This time we have a game that has been hiding in the backlogs for many many years. Way back in the day I had bought a PSP for the soul purpose of playing two games: Phantasy Star Portable and the recently released remake of Persona. But to have a console and not play more the two games is an absolute waste, so I would pick up other titles during it's life. Unfortunately I did not get to play them all over the lifespan of that machine, but it would hint at it's own demise coming, so I had time to prepare, ripping my library to file form so I could eventually play them all anyway. Today this should have paid off with an interesting view of how the events of Final Fantasy VII were set into motion. But I am sorry to say, it did not. I found myself bored by it to be quite honest.
Now before we begin, I have to admit, just as the above suggests, I did not play this game on the PSP. Rather well after my actual hardware died, I played via emulation ripped from my original copy, so my experience could well be different then yours. But with that in mind, step inside.
Story: Meet Zack Fair, a SOLDIER operative who is dedicated to his job and trying to protect everyone he can. And if you know anything about Final Fantasy VII, you probably know how this story is going to end.
But we are not nearly there yet. For now, he is merely a 2nd class with a dream to be a hero like those before him and an ambition to prove himself at such. And right now, his chance to do so is has been put directly in his grasp. There is a war going on between Shinra and Wutai, and a quick end is possible, if a strategic strike can be completed to force a few hands, and this is Zack's first real assignment under the director of SOLDIER's eyes specifically. Angeal, a 1st class and one of the top members of the organization has recommended his promotion so it's now up to him to earn it!
And earn it he did... but not without complications to the mission. In all of SOLDIER there are three who stand above the rest: 1st Class SOLDIERS, Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth. When we enter this story, Genesis is missing already with no explanation, and by the end of this mission, Angeal joins him among the missing, leaving Sephiroth alone at the top... at least until Zack joins him on the next mission to find them... beginning their journey to the events of the classic and much loved Final Fantasy VII.
Honestly I can't say a lot against the writing of this game. The story is more about Zack's personal journey then anything else. You will be with him from this beginning up through the fateful moments that lead to the beginning of that RPG, including Zack's fate. While it is a shame we already know where this game ends, the journey is actually very well written! In fact it was far better written then I even remotely expected from a studio that seemed to be going through an era of nostalgia for the PSX game at the time for just about anything it could put out. Enjoy this one, at least if the gameplay doesn't get in your way like it did mine.
8/10
Graphics: Crisis Core was a game made for the PSP and as such you have to hold your expectations to the generation of hand-held it belongs to. However, that doesn't mean it looks bad. Rather the game looks pretty good to begin with, if dated. But when you consider these limitations, it's absolutely gorgeous! Every character is rendered in fairly high detail that still manages to look good when upscaled to modern resolutions, and I mean every one of them. True when the camera gets up close, you can see the limitations of what could be done, but when you realize the resolution this game was originally made for, this looks like a damn miracle.
Nor is the world a slouch either. Well crafted, detailed, and rendered, there is not a section of the world that look bad in total. There are a few places that do not do so hot (particularly when text is involved), but these are jarring moments in an otherwise amazingly put together world!
Even the interface looks sleek as hell when it's allowed to shine. Hiding away except in combat, all the information you need is places in the corners of the screen, clear to read, easy to see, and easy to interpret!
No if there is any place I have to fault this game, it's the FMVs that sometimes make up the storytelling. Don't get me wrong, they still look good enough, but they were clearly designed for the small screen, and no upscaling is really done when one plays. So more often then not, you will find yourself looking at an exceptionally well rendered cutscene that could have come out of an animated movie of the time, only to be forced to watch it in ultra-low-resolutions of it's original system (and some for reasons I do not understand, are made using in game graphics, making the whole think horrible since you were just looking at this same content in high-res). It just makes them age poorly, especially compared to the rest of what you will see.
8/10
Sound: Once again this is a place Square Enix hit it clean out of the park with. Expect some old classic tunes from the original game in their full orchestrated glory, and these will definately be the high points: be it Sephiroth's or Aerith's themes or some other tune of combat. The game works like hell to keep everything as familiar and welcoming to fans of the first game as possible, and does so absolutely brilliantly. Still, what is new here is also nothing to sneeze at, running the gamut from orchestrated, to guitar, to even full on single track with singing, there is no shortage of good music for this title.
Nor will the sounds of the game disappoint. Many classic blips and bloops populate the few actual menus you get will be very familiar, but the impacts sound right for all the various weapons (particularly in cutscenes) and just add to the cinematic theming of the game.
Although the real star here, as almost always, is the voice acting. Most of these characters in this game didn't have official voices when they were released or are new for the title, but Square managed to do this exceptionally well... even the cheese is actually well done (and there will be cheese, I assure you).
9/10
Gameplay: And sadly this is where the game takes tumble into the god awful territory. You will play the roll of Zack in this JRPG which will be shown to you in a 3rd person perspective, but the game is going to start showing the cracks immediately, as the first thing you will do in game is fight a bunch of infantrymen. At this time the camera will move well to keep you in view while you run around a small arena. There are no turns, but rather where you are and where you are looking will determine who you are targeting (marked by a crosshair). In the lower right-hand corner of the screen, you will have a small menu of spheres capped off with a sword on one side and a bag on the other representing a basic attack your possible via equipped materia, and items you are carrying. The highlighted option is the one you will currently use and you will select them by the left and right bumpers on your controller before hitting X (ingame button) to do whatever it is you wanted to.
This right here just feels wrong, as the game also has a dodge which in other games often takes these bumpers, so when getting used to this game, expect to try to dodge when you do nothing as your menu goes nuts. But once you get the hang of it, this goes from abysmal to useable, if a little clunky to make choices.... although this leaves the game to try to feel like an action game when at it's core, it still feels like it's trying to be turn based, right down a melee attack causing Zack to run right for the guy he's targeting and hit them rather then swing his sword when you do it. Frankly this is a game that would have benefitted from learning from the past. For example if they had used the combat engine from something like Parasite Eve, they could have let the game feel like an action game, let you dodge things (which they did do), and still leave the game with a pause that shows you if you CAN attack an enemy with that sword, target them appropriately and swing (or use other spells as desired). These options are completely customizable due to the game using a Materia system to let you pick what you want (or even passive options that don't populate the bar but do have a constant effect).
Unfortunately I found all of this relatively pointless, however, since almost every enemy in the game would go down once you pummel it with your sword often enough, and at any time in the game you can literally order healing potions from the local store and just have it, making the game exceptionally easy without any real thought necessary to win. Tougher enemies might require you to pick a spell to spam like this (and then chew down an Ether potion... which btw, you can buy the same way) and maybe a health potion mid-step, but getting halfway through the game, these fights never offered anything deeper.
Bosses faired somewhat better, in that you had to learn to use the guard button with descent timing, but the reason is also incredibly annoying. Every boss in this game has at least one super move that plays an FMV as part of it's function, but you better have held that guard button before it began or you are about to lose about half your health in one go. (Thankfully you CAN skip the impromptu cutscene.) But outside of this need to master timing of the guard button, even these bosses offer little in the way of challenge.
But on the flip-side, these enemies are not the only ones who get special abilities they can use... you do too! It's just a pity you don't have any control over using them. As you play you will get something called SOLDIER points which will be used to keep a roulette displayed in the upper left corner of the screen spinning, every once in a while taking up the full screen to score a result. This result, which to the best I can tell, is completely random, will offer everything from temporary stat boosts to super moves to even leveling up.... you will have no control over any of it, so pretty much anything you bring extra to the battle can not be planned, but have to be lucked into place... INCLUDING LEVELING ZACK UP.
Let me repeat that in it's own paragraph. This game is a JRPG with ABSOLUTELY ZERO EXPERIENCE SYSTEM. You level up by getting a roulette to happen in the middle of a battle and HOPING you get three 7s. If this happens, Zack gains a level on the spot and all the stat bonuses that come with it. If it doesn't the spin will do something else (including possibly leveling up materia you are carrying which ALSO cant be upgraded any other way), rendering your power leveling at the mercy of NRG. Talk about bad design.
As for the maps you will navigate, these are sadly not much to talk about design-wise either. You will have free reign, but most of the time between missions the world you are in is divided into small maps you can cover in seconds... and not many of them to explore. In fact sometimes a map is a single hallway (which may or may not have random encounters). It just feels heavily restricted for an RPG.
But it seems like SquareEnix knew this was a weakness for the game since they include a minigame here and there in the middle of it to break up the "action." And I mean a small smattering. I got through about half of the game before it's 8 hours were up and I had found two: one about timing slashes to split rockets coming at you in half (which would award you with bonus cash for succeeding, but cost you nothing to fail despite Zack taking missiles to the face) and the other I quit on was a stealth mission. Actually I'm not sure I can call this a minigame since the controls were the same as the rest of the game. But this immediately felt way too limited to go all Metal Gear Solid on you in the middle of the game anyway. I was done at this point.
3/10
Bugs: For the most part, this game ran bug-free for me. The most I can complain about was a little bit of flicker on Zack's shadow from time to time, but it is a very nitpicky detail and likely more to do with the emulator then the game.
Digital Rights Management: This game, being emulated, had no DRM to speak of anywhere in the experience.
Overall: While I have no real love for Final Fantasy VII, I do enjoy the world it created, so to see how it got there was something I had hoped I would enjoy. And that story side of things was actually pretty good. Unfortunately the game behind it was so god-awful I can not recommend anyone play this. Hell, I'm not even sure I can recommend anyone youtube a full playthrough so they don't have to miss that plot: I found myself trying in order to review the plot good and proper for this game only to get bored waiting on the combat.
This is the kind of game you watch a streamer play and enjoy commenting about it with them if you like to do that... cause playing on your own is abysmal. Short of that, you can always find a "movie" version which stiches all the cutscenes and story pieces together, cutting the bloat of fights that take too long, don't look interesting, and are supported by what I can only call the WORST leveling system I have ever seen in my life.
I hope for those of you that really want to play, the remake handles everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) in the gameplay of this game better.
Score:
System Requirements (for the emulator I use):
- Basically any PC made in the last 15 years
System Specs:
- Ryzen 5 5600G running at 3.9 Ghz
- 16 GB RAM
- Windows 11
- PDP DX Wired Controller (Crimson)
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