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'Monster Hunter Freedom 2' Review
by Carl

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I have to say the calibre of PSP titles this year has really kept my play time at an all time high, especially on the go. Titles like God of War, Bleach and Patapon do make the little machine shine out of its dark little corner. Ever since Lik-sang was shut down due to Sony’s law suits on the PSPs shipping early to parts of the world I have dis-likened the little critter. Titles like Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII helped me take a complete 180 degrees approach and re-kindle my love for Squaresoft (before it merged and became Square Enix). I was only 14 years young when FFVII graced the shores of Australia, the concept of a 3-dimensional role playing game was almost non-existent. FFVII introduced me to the idea of a great story line, fantastic FMVs and encapsulating summons. I even played through 3 hours of FFVII , when I first bought it, without a memory card only having to repeat it several days later when I could afford to buy a card. Crisis Core surely fills that nostalgic void that Advent Children (the CGI movie) and Dirge of Cerebus (a lame PS2 title starring a minor character from VII) could never fill.

The storyline sets itself 7 years prior to the events of FFVII, before Cloud met Aerith in the slums, before raising a Golden Chocobo and before summoning the Knights of the Round. The character you play is Zack Fair a 2nd Class SOLDIER aspiring to follow in the footsteps of the 1st Class boys Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis. I was engrossed in the story from the first hour of playing. I’m not sure if someone who hadn’t experience FFVII would conjure up the same warm and fuzzies as I did so I can’t comment on how the feeling would be like. I can say though that if you didn’t know the back story you won’t be missing out too much. As a stand alone game you will understand the plot and get immersed with these characters. Betrayal, loyalty, understanding and world domination are all found in Crisis Core. You’ll have to be willing to speak to many characters and listen closely during cut scenes to grasp the epic story here, trust me it’s worth it. In the back of your mind you’re always thinking of Sephiroth as the enemy, so having to work with him in this game is a calamity on its own. Knowing that every second you side with him you’re laying the path of his eminent destiny to kill Aerith. That’s right folks I spoiled it for you. Aerith dies in FFVII. If you haven’t played it by now you’ll never play it.



If anyone is a big fan from the original Playstation title they may remember the limit break by which the character Cait Sith had. His special move revolved around chance and slot reels. Well it seems Square has evolved this mechanic and built it into the back bone of the action combat system. You may think that sounds lame but it does work reasonably well in this game. Instead of the staple turn-based combat we’ve become accustomed to in many RPGs, Crisis Core utilises a combination of slot reels, Kingdom Heart’s move sets and Final Fantasy XII’s real time elements. The result is usually a fast paced combat sequence that results in rewards of Gil (Final Fantasy money) and items. The way in which you select what move you’re going to execute is by channel surfing a menu in the bottom right hand corner. Using your shoulder buttons to navigate left and right you can choose from your basic attack, using an item or using materia that you have equipped. Materia being the source of all magic in this universe can be fused together to make stronger materia or even new ones. If all of this is too much for you there is a simple optimal option in the menu that will give you, what is thought of, as the best combination of materia for a battle-type situation. Other minor buttons include the square for dodging and triangle for blocking, which with my play through I’ve hardly relied on except for boss battles.
Ok back to the slot reels. They’ve been named DMWs or Digital Mind Wave reels. They might as well have called them Dimwitted Moving Wheels for all I care. The DMW reels will spin during battle and depending on where they stop there will be certain aspects of the battle that will come into your favour. The smaller rewards are things like unlimited MP whereas the larger ones are limit breaks. The symbols on the reels are those of main characters you meet in the game, or if you’re on an uber limit break it will change to the summons. If your reels hit three of the same symbol in a row then a large attack or ability works in your favour. I wish in real life slot machines would come up with three in a row as often as they do in this game. In my first 10 hours of game play I didn’t achieve a successful summon, which can be a bit frustrating but the amount limit breaks I got from the normal reel made up for it. The only annoying part is that you can’t quite control when a limit break will come round. In an ideal world you’d like to use it for a boss battle but sometimes you have to perform it on a simple Shin-Ra soldier that has less than 50HP left. Minor gripe that the developers have tried to overcome by making the amount of limit breaks frequent.



I have to quickly mention one aspect of RPGs I have longed for over the past few years that Crisis Core does well to eradicate: Grinding! Yes that pesky little task that turns a 20 hour long game into a 40 hour one. Never once did I feel the pressure to deliberately level Zack up. You can go as fast or as slow as you want with the option to go on mini missions at any save point in the game (save points are very abundant). I would play a mission, complete it and move on to the next mission. If I then failed that mission I’d just move on to an easier one or just trot along with the main story. I think every RPG maker needs to take a leaf out of this chapter. Grinding is as out of fashion as neon shirts with big fonts.

I managed to spend a fair few hours of Crisis core on the 42” LCD TV at home, the first time I’ve really put much use into the component cables I bought for the PSP slim. Surprisingly the game still looked absolutely beautiful. I’m sure a lot of people might shoot me down on this but the graphics impressed me more than a few Xbox 360 titles and definitely a whole lot more than many PS2 and Wii ones. Square are always known for their fantastic cut scenes but the in-game quality is top notch. The only other game that comes close to this, which I’ve seen on the PSP, is God of War which used many dark shades and palettes. Crisis Core has an abundance of bright colours from Angeal’s red coat and Sephiroth’s ash grey hair to the light green and blue ethers that appear around Zack when you action a spell. I am not certain of it, but I’m convinced that the game was tweaked for the English speaking audiences. Mouth movements during voice acted sequences are well synched over that of even Final Fantasy X and XII. When a developer invests enough to make these subtle differences you know they’re aiming for a big fat A+ in class. While we’re on the topic of voice acting I found it quite impressive. Others I’ve talked to don’t seem to think so but since my recent repertoire of movies and television include B grade actors and Keanu Reeves I’ll sit on the fence for this one and let you decide. If you’ve experience a Final Fantasy game or movie before than you may recognise some of the tunes remixed in Crisis Core. That winning battle “dah dat dah da dat dut duhdada” tune and the piano Aerith style melody will always stick in my head.



So I seem to have praised this title a lot so far. The bad parts are too minor to even mention. I’ve already written about the randomness of limit breaks so there’s not much else really to it. The difficulty of the game is set to Sesame Street, however I did die a few times during some missions. All due to my own stupidity and not watching the level of my health before I would cast a Cura spell or throw on an X-Potion. There was one mini game that bored me to tears. It involved squatting in the snow and lame stealth action but it was so short that I don’t really think it deserves picking on. If you spend too much time looking for flaws in this game you’ll never enjoy what it really has to offer. This glass is always half full folks.

So let me recap; great visuals, epic story, nostalgia for those who crave it and all rounded great battles. The last RPG I really sunk my teeth into was FFXII. That didn’t quite capture me as much as previous titles but my love for the Final Fantasy series is now reborn. Hang out for the final dungeon-esque game play. If the game felt a little too restrictive or linear you’ll happily be rewarded with more open-endedness towards your final moments. The next PSP title being developed by Square Enix will be Final Fantasy Dissidia, a game that takes characters from all different Final Fantasy games and puts them into one action packed RPG. Seeing what they’ve done for Crisis Core I have high regards and anticipation for Dissidia. If the story and visuals match that of Crisis Core I’ll be one happy camper.

My only question for Square Enix is “Where is my god damn Final Fantasy VII remake?”

Final Verdict

Lovers of RPGs with a PSP should get this game. Experience a part of why so many gamers raved about Final Fantasy VII.

Pros
Amazingly beautiful, top of the top within the PSP library. Not too shabby voice acting and nostalgic tunes remixed. No forced grinding required. FFVII veterans will make cream pies in their pants.
Cons
No ability to control limit breaks. Not enough summoning.