(continued from previous page) ...games 300 side missions, which is what I chose to do. The “battle simulations” as it is described in the game, serves as extra content for the gamer to pursue outside of the core story. What happens in the side missions has no effect on the main story at all, so the player will not benefit plot wise by completing these missions. Instead, the side missions presents the player with various methods for leveling up, practicing your fighting skills, and finding new unique items.

After a few lengthy conversations with characters in the HQ, I am finally able to enter a few side missions and take my first foray into Crisis Core. The way to enter a side mission is presented through a very simple task. All you must do is find and activate a save point, where you are taken to the main menu, which you will find the option to take part in missions, which are actually VR Battle simulations in the story. Once inside one of these missions, you are taken on certain paths in which you will be randomly surprised with scattered fights around the area. These fights are all real-time, taking place in the actual environment. So you do not have to worry about the screen blurring and transforming into a “battle field” like previous FF titles such as FFX. The fights themselves are very similar to that of .hack// and Kingdom Hearts in terms of camera movement and overall controls. The battle system is really simple and should not create headaches, even for the casual player. Furthermore, there is a new slot machine system called the DMW (Digital Mind Wave), which is very difficult to understand initially. It serves as an assistant during battles. After battles, the character will gain SP which I’m assuming stands for “Spin Points." The more you gain, the more the slot machine icon in the top left corner of the screen will spin during battles and depending on how the spin lands, depends on how you may be benefited in battle such as special attacks, ability to use Magic without exhausting your MP, and even invincibility. It may sound like a nice perk, but it will actually become useful later on down the road.

The music from what I could hear is probably among the best in the Final Fantasy series, which serves greatly for the PSP. Everything from the non-battle situation ambience to the battle sequence tunes, and cut scene original score. All is top notch and would make any FF fan feel right at home. The voice over during the cut scenes is also among the best ever, possibly better than that seen in FFX for the PS2. However, you will still find yourself reading through long lines of text as not everything has a voice over. Also from what I saw, the player and even background textures are done really well, which is impressive for the small sized PSP.


Zack's mentor, Angel will play a huge role in the story development

Exclusively for the North American market, Square-Enix has also added a “Hard Mode” which the hardcore fans would enjoy going through. Talking to the Square PR representative, he told me how Crisis Core is definitely for the hardcore gamer not only because of the hard mode, but the story alone is 20+ hours with an extra 60+ hours for the 300 side missions. So it is possible that you could find yourself playing nearly 100 hours for a PSP game!

In all, I believe Crisis Core is an easy early candidate for PSP Game of the Year. The game will present a great story with promised twist and turns, impressive soundtrack, great visuals, and easy to learn gameplay. The only early knock that I have against the game is that it seems like it assumes you already played FFVII which is not going to be true for many of the Crisis Core owners, but that was just from the early parts of the game. I am pretty sure the world of Gaia will become more presentable as the game progresses. If you are a PSP owner, I highly suggest that you at least begin to give this game some attention ... (continued on next page)