Overview:

A sequel to one of the most popular games of the Sony PlayStation era, Crisis Core follows Zack Fair as he comes to grips with the world of Soldier for the Shinra Company.  What starts as a fun romp through the world turns into a story about genetics and trying to figure out who you and your friends really are.  Along the way you will meet new characters and strange environments while also being reunited with familiar people and locales.  The combat is not your traditional turn based game with you running around the battlefield selecting magic, attack, or a multitude of other moves all the while a slot wheel is turning which governs your Limit Breaks.  It’s all very hectic and wholly unique.  Oh, it’s also a handheld game, so take that into account!

Visuals:

I bring up the handheld aspect because this game is absolutely gorgeous for the time.  It fully encapsulates what a modern Final Fantasy game should look like and breathes life into all the characters.  I will say the models do look a little weird but Square was going for a style at the time.  The worlds are open but sparse and do kind of seem small and generic but it doesn’t really detract from the game.  The cutscenes are beautiful to see with the FMV also being nicely done.  The enemies do get kind of stale after a bit just because you see them so many times.

Audio:

I’m not really a fan of the voice acting in the game.  It’s really bad and stilted.  Like they were just reading from a direct translation.  The sound effects of the game are also questionable with the footfalls being ear crushing decibels.  Again, it doesn’t detract from the experience.  But what REALLY becomes annoying is constantly hearing “ACTIVATING COMBAT MODE!” every fucking five feet with the fights becoming so numerous.  Same with the Limit Breaks which break up the action causing you to hear the bad voice acting.  The music of the game is really nice, except for the combat mode song because you hear it a lot.  Hearing familiar tunes is always really nice, though.

Completion:

I FINISHED THIS GAME!  It’s a pretty short game and is something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while.  The PlayStation Portable isn’t really a comfortable system to hold so that was a main detractor but I’m happy I finished it.  I wish the acting was better, the combat was more fun, and the story made more sense but I do understand the overall Final Fantasy VII story now more so than I did before I went in.  I am happy to see the game getting its flowers in a remake/rerelease for contemporary consoles so more people can enjoy it.