”Men cry not for themselves, but for their comrades”

Crisis Core : Final Fantasy VII is the first good FFVII spinoff. Instead of being a gigantic clusterfuck of fanservice that was Advent Children or plain old crap like the Dirge Of Cerberus game, this game is actually worth your time.

The game tells the story of Zack Fair, Soldier 2nd Class (later 1st Class) and follows his adventures until his eventual demise that leads (indirectly) in to the original Final Fantasy VII. The plot of the game is quite interesting with some new characters together with some old ones returning. I`m happy that the game only has two scenes of over exaggerated Advent Children action and both of which turn out to be virtual reality, the rest of the game is down to earth in terms of action by Final Fantasy standards.

Now, what`s really interesting is the game`s combat system. It reminds me of Kingdom Hearts 1 if you removed your character`s ability to jump. During battles you move around on a 3D map and control Zack like in an action RPG. you attack, use items and use materia you have equipped by pressing the X button and use the L/R shoulder buttons to switch commands. You use the Square button to dodge, Triangle button to guard and Circle button to reset the commands back to attack. Dodging plays a vital part in to gameplay. But here`s the interesting part.

The DMW. In the top left corner of the screen you see slots that spin as long as you have SP, these slots roll and provide bonus effects. If three numbers of the same kind are rolled, you gain a status effect such as ”Endure” or ”Null MP Cost” or ”Invincibility”, etc. Also at the same time, portraits bearing the images of characters from the game also spin and if three of the same kind are rolled, they make Zack do a special action such as the Omnislash or other limit breaks. These attacks are gained as relationships are built with these characters throughout the plot. Also the DMW sometimes will roll a summon, such as Bahamut or Odin or Ifrit or other series staples. These summons are gained by gaining the summon materia from bonus missions. The DMW mixes up battles quite a bit but it makes some battles too easy.

Now, the story portion of the game does demand some sitting for long times, but if you want to play the game in tiny bits then the game also has a wide variety of bonus missions, although they`re almost always the same ”Kill specific enemy” quests. Beating these missions always nets you some nice items and gear and if you beat all of them then the story part of the game will be too easy.

9/10

This game is worth getting and I advise you to do so.