The rating is for the experience I had with the game, which involved a lot of side content. In general, while I do enjoy JRPGs for their stories, I am the type of player who can't help but breed that gold chocobo in FFVII, collect all the celestial weapons in FFX, and so forth. Crisis Core is very cruel to this type of player, because all of the exciting equipment like the Genji Gear is buried under what feels like an endless stack of repetitive side missions. I think this content is really designed to be played one or two levels at a time every day over a period of several months, perhaps on a Tokyo subway, perhaps across multiple New Game + cycles. If you try to mainline it, or do all of the side missions as they become available, it's technically doable, but it's dire.
If you don't share my particular temperament, if you are the sort of player who took one look at FFX's Catcher Chocobo minigame or the Jupiter Sigil requirements only to laugh and turn away, I think Crisis Core is a much easier recommendation.
Played just for the main story, it's still a mixed bag but fairly charming. The soundtrack is fairly short but it's memorable and evocative, with a grungy cowboy feel not present in other FF soundtracks. "Under the Apple Tree" and "Moonlight Wandering" in particular are still stuck in my head. For existing FFVII fans, the glimpses into a younger Sephiroth, Zack, Tseng, and Aerith are all welcome. Is this a necessary prequel? No. Nice to be able to see a pre-crazy Sephiroth, though, and none of these four feel particularly gratuitous or fanservicey in their Crisis Core appearances. Can't say the same for Yuffie or some others, but that's okay.
The new characters are definitely less successful. Best of the bunch are the turk Cissnei and Zack's mentor Angeal. Worst of the bunch is, as everyone who has even looked at a trailer for this game knows, Genesis, the weird poetry-quoting Gackt insert. He's terrible, as is his obsession with LOVELESS, which is unfortunately shared by the developers. That Genesis doesn't sink the narrative is only thanks to the fact that he isn't ultimately Zack's personal villain. Look, no spoilers, but if you're even thinking about playing this game, you already know how Zack's arc ends, and that key moment is more or less completely unmarred by the Genesis stuff.
The gameplay of Crisis Core really isn't great, but it's more or less good enough. I don't have much more to say about that, honestly. It holds up well enough if you just try to clear the main game, and it's a huge headache if you try to stay on top of the optional content.
For somebody who can just choose to not engage with the side missions and be happy with that, I'd give the game 3.5 or maybe even 4 stars. Please just clear the main story and set it aside.
If you don't share my particular temperament, if you are the sort of player who took one look at FFX's Catcher Chocobo minigame or the Jupiter Sigil requirements only to laugh and turn away, I think Crisis Core is a much easier recommendation.
Played just for the main story, it's still a mixed bag but fairly charming. The soundtrack is fairly short but it's memorable and evocative, with a grungy cowboy feel not present in other FF soundtracks. "Under the Apple Tree" and "Moonlight Wandering" in particular are still stuck in my head. For existing FFVII fans, the glimpses into a younger Sephiroth, Zack, Tseng, and Aerith are all welcome. Is this a necessary prequel? No. Nice to be able to see a pre-crazy Sephiroth, though, and none of these four feel particularly gratuitous or fanservicey in their Crisis Core appearances. Can't say the same for Yuffie or some others, but that's okay.
The new characters are definitely less successful. Best of the bunch are the turk Cissnei and Zack's mentor Angeal. Worst of the bunch is, as everyone who has even looked at a trailer for this game knows, Genesis, the weird poetry-quoting Gackt insert. He's terrible, as is his obsession with LOVELESS, which is unfortunately shared by the developers. That Genesis doesn't sink the narrative is only thanks to the fact that he isn't ultimately Zack's personal villain. Look, no spoilers, but if you're even thinking about playing this game, you already know how Zack's arc ends, and that key moment is more or less completely unmarred by the Genesis stuff.
The gameplay of Crisis Core really isn't great, but it's more or less good enough. I don't have much more to say about that, honestly. It holds up well enough if you just try to clear the main game, and it's a huge headache if you try to stay on top of the optional content.
For somebody who can just choose to not engage with the side missions and be happy with that, I'd give the game 3.5 or maybe even 4 stars. Please just clear the main story and set it aside.