039“THIS IS THE GAME
THAT REALLY DIGS
INTO THE WUTAI/
SHINRA CONFLICT.”
B
efore Cloud, there was Zack Fair. Sure,
his name might be less impressive, but
he’s no less important to Final Fantasy
VII’s lore, starring in this 2008 PSP
prequel that remains the best reason to
still keep the handheld on your desk (as it’s
unfortunately not available digitally, and therefore
not playable on PS Vita).Looking back, there’s actually a surprising amount
of similarities between Crisis Core and FFVII
Remake. The style of progression, with hub areas
and side-quests, is the same, but most importantly
it has a real-time combat system a little like we’veseen in Remake. The abilities that Zack can use are,
like in the original game, dictated by the Materia
he has equipped, which is more robust than it was
on PS1. But most fun is Crisis Core’s unique DMW
slot machine mechanic that spins as you fight on,
powering up your moves and awarding you Limit
Breaks if they line up matching icons.
Story-wise the game really digs into the events
prior to Final Fantasy VII, especially the Wutai/
Shinra military conflict. (We already know that’s
playing a bigger part of the Midgar portion of Final
Fantasy VII Remake than it did in the original game.)
As you might expect given its prequel nature,
Sephiroth and Cloud both feature heavily alongside
Zack. As Crisis Core was written by Kazushige
Nojima (as VII and VII Remake are), there’s a chance
more of its lore will be in Remake.
The game sold over three million units, and
remains a fan favourite despite being locked
exclusively to PSP hardware. Of all possible Final
Fantasy remakes, Crisis Core is just below the big
number VII itself on fan wishlists. With key lore
hidden away within it, could it even become a core
part of the Remake project itself?As outsized of sword as
Cloud, Zack’s similarly spiky
hair gives him away – his
barnet’s inky black.
SPIN-OFFS
Only the brave deserve Zack Fair