I am not a devoted follower of the lore of Final Fantasy VII. Back when I got a PS2, I picked the game up in the used section of Electronic Boutique. It was a good game with an interesting story and truth be told it’s still a good game. In fact the recent release of the game on the PSN has actually left me with quite the hankering to play it again. That said, I’m not recommending Final Fantasy VII, there are more then enough people doing that on a moment by moment basis. This week I’m pitching you Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, the much expected, somewhat lauded and rather affordable prequel to the most famous RPG of all time.

Crisis Core follows the rather unfortunate adventures of Zack. For those a bit fuzzy on his place in the intricacies of FFVII, Zack is the guy that Cloud spends a good portion of the game thinking he is. It’s weird I know, but it worked and Crisis Core actually does a good job of fleshing his character into something worth its own game. In some ways I actually prefer the plot of Crisis Core to that of the original. It’s more compact, makes more sense the first time through and packs some nice emotional moment. It says something that the best moments are the one’s clearly included for nostalgic punch, but overall, Crisis Core has some definite strengths in its plot.

Aesthetically, the game is well done too. Next to God of War: Chains of Olympus, I can’t think of a better looking game on the PSP. The soundtrack and voice acting too is relatively strong, though the game makes the horrible mistake of insisting on using a generic, crunchy guitar riff as its main battle theme. Where Crisis Core runs into trouble is with its gameplay.

At its core -no pun intended- the game is built around a relatively strong action-RPG battle system. It runs much like a party-less FFVII; you wait for your active time bar to fill up and select a basic sword or magic attack. Where it stumbles is its reliance on the DMV. What the DMV basically amounts to is a slot machine that if you’re lucky will grant you bonuses in battle. This wouldn’t be so bad, except it also decides when you level up. Grinding is the bane of RPGs. Just about everyone hates it. So how does it sound to run around fighting stuff over and over hoping that at some random point get the necessary combination of numbers you need to level up. It doesn’t ruin the game, but it certainly knocks it down a peg.

Crisis Core is a good game with a couple of flaws, but more importantly it’s cheap. A new copy of this puppy will cost you probably no more then twenty dollars and a used one probably won’t run you more then fifteen bucks depending on where you shop. If you have a PSP, are a fan of Final Fantasy VII, and haven’t picked this up yet, then there isn’t a better time to do it then now.

Can be found at:

Amazon (Note: Used Amazon prices are subject to change)

New 18.99, Used 13.46

Gamestop

New 19.99, Used 17.99