with the original? How is it handled, and what's the general feel of the game?

I'll answer these questions in one fell swoop: Crisis Core's story is not something you will forget for a long, long time. The conversations between the characters, the interactions, the cutscenes, the voice-acting - all of them deliver what feels and reads as a legitimate set-up to the epic Final Fantasy VII storyline with enough aplomb that you can't help but appreciate all the hard work that's been put into it.

There's even an in-game Mail system that lets you receive correspondence from organizations and characters you meet along the way. It certainly doesn't impact the gameplay, sure, but it adds just one more layer of immersion to the already deep and layered storyline.

You feel like you're actually Zack, and Shinra has just sent you your promotional letter to SOLDIER 1st Class. It almost made this writer want to jump for joy when that particular message appeared, if the situation it was given in wasn't already distressing.

In short, it's everything you'd expect a Final Fantasy VII prequel to be.

 

What happens after everything's over, then, you ask? After you've finished the game - and seen Zack's untimely, yet ultimately inevitable demise - you can either opt to start the game over in Hard Mode, or New Game Plus. Usual bog standard RPG fare here - you get to keep your items, levels, materia, accessories and so on. Which is not too bad, if you want to plow through the game without having to grind.

Did we miss anything else? Well, just one more. As Crisis Core is a game on the Sony PlayStation Portable, so we have to cite how you can play it while on the go. In a rather smart move, Square Enix has compiled all the sidequests any completist would go completely nuts about into a neat, easily-selectable list that you can undertake at ANY TIME, so long as you're near a save point.

Called Side Missions, these are simple, bite-sized pieces of action that you can select, hack away at and then shut down in at the drop of a hat. And these missions aren't anything particularly hard, either - they usually involve exploring a subsection of a larger map, hunting down treasure, fighting enemies or even a boss you earlier fought against.

Not only does this break up the monotony some, but it's definitely a treat that you can easily access Crisis Core's core (no pun intended) gameplay without having to sit through long cutscenes or conversations. Thus, we commend Crisis Core on a job well done on being portable-friendly.

 

And now for our verdict. I was, in all honesty, dubious at first when Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII came along. No matter the series or genre, a prequel of an already-existing IP almost always never turns out the way you'd hope it to be. Crisis Core is not one of those games.

It's a whole many things - a love letter to the loyal fans of Final Fantasy VII, an obvious labor of love by the folks over at Square Enix, a tribute to one of the best RPGs to ever make it into mainstream - but most of all, it's a GOOD game that's worth your hard-earned cash and your attention.

With that, I bid you this last message: it's time to finally come back to Midgar and enjoy the memories once more, no matter how bittersweet they are. Go ahead - you've earned it.