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When I first heard about a continuation to the popular Final Fantasy VII universe, I was skeptical. The story had wrapped itself up nicely; delving back into it seemed like a money grab. And the fact that the first few entries back into the universe were subpar kind of filled me with dreads as to the prospects for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

I'm very glad to say that this story ends happily.

Crisis Core is a fantastic game. It combines lovely visuals, catchy music and innovative gameplay to create an action RPG that's hard to put down.

You play as Zack, a member of Shinra's elite SOLDIER squad and the template for Cloud, the hero of Final Fantasy VII (who makes a few appearances in this game). The story focuses on Zack's role in the saga of VII, prior to and after the events of Nibelheim. It also focuses on the relationship between three first-class SOLDIER, one of whom is the villainous Sephiroth (who isn't villainous at all for a large portion of this game, which is intriguing to see).

At its' heart Crisis Core is a hack-and-slash game. You're required to navigate Zack through a variety of landscapes, fighting off monsters and improving your level as you go. You execute attack and healing commands with the X button (switching between attacks, spells and items with the right and left triggers) and block oncoming attacks with the triangle button. Zack has a set number of hit points (a number that increases as he grows in level), and if those hit points ever hit zero it's game over.

Crisis Core is rather like Square's Kingdom Hearts franchise, although more restrictive: Zack can't jump, and he can't move beyond set boundaries when fighting enemies. There's generally enough room to maneuver in, however, so invisible walls aren't much of an issue.

Sounds standard so far, right? Well, Square must have thought so, too, because they tossed a few novel elements into the mix to keep fans interested. Of particular note is the Digital Mind Wave (DMW) system. During every battle three slots appear in the top left corner of the screen, and they're constantly rolling through the faces of people Zack meets on his journeys. Occasionally they'll pop to the forefront of the action and pull to a stop. If all three slots display the same face, Zack will execute a devastating attack or supportive measure, either of which will make battles much easier. Since the results of these slots seem totally random, they add the element of surprise and chance to otherwise humdrum battles.

And

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