Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Review
A tribute to the fabulous Final Fantasy VII
by Chris Scott
reviewed on PSP
Story
While the graphics hooked me right off the bat, the story did not. In the opening moments you are introduced to the game’s protagonist Zack Fair who was a minor character from Cloud’s past in Final Fantasy VII. I found him a little whiny and annoying. In the opening minutes I was wishing that I could control Cloud instead of this loud mouthed obnoxious kid. Zack’s whiny behavior keeps up for quite a while but luckily he does eventually turn the corner and becomes the hero he has been hoping to be.
The story revolves around Zack trying to bring in a rogue SOLDIER agent named Genesis. He seems hell-bent on destroying SOLDIER and is obviously a threat to the organization. Series fans will travel to familiar locales, including Midgar, Wutai and Nibelheim and meet a bunch of the series characters including Sephiroth, Cloud, and Aerith, amongst others. Running into Yuffie early on brought a huge smile to my face and the game is filled with other cameos and references to the original game.
Crisis Core has a much more narrow focus than Final Fantasy VII but this helps it quite a bit. The story is still convoluted in spots and players not familiar with the lore of Final Fantasy VII may be at a loss for most of the game. But both veterans to the series and newcomers will likely be touched by the ending of the game. If you are not, you must have a heart of darkness. Everything is told through the use of in-engine and CGI cutscenes that are accompanied by some very well done voice acting. However the game could have greatly benefited from using voice acting throughout as it is slightly jarring to see a cutscene with voice acting only to have the very next scene have dialog boxes.
Sounds and voices
Don’t mistake my praise of the voice acting to the dialog itself, because that would be slightly misleading; it can be quite cheesy at times. While it is directly in line with the dialog from Final Fantasy VII, it doesn’t excuse the fact that some of it is outright bad and cringe inducing. Final Fantasy VII is ten years old and Square has proven they can provide solid translations, so Crisis Core seems like a step backwards.
Another step backwards is the inability to skip in-game cutscenes. There is nothing worse than watching a great five minute long cutscene, only to lose to the boss who follows it and then having to watch the cutscene -again-. I liked it the first time, but once was enough.
Something many fans can’t get enough of is the original soundtrack of Final Fantasy VII. Debates still rage today about the question if the game’s music is legendary game composer Nobuo Uematsu’s best work. I am going to refrain from touching that argument but I can say that the best musical pieces in Crisis Core are the ones taken from the original game. Unfortunately not all of it is on par with Uematsu’s pieces.
Fan service
Crisis Core is fan service through and through and these fans will flock to this game like seagulls to funnel cake. But it isn’t a perfect game. The story and its protagonist take some time to get into. The leveling system is counter-intuitive to everything gamers have ever done and ultimately falls short of its goals. The difficulty ramps up considerably in the last two levels and if you haven’t been quite that lucky with the DMW you may not be prepared for the last few battles. These can be quite tough, resulting in watching some cutscenes multiple times. However the good outweighs the bad and it does offer up a fairly lengthy adventure; 10-12 hours for the main story and 15-20 if you include all the bonus missions. Crisis Core is not going to shake the foundations of gaming like its predecessor did but it is a great game nonetheless. A fitting cap on the ‘Compilation of Final Fantasy VII’.
8.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
