The ultimate portable RPG.

Final Fantasy is one of the most respected names in the gaming industry, and the most cherished child of that legacy is Final Fantasy VII. Not only did it prove that RPG's were capable of being played on consoles, it was one of the best RPG's of all time. For its tenth anniversary, Square Enix went all out to prove that just as serious, large RPG's can be played on home consoles, so to can they be properly enjoyed on portable ones.

It's true. Square Enix has produced many RPG's on portable consoles, though most of them fall along the lines of Pokemon-styled gameplay, with 2-dimensional maps, poor graphics and the hope of creating that true RPG feel. More often then not they've succeeded, but for some these games are simply not enough. They are like board games in comparison to their console brethren, and while board games can be fun, it is not the same experience.

With that aim, we're glad to say that Crisis Core succeeds tremendously. Using the story of what happens before FF7, we play as Zack Fair, a SOLDIER operative working for the Shinra Corporation. Beginning as a 2nd class officer, Zack is trained by Angeal, a 1st class SOLDIER and best friends with returning villains Genesis and Sephiroth. Of course, they don't begin that way, and through the course of the plot we discover their reasons for turning face.

In typical Final Fantasy fare, the story unfolds properly many a time over the course of the 20+ hours of gameplay. For those familiar with FF7's story, Crisis Core will undoubtedly be a return to that great decade-old phenomena. That does not mean that anyone who hasn't had the pleasure to play FF7 will miss out, because Crisis Core stands on it's own remarkably well. So well, that only at rare moments will scenes genuinely not make sense, and even then they are all explained in due time.

The eye candy displayed is tremendous at times, and OK at others. Standard Final Fantasy-styled gameplay means graphics will be CGI for cinematics and standard graphics for everything else. Crisis Core, however, manages to fit onto the UMD, so the majority of cinematics are not CGI, but highly polished in-game graphics. At times, it's difficult to tell the difference, such as on close-ups of Sephiroth. Characters are brilliantly done, and the graphical detail rivals that of God of War: Chains of Olympus. Chains of Olympus has stronger graphical prowess, but Crisis Core has much more in to show off.