[PSP] FF VII Crisis Core - Big swords and big hair, it's like the 80's all over again

This game just hit Japan with this bundle:

Anyone already playing this? One guy apparently finished the game in 14 hours and the Internet is up in arms about it. Crisis Core got pretty good scores in Japanese video game magazines and it sure looks like a solid action RPG.

Subtitled Intro FMV: Gametrailers.com - User Movies Contests, User Movie Contests

Official site with lots of useless crap: CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII-

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I just gave this game a try and got totally blown away. The opening sequence is already breathtaking but the combat system is really amazing. Materia is back, fuck yeah!

I wasn't expecting too much of Crisis Core, but after 10 minutes of playing, I'm already excited. Can't wait for the English version. Here are a few screenshots I took earlier (all in-game, no FMVs):













Note how these don't do the game justice at all. You absolutely have to see it in motion to appreciate the level of brilliance put into the animations and combat system.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

OK, just finished the first mission of the game, took me a good hour to complete it. My impressions so far:

- Crisis Core is the best looking PSP game ever, hands down. Overall frame rate is rock solid.

- Gameplay is tons of fun, Materia customization and elemental strategies work very well, DMW system (the slots) is a nice and welcome addition (although I still need to get the hang of it).

- There are random enemy encounters, but the transitions in and out of battle are totally seemless, no loading time at all!
- Both FMV and in-game cutscenes are of very high quality with perfect lipsync and beautiful, motion captured animations.

- A lot of locations and characters from Final Fantasy VII make an appearance (first mission takes place in Wutai for example).

- Everything feels like a true prequel to Final Fantasy VII, from the look of menus to sounds and music.

- You can go off on missions at any time during the game. This really caters towards the portable aspect of Crisis Core, since missions are short doses of fun, while you can still sit back and enjoy the storyline if you wish. I'm also getting some good Monster Hunter vibes from this, which is awesome.

- Overall production values are very high (arguably the highest for a PSP game ever), you can tell that Square Enix is taking this one very seriously.

And this is coming from someone who has excellent taste in Final Fantasy VII.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.