Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) review on HonestGamers

Systems > PSP > C > Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII > User Review

Enjoy this user review, then submit your own review or leave feedback!

Sign into your user account to view or leave feedback for this review. Don't have an account yet? You can click here to open one. It only takes a minute, and it's free!

Review by jerec
November 02, 2009

Crisis Core is a shallow game, rarely giving you a chance to deviate from the main story and explore, as the story whisks you from one chapter to the next at an incredible pace.

The story is well told, though. Zack, a minor but important character from Final Fantasy VII, is fleshed out and developed. His transformation from eager, yet reckless young recruit to a hardened, experienced SOLDIER 1st class is a compelling tale. He becomes very likeable, and it’s a sad tale because we already know his fate.

Zack’s story features some new characters, such as his honourable mentor, Angeal and the poetic but insane antagonist, Genesis. It was fascinating to see Sephiroth as a good guy, until the familiar Nibelheim sequence, which is the centrepiece of the story.

Crisis Core tries to be a very cinematic experience, and it mostly succeeds. The FMV’s are beautiful, the voice acting is high quality, and the soundtrack is excellent, with echoes of VII’s memorable score, with many new themes that fit the world perfectly. Sadly, there are scenes that are not voiced, forcing you to click through text boxes. These break the cinematic feel, often switching abruptly mid-scene, taking you out the story.

The battle system works fairly well for a one-man party, even though you aren’t given much control, except to attack and use magic/skills. A slot machine is constantly rolling, giving out status boosts and occasionally unleashing limit breaks and level ups. Levelling up is completely random. You might play for an hour and not level up, or you might level up twice in a single battle. The lack of control can be frustrating sometimes when the slots don’t line up the way you need them to.

Battles are frequent - they happen every few seconds. Sometimes you can avoid them by hugging the walls, but this limits the camera and you can miss treasure chests. Sometimes the enemy will spin you around, or draw you back the way you’d come, forcing you to cross the same area again and risk another encounter.

There are 300 side missions, but they are all much the same. There are half a dozen different environments, and no story to them. You simply wander around fighting enemies and picking up treasure. They are short, though, and are perfect if you just want to play for a short time. These missions really emphasize just how shallow Crisis Core is - there is a lot to play, but there’s no variety.

Despite being a shallow game with plenty of noticeable flaws under its glossy exterior, Crisis Core is still a very compelling game to play, mainly due to the story. It was great seeing the back-story of Final Fantasy VII fleshed out, seeing Aerith, Cloud, and the Turks, making me long for a remake of that groundbreaking game.

Rating: 7/10

HG 2009 Fundraising Progress: $348 / $2500 (14%)

Click to learn about the Fundometer or to advertise.

Game Profile & Content

All

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) game cover art

Staff Score (Avg): N/A User Score (Avg): 8.0 Press Score (Avg): N/A
Reviews: 2 Guides: 0 Cheats: 0 Ratings: 3	High Scores: 0 Screenshots: 3 Videos: 0

Title: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Action RPG
Publisher: Square-Enix
Developer: Square-Enix
Release Date: March 25, 2008
ESRB: T

Do you own this game? Register for a free account to track it and other games in your collection!

Voice Your Opinion...

Average User Rating (3 ratings)

Only registered users can rate this game!

PSP discussion forums

While you're here...

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 is another PSP game in the Action RPG genre that has been attracting activity lately, so you might want to check it out and see what all of the fuss is about!

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII screenshot