Final Fantasy VII fans have waited for what seems like eons for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Now that is has finally arrived, was it worth the wait? In short my answer is yes, but this eagerly anticipated prequel isn't without its shortcomings. FFVII's story is what the majority of fans have been looking forward to most, so I will explain whether it delivers without including any spoilers. The script for Crisis Core is fantastic and manages to tie in well with FFVII. As most readers of this review already know, Crisis Core is a prequel to FFVII that covers Zack's experience with Shinra up until his death. During the course of the adventure, you will get a feel for who Zack really is, and learn that he is more than Cloud Strife with dark hair. Zack has a cheery personality, much like Tidus in FFVII, so he has his shortcomings, but overall he is a likeable character. Throughout his quest, you encounter many familiar characters from FFVII and some memorable new ones. None of the new characters stand out as much as Sephiroth, but they feel like a good fit for the FFVII canon. Most of the main characters are voiced well, but aren't up to the standards set in Final Fantasy XII. Despite this fact, they still help deliver an emotionally charged story. The story helps clear up some of the confusion felt while playing FFVII due to that game's notoriously poor translation. For that reason alone, FFVII fans will probably want to pick up Crisis Core.
Crisis Core also features fantastic FMV cutscenes and remixed FFVII songs. It gives you an idea of what FFVII would have looked like if it was made on a system better than the Playstation. Hearing classic FFVII songs, such as Aerith's theme will bring back fond memories of the original game. Much of the new music on the other hand is subpar. It is a rock heavy soundtrack with few memorable new tunes. It is a shame Nobuo Uematsu didn't produce the whole soundtrack. Crisis Core also features great graphics with rotatable camera angles. Places such as the Shinra building look excellent in 3D and are faithful re-creations of the original. Some of the mission dungeons on the other hand look mundane and bland. Blurry textures and empty environments can't replace the excellent pre-rendered backgrounds of the original.
The most disappointing feature of Crisis Core however is the battle system. I like how Square Enix is trying to make their battle systems more action oriented, but the fact that Crisis Core still has many random battles is a crime in this day and age. It shouldn't be that difficult to render enemies on screen if games like Chrono Trigger did it 13 years ago. The combat also gives the game the feel of a button masher. Maybe it is different on hard mode, but I barely needed to use any strategy to get through enemy encounters and boss fights. It would have been nice if Square threw in some twists, such as having charge attacks like in Secret of Mana. I also didn't appreciate the side quests. Instead of being exciting new dungeons and villages like in FFVII, they are the same four bland dungeons over and over. During each of these "missions", you seek out an enemy to kill that is somewhere on the map. I did some of these missions merely to level up. Leveling up is random in Crisis Core, so you have to keep fighting until the slots show you favor and grant your character or materia a level.
Even with these complaints, Crisis Core is worth getting for FFVII fans. If you didn't enjoy the first game, chances are you won't enjoy this one either. The story of Crisis Core adds detail to the FFVII saga, but ultimately falls short of the original ground-breaking game. Buy it if you want some aspects of FFVII's story clarified, or if you want a flashy PSP RPG. Otherwise avoid it, and hope Square either remakes the original, or crafts a true sequel.