Customer Reviews
It's good... but... - By: P. R. Hughes, 13 May 2008 
I'm going to be different from most of the other reviews here because I am the one person in the entire world who managed not to play Final Fantasy VII. I know, I know, I've missed out on the Best Game Ever TM. And I plan to rectify my omission at some point, I guess. However, I DID play FFX which I loved.
This game (which I was desperate for & imported) is clearly a very polished & complete package. Beautiful graphics. Long storyline, nice & varied, good characters, great voice acting. I like the idea of the arcadey combat, although it does get a bit samey even if I match around my materia. I like the side missions although they, again, are a bit samey, repeatedly running the same ten or so areas with different mobs.
However, for some reason this game just hasn't grabbed me. It's hard to put my finger on what the problem is - I think it's the lack of a party for the combat, so running poor old Zack around feels a bit lonely, as if there's no real interaction with anything. And the combat is neither a proper hack'n'slash game (a la God of War) nor a proper JRPG either - it's something of a hybrid. It reminded me a lot of Key of Heaven, although it didn't suffer from KOH's problem with overpowered magic attacks. On the other hand the move set is more limited than KOH's. I like the fruit machine thingy, that's clever (albeit a bit random as to when level ups occur) & I admired Square Enix trying something a bit different... but it's not quite scratching my RPG itch the way I had hoped.
I appreciate that for anyone who lost their heart to FFVII, you can add a star to the score above simply because of the satisfaction of tying up the loose ends, & it must be nice (if heartwrenching) to see Aeris/Aerith alive again... good scenes with her, BTW. Very well done.
Undoubtedly a good game, & a remarkably polished package (with tremendous FMV, for those who like FMVs) but a bit of an FF-lite. It feels extremely linear, almost claustrophic. It's a linear walk through a good storyline with ho-hum random combat scenes. Again & again & again.
So if what you're looking for as a good FF story to work your way through, that's definitely here is spades. You'll have a blast.
If on the other hand a strong story alone won't be enough for you, & you demand good action from your RPGs, then maybe this will leave you a tiny bit cold, like it did me. If action is your bag or if very linear things leave you unsatisfied, then invest in the Monster Hunter games which are IMO, in terms of the minute-to-minute quality of the RPG gameplay (which is what reallly counts, after alll) dramaticallly better than the rather limited hacking that Zack puts in. I felt like I had my own adventures in Monster Hunter, rather than being guided through someone else's.
But it's a good game, no doubting that.
Almost fantastic - By: Simon J. Whight, 12 May 2008 Initiallly thought to be vapourware, Square Enix's follow up to one of the alll time most important pieces of gaming history finallly graces the PSP. The big question is, does the game manage to deliver?
For those who do not know, the basis of the game is the story of Zack, an operative of military organisation SOLDIER, & deals with the events leading up to the beginning of Final Fantasy 7. Steering away from the turn based party combat of the classic game, you take the part of Zack only, the game controlling in a manner not to dissimilar from Final Fantasy XII without the gambit system.
More action based than your usual RPG, you'll soon become adept at dashing around heading into physical combat while using whatever materia (magical knowledge of the ancients) you have equipped in your limited materia slots. Its quite easy to get tempted into the rather effective physical attacks while battling, but thanks to the DMW system (basicallly a roulette wheel that constantly spins & occasionallly triggers level ups & special attacks), you can find yourself taking advantage of No Magic Point or No Action Point cost situations.
However, after a while you will find yourself gravitating towards a set of tried & trusted materia & physical attacks, rather than the weath of the shiny coloured orbs that the game gives you. Even the presence of materia fusion, with the reward of creating materia with ever growing status buffs as a result, can't quite tempt you into grinding out stat boosting results. This is coming from someone who spent an eternity in FF7, running around in a figure of eight in a tiny room on the destroyed & underwater cargo plane, levelling up 4 X Cut.
This failing is greatly hampered by the arena in which you are presented with for doing this. From each save point in the game, you have the ability to take on side missions at will. There are masses to take on which open up as the game progresses, the sad thing about these missions is that they are mainly the same monotony over & over again. You are presented with one of many recycled locations around Midgar where you have to run about, encountering random monsters, before finding the visible "boss" & defeating it. The pre-amble of the mission changes, the content rarely does. Without any form of diversion from the limited locations, no plot or twists within the missions, they become a boring grind... something you attempt through gritted teeth, feeling like you should complete "because they are there". After a good long time of attempting these missions, rather than be a completist, I took the rather more sensible option of sticking to the main story, & this is where Crisis Core begins to shine.
There is not a free roaming world (which is a great shame) but Zack does get to explore a wonderfully rendered Midgar in his downtime, the interaction with locals, punctuated by constant text messages & the like on Zack's mobile, reallly do make you feel so glad to be back in this setting. Also getting to see an alternate side to eventual FF7 villain, SOLDIER elite Sephiroph, & a wonderful re-enactment of the Nibelheim incident, reallly sends shivers of pleasure up the spine. Even veterans of the previous game will find enough eyebrow raising moments to what they assumed was the passage of events in Nibelheim & the events afterwards.
With a lack of traditional jRPG games in the PSP market (with a glut of 'tactics' games), I reallly hope that this wonderful (and it is wonderful, the in game engine & the Advent Children-eqsue cutscenes are just glorious) is further used to actuallly pick up again from where this game leads off & re-tell the classic story from 10 years ago. So there it is, fantastic promise, gloriously presented, slightly hampered by eternallly dull (but optional) side missions & a tendency to guide the player towards hack, slash, victory appoaches to battling.
Honestly reviewed, honestly brilliant. - By: C. O'Connor, 06 May 2008 
I have dedicated my time to the US version since it arrived a week ago. Let me be honest, this is brilliant. Let me explain why.
The story is set prior to the events of FF7 following the story of Zack who starts as Soldier 2nd Class under Angeal (first class & one of Sephiroths buddies.) Things start to go wrong when one nutty scientist starts meddling & basicallly, many of Soldier go rogue because of two guys, Genesis & Angeal. However, you'll meet Cloud in the game & will see Zacks links to him, you'll meet Aerith in the game (name changed as it is the US version)and you'll meet others such as Sephiroth, the turks & you'll see how they influence the story in the prelude to FF7.
The graphics are superb, the best is definately the FMV which is great throughout, particularly the training fight between Genesis, Angeal & Sephiroth about a quarter of the way in at Junon Harbour. The areas have been lovingly recreated from Junon Harbour, to Midgar, to the Shinra Building & the church in the slums, PLUS there are some new areas as well. Character design is beautiful, you'll want for nothing in the presentation.
The combat is probably the weakest point. Its sort of in real time, where you choose the command & then watch, but its a little unusual. It feels fine though. You can equip materia (there's a good selection from Fire, to Barrier & Death, alll which can level up to Master) however, you won't have a choice over armour etc as I had expected. You can choose your accessories though. Then there is the DMV-like a slot machine. Get two equal numbers & a piece of materia will level up, plus you'll be treated to a limit break. Get 3 the same & Zack will level up. It's a little random & it seems to take away the control from the player, but the fights are impressive, especiallly when you do get the chance to summon!
There are lots of bonuses as well. There are LOADS & I mean LOADS of bonus missions. These are brief but alllow you the chance to level up & earn new items. Then there is the mail system which will irritate most. You can join clubs such as the Sephiroth fan club or the Loveless fan club, but it doesn't seem to mean much, apart from the odd piece of Mail. Then there is the opportunity to merge materia. It is odd at best. I've tried lots of combinations but only managed to create any new, decent materia on the rare occassion. I guess walkthroughs will sort that problem out. The music is also great, a mixture of FF7 & new reallly enhance the overalll experience.
I can't think of anything that I have missed. The game will be great, unless you hate Final Fantasy, although personallly, I think this is the best game on PSP so far!
Nostalgic FF7 - By: Shamsul Hoque, 23 Apr 2008 Played this games a month ago & finished it within a week, loved it soo much, besides the ability to summon monsters at will this games did not disapoint, eventhough i know how it was going to end i was just hoping that it would change, you cant help but falll in love with the characters, i didnt think i would like Zack because i felt like it would mean me rejecting Cloud, but Zack is great in his own respect, Love Final Fantasy, 7,8,10 are my favourite, was disapointed with 12 but stil good, realy love this game, abit short for Final fantasy standards, didnt want to finish it. Ending is such a wonderful Cinematic experience, makes you want to pull out your FFVII discs & play the game alll over again, if i had the spare time i realy would, WOULD DEFINATLY RECCOMEND, A MUST HAVE FOR FINAL FANTASY FANS LIKE ME!!!
so good, yet so dissapointing! - By: Mr. A. D. Green, 19 Apr 2008 
while being a major ff7 fan, & the only reason i imported my psp alll those years ago was the rumor of this game, there's just a few things not quite right!
The previous reviews are alll pretty much on the nose when it comes to gameplay, it fluid, looks great has some great reconstructions of locals from ff7, & puts other games to shame on the psp, it's lack of loaad times with such high end gameplay makes one ask why other games can't do this on the psp?
The biggest bug beaar of the whole thing isn't actuallly the game, but the package for it! in Japan the got specail slimline psp's with boxsets & keychains with the game (a friend has it & it's beautiful!), in the US apart from the ridiculous amont of time that square took to translate it, got special boxsets & mettalic cases & umd carriers. Here in the UK. we get an additional wait, why I don't know, it's the same as the US version! & the 'special edition' set is an artwork book! comeon! for a hardcore ff7 fan thats pathetic! I imported my copy of crisis core from the US when i found out what the deal was in the UK!
in conclusion, great game, poor deals on it! If you're a fan & want it, just import, you might get lucky like me & get the US mettalic version, but it;ll still be cheaper than the UK version, & if square bothers to release a decent package here I'll definately get it! Hell I bought advent children three times, one Japanese, one US & the UK editions lol
