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monsters.

Now to speak about the DMW (Digital Mind Wave), the slot machine-like thing you will see in the battles. This is what controls the limit breaks, leveling-up, summons and other cool add-ons. I feel this new addition to the Final Fantasy battle system is the best thing yet. Even though your limits, summons and even leveling up are all rather random, there is some control. Build enough SP (SOLDER POINTS; experience) you will have a higher chance of leveling up. Add that to the ability have Zack's emotions raise with "Lucky Stars", gives more of a chance for powerful effects of the DMW. As you reach the latter parts of the game, you will also be able to get materia that allows you increase the chances of specific summons and limit breaks.

You do play as Zack the whole time so although this might have sounded a bit weird if you wanted a team, the way the gameplay is set, expect a fun and enjoyable experience.

Music:

Takeharu Ishimoto does an amazing job remixing the tunes we all know so well from Final Fantasy VII along with adding some new tunes to give Crisis Core its own identity. From the opening scene to the very sad end we all know is to happen the music keeps you going. While doing the many missions, the battle music might get a slight bit repetitive but it's expected considering the amount of battles you do. As a hardcore fan of FFVII, I got so excited just by the opening scene's music, I felt I was back in the 7th grade in 1997 playing FFVII (wow lots of 7s).

Graphics:

I thought that the PSP was in between the PS1 and PS2 in graphical power. FFVIICC blows that notion away by making the game look better than even a number of PS2 games. Of course there is the Hi-Def cut scenes that use the same graphics engine as Advent Children; even during the summons! As for the in-game graphics, the backgrounds flow very fluidly and you really see the characters as heart and blood people and not that of soul-less dolls. Square even went through the lengths to make sure the characters lip-sync exactly with the English dialog. I know we saw this with Kingdom Hearts but that process has to be a detailed and tedious thing to do. Speaking of the voice acting real quick; all the voice actors did an amazing job and you will recognize some of them from FFVII AC, Dirge of Cerberus and from various anime titles.

As for the graphics, I can't wait for what is in store for future games in the FFVII series.

Story:

Last but not least, the story of Final Fantasy Crisis Core like any Final Fantasy series will stir your emotions. I don't believe the FFVII spinoffs are as bland as many people might have stated I believe the whole FFVII story is something Shakespeare would through in the towel for but maybe its because I'm loyal to the whole series or because I actually put the pieces together but no matter how you cut it, the story in Crisis Core is superb. You will get to love Zack like many did for Cloud in FFVII and we all know from FFVII what happens and that is what Square-Enix does best. Building up for the inevitable ending and the start of FFVII goes through your mind the whole time. The whole story is pieced so well and you won't be able to get it out of your head. Many of you will know what I mean during the scenes when Zack claims hold of the Buster Sword. To not let anyone get any spoilers, you will also get to know more about Genesis and the whole one-winged-angel situation.

There will be more of Genesis since he did appear in Dirge of Cerberus during the secret ending and yes that in fact means that there is going to be more added to the most beloved of all the Final Fantasy stories, FFVII.

Learn more about this author, Chuck Gaffney.
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