Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VIIReview by Lauren
Crisis Core, I don't know what to think of you. On the one hand, you had beautiful graphics, good music, impressive voicework, and a unique, fast-paced battle system. The parts of the plot that tied into Final Fantasy 7 were very well done, too. However, I can't seem to get past the superfluous "original" parts of the story that received much more development. While impossible bullet-dodging and backflips are entertaining to watch the first time around, Square apparently needs to be reminded that The Matrix was released ten years ago, and they've already emulated it enough in Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, and their Final Fantasy Versus XIII preview.
The graphics are absolutely stunning - probably the best I've yet seen on a portable system. Square-Enix definitely deserves praise for their technical skills in this department. The cutscenes are incredible CG that look like they came straight out of FF: Advent Children. Even summon spells are done in full CG, which are beautiful (yet thankfully skippable). The in-game graphics are also very nice, with detailed, well-animated character models and facial expressions. The borderlines do get a little bit jagged at times, but it's hardly noticeable.
The music is generally nice, with a good mix of Final Fantasy 7 remixes and original tracks. The remixes are well-done and are sure to bring back memories to any FF7 fan. The original music is decent, with a few especially catchy tunes, but the rest tends to simply serve as not-so-memorable ambience. Voice acting is good for the most part, especially for our protagonist, who sounds very much like a believable character.
Battles play out in a more action-RPG style than what we saw in FF7. The player can move Zack around while choosing to attack, cast magic, or use items. Dodging and defending is also possible with the press of a button. There is, however, a brief delay before a selected action actually occurs. This makes the action style a little closer to turn-based gameplay, since you can't simply button mash your way to victory. (You just button-mash a little more slowly.)
The delay can be a bit frustrating against some bosses. In these cases, the boss is capable of reducing the player's HP to a dangerously low amount with a special ability that freezes all action temporarily. If the player has selected an offensive action immediately prior to this ability, Zack will not execute it until after the enemy's long attack. Ideally, the first thing you'd want to do following the enemy attack is cast Cure or use a Potion, but this painful delay can often mean death as you helplessly mash away at Cure and watch as Zack pauses, slowly attacks, then pauses again before trying to heal. Unless you're lucky or manage to get out of range during this time, it can mean a very fast Game Over.
Thankfully, Phoenix Downs are fairly plentiful (if used only in emergencies), and function in the same way that they did in Dirge of Cerberus - basically a free Raise if you die. Aside from the timing issue of boss special attacks, the difficulty is pretty low throughout Crisis Core. Even only doing a fraction of the optional missions will still have you sufficiently levelled and outfitted to take on the toughest plot bosses in the game. In fact, there is a lot of easy repetition in later battles as well. One boss fight was seriously nothing but a volleying of firaga (enemy) - thundaga (me) - firaga - thundaga - firaga - thundaga until he died. Anthony gave me a strange look when he heard "bzzt, bzzt, bzzt, bzzt" as I fought the time-consuming big version of the final boss, because it was nothing more than spamming the same attack over and over again. The strategy does not go very deep here. Same goes for the enemies - they'll sometimes do nothing but spam an ability over and over again (like Cure).
The battles are not quite random encounters - there are established "hot spots" on each map in which encounters will always occur. This can be nice if you really, really want to level up, but it's a major frustration when you're trying to accomplish anything else. You can sometimes squeeze your way along a wall to avoid these encounters, but not reliably enough. The main annoyance is that if you step just barely out of the border of a completed encounter and then step back, even immediately, you face the encounter again. This will happen a lot when you're grabbing a treasure chest from a room and turning back the way you came. You can "run" from battles, but you'll usually take a good beating in the process.
Zack learns abilities and magic from Materia, much like in FF7. He is given a certain amount of slots for equipping materia, which can give him abilities like Cure, Thunder, Esuna, HP Plus, Attack Plus, and so on. The yellow Command materia also makes a return, and gives Zack special physical attacks at the cost of AP (which functions in the same way as MP for green Magic materia). Keeping materia equipped in battles will eventually level them up and increase their strength. Materia Fusion also becomes available later in the game, and this allows you to add bonus effects to the materia of your choice.
There is another important and unique element to the gameplay in Crisis Core - the DMW (Digital Mind Wave) reel. The reel is a complex design that most players won't fully understand within the span of their playthrough, but all you really need to know is that it's basically a slot machine that determines both your limit breaks and level-ups. It spins constantly while you're in battle and activates (seemingly?) randomly. Sometimes it activates a special ability, sometimes it levels your materia up, sometimes it buffs you up, and at other times, it causes your character to level up. It can also push your HP, MP, and AP past its max, which can be very useful. I've heard that there's an invisible experience system of sorts, but I never saw anything resembling a pattern. This was especially apparent after resetting and fighting the same few battles over again. You might level up twice in the same battle or go two full dungeons with nothing. It's unique, but leaving levelling up to what seems like luck is something I did not particularly enjoy.
As the reel rolls, images of characters appear and line up like a slot machine. These seem to tie in with Zack's memories of said characters, and each can bestow him with a different special attack. Sometimes, however, you'll be treated to a flashback scene as a result of this. This becomes very distracting and convoluted in the midst of battle. Between the random reel rolls, waiting for images to line up (or not), watching big long attacks occur as a result, and/or watching full scenes of characters talking, I found myself very detached from the battles, often waiting for an opportunity to finally hit a button again.
A multitude of mini-games are available throughout the course of the game - some are optional, while some are not. They help to mix up the potentially tedious wandering and battling, and there are many good rewards to be found within them. Unfortunately, however, they tend to be fairly simplistic for the most part, and their charm won't last too long. One mandatory mini-game involves MGS-like stealth, but it's very poorly designed and marked the beginning of the major annoyances in Crisis Core.
A plot-only playthrough will last a player about 15-20 hours, which isn't terrible for a portable action RPG. If the player chooses to tackle each and every mission Crisis Core has to offer, however, another 20-30 hours can easily be added to that number. While this makes for a very long playthrough, most players probably wouldn't want to bother, since the missions tend to get very repetitive. The limited number of maps makes the missions incredibly uninteresting. They're quick and generally easy, though, so at least they're pick-up-and-play friendly. You can also accept them at any save point, which provides a nice level-up option if you happen to get stuck on a boss. Beating all of the missions will unlock a special boss battle, so the completionists have something to aim for. It is also possible to replay the game after beating it while keeping your high level and such, but there are no changes to the game beyond that.
Remember how I said that Zack's voicework makes him sound like a real character? Ah, if only the plot scenes served the same purpose. Yet again, Square-Enix went a little overboard with the Matrix-like absurdities in Crisis Core. It got to the point of being distracting and actually made me less attached to Zack, who seemed less and less like a real person with every ridiculous flip and impossible bullet-dodge. Really now, talking on a cell phone nonchalantly while dodging several streams of focused machine gun fire? Cutting bombshells in half at close range and being unharmed? I know they want to make every hero a badass, but it just got silly here. Only much later in the game did Zack finally become more vulnerable and therefore believable, and only then did I start actually caring about the hero as a character. I'd rather have a realistic protagonist than gravity defiance and backflips, but that's just me. I'll admit that the theatrics were pretty to simply observe, at least.
But the real problem for me with the plot is just how much original content was stuffed into it. It became so much about the new super-badass-winged characters that I barely felt the stories were connected. There were only a handful of scenes that truly felt relevant to the Cloud/Zack/Aerith/Sephiroth story. Granted, I understand that they needed to fill up an entire game with plot when Zack's story was already mostly established in FF7. The extra content still felt excessive, though, to the point of choking out the FF7 story, and even messing with it unnecessarily. Remember the classic Nibelheim flashback with Sephiroth losing his mind in the reactor? The cheesy-factor went through the roof when they inserted an effeminate winged villain to basically say, "Yes, Sephiroth, it was Hojo who did this! Mwahaha." The scene absolutely did not need a comic-book villain thrown into it when it was already presented in full perfectly well in FF7.
There were many details thrown in for the sake of the fans, and I really appreciated that. I'm talking about things like Zack's materia dance, famililar locations redone in 3D, and even crossover references like a "Mt. Koltz" sign on a shop. Seeing those things made me smile. I played the original numerous times, so seeing the old locations/scenes done graphical justice was wonderful. On the other hand, they started to overdo the references when it came to Zack's actions affecting a multitude of small things in FF7, to the point where it got a lot less believable.
I won't spoil anything, but the final hour of the game was hard for me to judge. On the one hand, part of it was beautifully done and finally truly tied into Final Fantasy 7, as it should have. But unfortunately, they took so long to wrap up the "original character" fluff that it made the actual ending feel rushed and hardly important in comparison. The pacing could have been greatly improved, and the original content needed to be cut down. The new (read: irrelevant) plot amounted to little more than extra villains with very generic agendas and motivations. The parts of the plot that actually tied in, and that they didn't toy with, however, were excellent. It's truly a shame that they were so few and far between.
FF7 fans, you will probably enjoy this game. Still, the hardcore fans may be offended by the liberties taken by the writers. Action RPG fans, it's a fun little romp that might bore you a little as it progresses. For those who absolutely love badass winged dudes flying around and fighting, you'll be in heaven. For the average gamer, it's just not a necessary playthrough. I can't help but think that the developers were constantly high-fiving each other during its creation. There's nothing wrong with a cool scene or character here and there, but moderation is a lovely thing, too. Next time you guys make a prequel, SE, please don't jam it full of irrelevant content, nonsensical fan-fiction-esque plot, and huge wings on everything. That way, players will be able to focus on what it's supposed to be.
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