Game Review: Final Fantasy Crisis Core

This review is almost a decade in the making. I have been an avid supporter of the Playstation Portable since it's birth in 2005. I purchased almost every launch title, and am still blown away today by the dream system that it is. 2005 was an amazing year, and the gaming world was looking up for both handhelds and consoles at the time. That didn't change over the next few years, and during a rush of great RPG's for all consoles, in 2008, Final Fantasy Crisis Core was released for the PSP amidst several Final Fantasy remakes and reiterations on the 3DS and the PSP. What set it apart, was the fact that it was a brand new story this time around, setting the events that lead up to the world famous Final Fantasy 7. I personally was never a huge fan of 7. I had it back in the day, but I always loved 8 way more. I recall getting past the first section of 7 and getting stuck. It did have a darker story than some other games in the series.

  The turn based combat was always interesting in the Final Fantasy series, but the fact that Crisis Core was introducing a real-time system of  combat surprised me. At the time, that style of RPG hadn't yet caught on. The "Tales" series utilized it, as well as Star Ocean and Grandia, but those were considered cult games. Little did we know that Crisis Core would have such an impact on the approach to RPG's. Not only did it implement a real-time system, it did it amazingly. Not long after its release, another side story to FF7 came out on the Playstation 2, which mimicked it. Since then, almost every RPG today draws from what Crisis Core did. What threw me off was the fact that you leveled up and used limit breakers via a roulette system. A roulette wheel randomly spins in the upper corner, which occasionally unleashes a Summon, or limit breaker special. This can be effected and altered by purchasing these specials in one of the secret stores. The stores are also accessed through the menu, but have to be found in various secret missions in the game. I took me a while to get used to it, but the fighting system was actually very cool. The action was intense and it felt good having control over fusing and creating special moves and powers, similar to Kingdom of Paradise. The one gripe I did have was the fact that the blocking mechanic is way too slow to be useful.

  The music in this game was good. It didn't blow me away, but it was moving and effective when it needed to be. I prefer more powerful and varied music, but it sufficed. Sound effects were done well also. I can't complain there.

 I'm not usually drawn into the story of Final Fantasy games. I even had the anime from back in the day, and it was horrible. Final Fantasy has always had a wonky story that tries to be serious. Or rather a serious story that is tripped up by wonky dialogue and cutscenes. The male characters were always a bit androgynous for my taste. That's why I fell in love with so few of them. They've always been gorgeous games, known for their cinematics, but I rarely felt drawn into playing them a lot. I was drawn into games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Lost Odyssey, and  Mass Effect, because the worlds and the stories were compelling. What got me to continue playing was the fact that Crisis Core had a hero I could respect and relate to. He was goofy at times, but he got the job done and he was serious about his ambitions. The story shows how Shinra comes to be what it is in the later games, and you get to see a more naked aspect of the entire Final Fantasy story. This was very poetic and was the kind of prequel that adds several layers of depth and meaning to the sequel. I respect Final Fantasy 7 tons more because of this game. Much of the plot revolves around the villain's obsession with the meaning behind a play called "Loveless." I really like how beautifully the play is written, and you hear pieces of it throughout the game, recited and written in various places. Honestly, I found myself wanting to find a copy of it to read, because I appreciate things like that.

  The way the play ties into the game in various ways and sums it up at the end, really impressed me, because it was bigger than I thought. This game was so moving, especially towards the end. What really made it awkward for me, was that I found out through a spoiler, that something dramatic happens at the end that causes the Cloud we know to pick up the story in Final Fantasy 7. I would rather have not found out, but it still didn't ruin the experience. The relationship between the hero and his girlfriend is corky at first, but then really becomes special, and a tear jerker at the end. It was a very action packed experience. It wasn't as nail-biting as it could have been, due to the fact that I got an OP(over-powered) attack spell near the end that allowed my to pound out my enemies without much worry. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I personally am all for real-time RPG's. In fact, I think they are the way it should be done here on out. However, it seems like balance can be an issue in these games at times, because if I did't get the super attack I got, I think the game would have been ridiculously impossible. Yet, with it, it felt almost anti-climatic. In the game, leveling up doesn't empower you like other RPG's. Not only do you need to land 7-7-7 on the roulette to level up, but it only raises your HP slightly. To raise stats, you have to dive into a deep Materia-Fusion system, which lets you modify items and skills. The process is demanding and very convoluted. It does still manage to maintain it's challenge even if you are OP though, which is nice, as most RPG's, especially turn-based, become no more than a movie, once you grind to max stats. That's why I got turned off to them.

 As an ending note, I have to touch on the presentation and visuals, because that is where Square-Enix really brought it home. Oh my goodness! You see, whenever I tell people about the sham that current gen consoles and the entire concept is, it's games like this that I refer to. Not long ago, I purchased "Fight Night: Champion," and "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" for the XBOX 360. I had all of the previous games in both series and already felt they were good looking games. Around the time Champion came out, the XBOX One and PS4 had just about dropped. Everyone was on board with them, swearing that the old consoles were obsolete, and couldn't give you the full experience. I watched gameplay from several new gen games, and I laughed at the fact that the same glitches were still there in almost every way. Also, the games simply looked like a few coat of paint thrown on what was already there. When I played Fight Night Champion, it looked like real boxers were standing in the ring. It was the quality of a cutscene, only in real-time. I, as well as others who played it, were shocked at how advanced it looked. Assassin's Creed was the same. The world was huge, colorful, and lush. The only thing separating that game from a PS4 game would be probably the scope at which the world can refresh and spawn. And when I thought about all of this, it brought me back to the game "Black" on the Xbox. That was one of the last XBOX games, and it looked about as good as almost any XBOX 360 game would for the next year or so.

 When it comes to handhelds, I've always asked the question, "What is good enough?" The Nintendo franchise has always held back in hardware specs, until the 3DS. But when it comes to Sony, the first time the approached a handheld, it was everything I dreamed of as a kid. Games like Crisis Core and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, will make you rethink how much you respect handheld games. If you've seen the Final Fantasy movies, you know how gorgeous they are. And if you've played Final Fantasy 10, you know how cinematic Square can tend to be. People have been trained for decades to expect less from a handheld. What I love about Sony, is that they dared to refute that when no one else would. People still sit in shock when they see games on the Vita and PSP. Most of the time, they'll find something to nit pick at, due to being in shock and denial at how that caliber of quality is in the palm of their hand. Crisis Core will leave you just like that, when you are done with the game. You will stand, looking at your PSP screen wondering the same thing the gaming industry wondered in 2005- How did I just get all of that from a handheld system? No corner is cut. Back in the day, on Gameboy Advance, you occasionally got a good looking game like Medal of Honor or Kingdom of Hearts, that would wow you for a bit. But then it would kick in that the game was exponentially shorter, or lacking menus and options, and several aesthetics. When Tekken came out on the Gameboy Advance, we were blown away by the full 3D presentation. But then we saw the empty mode list, and the fact that the only character fleshed out was King.

  Final Fantasy Crisis Core is amazing from beginning to end. While the main story lasts around 20 hours or so, I don't hold that against the game itself. That has become the new standard length for the genre since the mid 2000's. It's actually very rare to get a good 80 hour RPG these days. With all of the side missions and quests, you can easily log 80 hours in Crisis Core. When it comes to environments, at first it seems that you don't visit many locales, besides the Shinra building, the slums, and Midgar, but you'll find that the missions you go on, take you to some very lush and beautiful landscapes with many areas to explore. Often, I just lingered in an area, just to look at the background. And there is no shortage of cutscenes. There is a lot of dialogue, but there is also a huge amount of voice work in this one, and it's done quite will. The ending, I didn't see coming. The game was so huge, and so much happened, that I assumed it would be a moderately long cutscene and then credits. Even with that, I would have been impressed. But no. You get an ending worthy of a console RPG. In fact, I started to think of Lost Odyssey during it. It's an ending with so many scenes and parts. There are so many plot twists, and interaction, drama, and combat. And the whole time, it just gets more and more beautiful. Someone said that they don't think the PSP gets any more beautiful in it's lifetime, and as the ending unfolded, I saw what he meant. I thought I saw games on the system that were up there, and then as the ending kept unfolding, I kept eating my words. It was absolutely amazing. You will be more than rewarded for the time you spent.

  All in all, whatever gripes I could find with the game, they are just about washed away by how it all came together. When it ties into the beginning of Final Fantasy 7 at the end, the first thing you think, is not just about how this game almost outdoes that game, but how Final Fantasy 7 wouldn't be the same without this game. It means so much more now. Not only would I more readily play 7 now, but I would definitely play this game again. It's earned a high score in my book. I rate it 9.5/10