Disappointing in this game though is the overly flashy, and at times downright confusing, nature of the battle system. The basic commands are all simple enough, as they are relegated to a Kingdom Hearts style of combat where one button initiates all the commands while you cycle through them with the right and left shoulder buttons. All of the action is in real time, and much like KH, means that you will be mashing the same button pretty much constantly through all encounters.

The confusing part comes in with the funky slot machine mechanic which is placed at the top right corner of the screen. All of the actions performed by this device are completely random, but since it dictates when limit breaks happen and even when you level up, it becomes massively confusing when it takes over the screen mid-battle to do its flashy show and dance. You are not in control of anything it does at this point. It is entirely random what numbers it generates on screen which then correspond to what effects you will receive in battle. Getting two of the same number increases a certain attribute depending on what it is. Strength, health, defense are all up for change when this little light show gets underway.

Overall this is just a confusing entry into the battle system, and it seems a more functional road to take would have been to simply implement a different setup that would have allowed for the user to be in control of their fate rather than trusting the computer.

Easy to see though is how much value this game would have if it followed the actions of so many PSP games before it and jumped to its fading bigger brother, the PS2. This is a game that many people would love to play but don’t want to shell out the extra cash for the PSP. It would be a wise decision, and probably an easy one, to make this game a port over to the PS2.

But despite its current exclusivity to the handheld market, Crisis Core is a solid entry into the Final Fantasy universe, if only for storytelling alone. This rounds out a lot of the mysteries of the events leading up to FF7 and it is a fun treat for a fan to go through and remember a lot of the flashbacks from the original game being fleshed out in this installment. Overall this is a must-buy for any FF7 enthusiast, but newcomers may have a few good times here, that is if they can tolerate a lot of interruptions in their battles.