| Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core - Special Edition (PSP) | 
| From: Square Enix
Category: Video Games
Buy New: £41.99
New (3) Used (2) from £38.99
Rating:  27 reviews
Platform: Sony Psp
Genre: role-playing-games
Color: Alice Blue
Media: Video Game
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.2 x 4.3 x 1.1
EAN: 5060121823174
Release Date: June 20, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New and Factory Sealed U.K Special Edition. ALL STOCK IN PRISTINE CONDITION. Immediate Despatch from London.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 unexpected fun September 24, 2008
Mr. S. J. Reid (United Kingdom)
my first thoughts with this were "oh no another FF7 spinoff" but i decided oh it cant be that bad, and my brother asked me to get this for his birthday anyway. so i really had no choice but to buy it. after getting it for his birthday i let him play it for a few days and he thought it was really good.
so i asked him could i have a try at it, instantly changed my first thoughts on this game. the combat system is great, although there is the one flaw of being invincible to spells such as flare and ultima. but other than that i could see no flaws.
the FMV's in this game were simply beautiful, there really are no other words to describe them.
i also think that it is nice to get a take on Zack's story and get to see how he developed as well as the main enemy sephiroth. i never really liked sephiroth mainly because i thought he was a typical villain just wanting to blow up the earth like most of the final fantasy villains do. but seeing his back story on his friends made me feel a bit sorry for the guy.
the special edition also comes with a artbook and a nice case, the artbook has some really good drawings of each level and character and was nice to look at even if it was for 5 minutes.
overall very good game and definitely worth a buy even if it is the normal version.
Who would have thought the prequel could refresh this story? September 20, 2008
Me
I bought my PSP originally because I heard this game was coming out, now after a long wait, I've spent 95 hours savouring it. I say savouring, I actually mean it took me that long on hard mode to complete all the subquests, collect all the items, trigger all the memories, fuse all the rare materia and defeat the 20m HP optional boss.
I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Why?
* Graphics: Excellent for the PSP with the FMV (and there are a lot) standing out in particular. The camera is occasionally awkward, but in general it is intuitive.
* Sound: The music is great - remixed FFVII themes along with a few new ones (mainly variations of Zack's theme). The voice acting is usually pretty good - Rick Gomez as Zack is spot on.
* Combat system: I found hacking and slashing my way across the FFVII landscapes quite a lot of fun. Apparently the game is quite easy on "normal" mode. On hard mode you really have to get to grips with the system to win. Timing attacks, blocking, dodging and knowing when to run away all play a part. The seemingly random "DMW" can be manipulated, but since it contains the most powerful moves it is a bit difficult to trigger it when you need it most. Still, it's new and the idea of using memories rather than anger/pain to set off a limit break ties into the design of the story.
* RPG elements: The plot is fairly linear so there are limited choices that affect how this is presented (but there are some). The player can develop Zack by equipping and fusing different materia. Since materia and accessories can be swapped anywhere (apart from mid-battle) there is a lot of flexibility, although this essentially boils down to physical attacks, magic or special moves. Materia also carries attribute values and fusing it correctly is essential to maxing Zack's stats. Crafting can take up quite a lot of time, but making the little coloured baubles better is actually quite enjoyable.
*Plot: I think this was well done. Retconning was very limited and most of the story slotted neatly into what we knew from FFVII already. The story in Crisis Core tells us who drove Sephiroth to madness; it tells us how Cloud found himself on the edge of Midgar; it tells us where the buster sword came from. Zack's own story links them all together for us.
There are some elements which could do with more explanation: namely Lazard, Cissnei, Loveless and Minerva, but the story rarely feels contrived. Zack himself is portrayed very well - by turns he comes across as naive, simplistic, funny, caring, arrogant, determined and confused.
Crisis Core also has its fair share of tear jerking and laugh-out-loud moments. Sometimes both - I would never have thought a flower cart (3rd version) could make me laugh so much.
* Missions: These are very routine. There are 300 of them in total but the rewards can be worth the toil. They don't add much to the plot, although the Yuffie missions are quite amusing. However, they can be quite testing and don't take long so good for the pick-up/put-down PSP.
* The box set itself: The art book is nice, but not special (and not very long). The cover is better than the standard edition package.
For the Final Fantasy VII fan this is a must-buy. For others the story might not be quite as enjoyable (in fact it could be quite confusing), but for the gameplay it's worth a look.
 9 Out of 10 on Gamespot? I'll have what they're smoking August 3, 2008
Sir Squidshaker (UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Crisis Core acts as a prequel to Final Fantasy VII and focuses rather disjointedly on the events before Cloud joins AVALANCHE and the original game which shook the late 90s begins. If you've not yet given it a go but consider yourself a moderate fan of FFVII, then you'll probably have a few questions. Does FFVII:CC weave a narrative worthy of merging into the oncoming plot traffic of its predecessor? Does it whisk you back a decade in time and fill you with warm, nostalgic memories of a time spent staggering between glorious pre-rendered works of art and whirling random encounter transitions? Are some of the darker elements of the plot handled with a degree of mystery and subtlety? The short answer to all of these questions is a faintly dejected `not really'.
Advent Children hardly set the stage for reassurance. Whilst the visuals and action were bang on form; the pacing was sloppy, the introduction to the final encounter was about as epic as a cucumber sandwich and for some reason Square lovingly topped the whole experience off with the kind of whimsical 'feel good' ending usually confined to daytime movies about mischievous runaway moppets.
The trend of outstanding CG effects remains strong and character models and overall animation in the glorious array of FMV sequences rival anything showcased in the aforementioned movie spin-off. The musical score as we've come to expect from anything made by Square fluctuates between varying levels of greatness. The voice acting however... well, let's just say three out of four isn't bad.
It's not that there's much particularly wrong with the English dubbing besides the odd awkwardly delivered line tripping over the clumsy dialogue like it's an obese cat sleeping in a doorway, the issue is that there's not much right with it either. To make matters even more distressing, we've been outright denied the opportunity to switch to Japanese audio with subtitles.
The combat system is very much your straightforward hack and slash picnic, Press X to hit target with sword until said target collapses in a heap, and Press Square to perform a roll-stroke-dodge combination which can be used to cavort out of danger (or often into it, should you get a bit carried away). You can also scroll through a selection of spells and skills which you've either found on your escapades or created using Materia Fusion. It all seems perfectly acceptable until the fetid abomination which is Crisis Core's limit break system rears its ugly head, anyway.
The DMW (that's `Dull Meter Watching' for those in the know) System does away with all that overrated nonsense everyone keeps banging on about, baloney like fast paced combat, strategy, customisation and fun and instead replaces them with a much more desirable spinning wheel.
If the battle designers of Crisis Core are to be believed then not only is the brutal crucifixion of strategy in games long overdue, but also slot machines are apparently a vastly superior form of entertainment far beyond our human comprehension. The best approach is to just go along with it. Struggle against the flow of the DMW and you'll have gnawed the corners off your PSP sooner than you can say "modulating phase", though it's difficult not getting a little deflated/annoyed/homicidal when it happens on the very last badly injured enemy.
Nonsensical happenings crop up now and then leaving you scratching your head or twisting it in a lupine manner trying to work out what on earth just happened. On one occasion, Zack had to save a village due to be bombed, from being bombed twenty seconds sooner by what I can only assume was a secret invisible rocket-launcher located in another dimension. To save the day, our dashing hero strikes the rockets with his sword, forcing them to rather smoothly split in two as if they were forged from Danish pastry. The entire scene makes absolutely no sense and worst of all forces you to partake in hideous `QuickTime' events a la shenmue. These silly attempts to crowbar in needless gameplay elements with no thought for context breaks flow and calls into question just what in Gaia possessed the designers to implement such sloppy game elements in the first place.
Overall, Crisis Core is saved by its gorgeous visuals and stunning FMV sequences but underneath all that you can't escape the sinking feeling that you're plodding through a shallow and often befuddling stab at an action RPG.
The Good
- Impressive FMV sequences
- Masses of quick side-missions which can easily be picked up when on the go
The Bad
- The tiresome DMW System ends up slowing down gameplay the point of agony
- Clunky dialogue and voice acting
- Fragmented story Frisbees immersion straight out of the window
- Side-missions suffer from `Quantity over Quality'
- Many scenes are lacking in the dark atmosphere which made the original stand out from the RPG crowd of the 90s
- Some real odd moments of nonsensical happenings
5 stars? Really? C'mon now, it isn't THAT good... July 4, 2008
J. Bishop
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I actually imported an English language, region free version of this from Hong Kong months ago, and i was really excited about it. Let's get to the point shall we, good things first. The cut-scene graphics are insane. No other way to put it. Just incredible. The game play is pretty good too, easy to control, and the materia leveling system is an interesting change from the original FFVII. That's about it.
Now, the story is, regardless of what everyone else says, rubbish. I honestly don't understand how any intelligent person could think otherwise. It's Hollywood-esque idiot fodder filled with shallow, two-dimensional characters, minimal dialogue (replaced almost entirely by ridiculous, if mindlessly entertaining fight scenes) and has no emotional depth whatsoever.
Don't expect to care about any of the characters, most of which are just plain irritating (espescially Genesis - seriously, all that stuff about 'Loveless', gay. Just gay. And what's it even for? A reference to a poster in the original? Who cares?). Even old characters Cloud and Aeris (Aerith in my version), previously deep, intriguing and mysterious have become dull, shallow and, frankly, pointless.
Superb cut-scenes aside, in-game graphics are okay, but not that special. Game areas are small, quite bland, lack interactivity and are essentially a series of corridors that allow for little or no deviation, which brings me to my next point; this game is ENTIRELY linear. Don't expect a world map or much in the way of decision making. There are side missions to keep things 'varied', and in all fairness there are a lot of them (some 300), but the problem is that they are all EXACTLY the same. I became bored long before i finished them all.
Gameplay, arguably any game's most important aspect, is actually one of Crisis Core's stronger areas. You equip materia and accessories to allow more command options/attacks/magic in fights, which occur randomly, and also to boost stats. It's a simple setup that's quite fun, at first, but since it basically boils down to just running around pressing x over and over again, soon becomes a bit tedious. And with the materia upgrade system it's quite simple to boost your stats through the roof very quickly, rendering most magic and special attacks obsolete. Also, with regards to the materia system, i found that i rapidly accumulated VAST quantities of useless materia, and sorting through it all became a serious effort.
Well, i think i've ranted enough. In conclusion, if you like simple, undemanding gameplay and the sort of story that you might find in a terrible soap opera or cheesy American drama then maybe this is for you, but i personally was massively disappointed. I think this game is little more than a cash-in from those evil, money-grabbing fools at Square-Enix (who frankly haven't produced the same caliber of games since the Enix people got involved. You know it as well as i do. Be honest.) who know that all the millions of FFVII fanboys out there will happily spend money on this regardless of how lame it is. Anyway, that's it. Clearly i'm in a minority on this one, but hey. There. My opinion. The end.
 Final-ly a begining! June 30, 2008
Mr. J. Gorton (England)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have played and completed this game, it was rather easy but there are alot of things to do (i still have things waiting to do) i bought this game and it took me 7 days to complete it (not repetative gameplay) so it is fair easy to do, but the tasks are still there so its not 100% done. Further more what i dislike about this game (just the one thing) is that a certain character is in nibleheim when sephiroth goes mad, this isnt shown on the origional game story and is rather confusing to get my head around. The game offered me alot of action and suspense with many surprises along the way, it was very fun but i would advise any experienced RPG player to start on hard mode if they want a challenge. The endin nearly had me in tears but i expected it to happen as i am not daft lol. (i wont spoil the ending for anyone). On a final note, this game cleared up alot of thing on past characters, past story line and now it all makes sense, i had fun playing this game eventhough it didnt make sense at one part.
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