Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, Let the fanboy in us cry with joy. The third compilation in the Final Fantasy VII series is set Set seven years prior to the events of the first FINAL FANTASY VII and after the events of “Before Crisis:Final Fantasy VII” a GBA game that released a while back. You play the role as “Zack “, A SOLDIER operative looking to be a hero and his interactions with three principle characters: Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth. While other characters come into play, including a few familiar faces, this small collection of SOLDIER operatives hold the majority of the spotlight.
On his way to become the best he can be to rank a 1st Class Soldier, the game begins with Zack and his mentor, Angeal, being sent on a mission to subdue hostile forces in Wutai and investigate the disappearance of fellow SOLDIER Genesis. Things get Seriously more complicated as things progress into something far deeper then he though. The events that fallow give allot of back story to what really went down before the storyline of VII started, Answers some questions but still leaves more to be wondered as the story progresses.
Lets get some things Straight before continuing along with the article. The game keeps the tone relatively in touch with the original game, not only thematically but physically as well. To clarify, Crisis Core has a similar tone and style to its predecessor, including the game’s atmosphere, sense of humor and overall design.a number of the locales in Crisis Core are actual 3D redesigns of the original environments in Final Fantasy VII. Any fan who remembers walking through the lobby of Shinra Headquarters will feel like there in magic kingdom when they see it so accurately re-created in Crisis Core.
But unlike its predecessor which was a turn based fighting style game. Crisis Core is after all an Action RPG. There for all the battles are played out in real time. Crisis Cores combat is a big part of the overall game besides story telling and pretty cut scenes. This time around you explore real time rendered 3D backgrounds and settings around you. Battles happen at random( Yes random battles are still around, But its good now!). The monsters fade into the scene as Zack goes into a battle stance with his sword ready for battle. While the battle begins an invisible barrier encloses you to blend you in a temporary battle arena until the fight is over. Once your Conflict is resolved your character does the traditional (flip the sword around about 20 times) before holstering it back on his back , and your off on your mission again.
Battling in this game is fun and easy to control.The X button selects whatever action your cursor is on across the small menu at the bottom of your HUD (the L and R triggers are used to move this cursor back and forth). The square and triangle buttons command Zack to roll and block, respectively, while circle resets your command cursor back to the default Attack action.This makes easy access to your items very very easy and adds to the quickness of battle.
Your menu can be customized in terms of what magic and special abilities you wish to have access to during battle. Equipping materia will enable certain commands to be selected, which worked realy well for a real-time battle system. It requires a bit of planning and limits the amount of actions Zack can take, meaning players have to think about what to use and what to leave out.
In the tradition of FFVII, materia plays a big part in beefing up Zack’s stats and skills during battles. The materia in Crisis Core consists of 3 main kinds: magic, skills and stats-enhancement. To activate a certain magic, you’ll need to equip it to make it work; likewise for stats-enhancement and unique skills. Initially, you will only be able to equip 4 materia, and later in the game, 6. The limitation in numbers effectively prevents Zack from becoming much too powerful, which is a good thing in my opinion. But since there is such a huge selection of materia to choose from, you are definitely going to have a headache deciding which to use.
Also, there is a feature much later into the game that allows you to fuse materia to create more powerful versions of themselves. The fusing system is pretty deep, allowing you to fuse materia of different types (ie. Magic with skill). In addition, you will even be allowed to throw in an item to boost the fusing process. If you love customization, you are going to love this but if you are not; fusing is not really a necessity as the materia you get from normal battles are sufficient to take you right to the end.
The most unique aspect of Crisis Cores real time battle system was the DMW, or Digital Mind Wave. This three-reeled slot system is constantly spinning and dictates a number of things: when you perform Limit Breaks, when you summon, when you level up and even when your materia is leveled up. All is decided through various match-ups of numbers and portraits which show up on the reels. This system was confusing at first to wrap your head around how this worked but in no time the mechanics made sense. I was a little disappointed with the inability to select which summons and limit breaks i wanted to use when i wanted to use them, since the DMW determines when during the battle these actions take place. All the fun in getting summon materia and limit breaks is swapping and selecting wich ones you want to use at the time there given to you. Whats up with that square!?
Cut scenes in this game are beautiful at best, Emerging you into the story line then ever before. putting you right into the things you want to see with such detail its like an orgasm for your eyes. Leaving you breathless and craving more. Lots of answers to some of the questions you had during the original game some eleven years ago. Why was aerith selling flowers? Why is there a hole in the roof of the church? How did Cloud get involved in the whole story? ITS ALL THERE! unfolding before your eyes.
All in all this is an amazing title, Just fallowing up to the storyline in Final Fantasy VII is a fanboys dream. Actually seeing why things are the way they are in VII actually unfolding in front of your eyes in Crisis Core is amazing and breathtaking. This title is a must buy for fans not of just of FF VII but RPG games in general.
9.0/10
