is a 2007 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable. The game serves as a prequel to the 1997 title Final Fantasy VII and is part of the metaseries Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, which includes other products related to the original game.
The game primarily focuses on Zack Fair, a young member of the special forces organization SOLDIER, who is assigned to look for the missing SOLDIER Genesis Rhapsodos. As he searches for Genesis, Zack discovers Genesis' origin, Project G, and its connection to the high-ranking SOLDIERs, Sephiroth and Angeal Hewley. The game's storyline spans the war between the megacorporation Shinra and the people of Wutai to the events in Nibelheim, ending just before the beginning of Final Fantasy VII.
The game was directed by Hajime Tabata, with Tetsuya Nomura serving as creative producer and character designer. Before development, the Square Enix staff initially planned to make a PlayStation Portable port of the mobile phone game Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, but after discussion, they decided to create a new game instead. The plot is based on a scenario Kazushige Nojima had in mind when working on Final Fantasy VII.
Crisis Core enjoyed strong sales, selling over two million units worldwide. Critical reception was generally positive, with praise for its story but mixed responses on its combat system. A remaster of the game, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, was released on December 13, 2022 as part of the remake series for all major consoles, and September 9, 2026 on Nintendo Switch 2. Its storyline was recreated in the mobile game Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis.
Gameplay Crisis Core is an action role-playing game in which the player controls Zack Fair through and between open areas, allowing him to talk with non-player characters, interact with the environment, and engage monsters in battle. At save points, the player may opt to take one of the available side missions, and if so, Zack is moved to a special area to complete the mission, which usually involves defeating one or more monsters. If the mission is successfully completed, the player is rewarded with beneficial items, and often new missions become available. Whether the player is successful in the side mission or not, Zack is returned to the save point in the main game upon completion.
Crisis Core uses a real-time combat system in which the player can move Zack around, initiate attacks, special abilities and spells, use items, and block or dodge attacks. Zack's abilities in battle are set by his currently equipped materia. Up to six Materia can be equipped at any one time, which can impart special attacks, magic spells, or passive bonuses, such as health increases or the ability to display the statistics of the current foe in combat. Materia is gained through exploration, as rewards from side missions, as spoils of battle, or from shops. Materia can be fused together to make more powerful versions with improved bonuses; for example, fusing an attack Materia with an elemental magic Materia can create a new attack skill Materia that inflicts elemental magic damage in addition to physical damage. Special items collected in the game can also be used in Materia fusion to further increase the Materia's power.
Crisis Core uses a slot machine-like mechanic to affect the combat system. The "Digital Mind Wave" (DMW) features two sets of three spinning wheels; one set with numbers one through seven, and another with pictures of characters that Zack befriends during the game. The DMW automatically spins as long as Zack has at least 10 "Soldier Points", which are awarded to the player by defeating foes. If the DMW stops with the same three pictures lined up, Zack will then perform an appropriate Limit Break attack that can greatly harm an enemy or significantly heal Zack. Additionally, in this case, if the number slots give two or more of the same number, the Materia in that slot will power up. Should the numbers line up as "777", Zack will gain an experience level, increasing his health, soldier points, and ability points. As a result, leveling up is no longer determined by experience points and is instead based on luck. If there is no match in the pictures, matching numbers on the slots will grant temporary bonuses, such as limited invincibility or zero-cost use of skills and abilities. The chance of matching pictures is tied to the current Limit level, which is raised by taking damage in battle and reduced upon successful battles, and after certain storyline events. After collecting certain items in the game, the pictures on the DMW may also randomly change to summonable creatures, which have more destructive and beneficial Limit Breaks should the pictures match up.
Following completion of the game, the player will obtain a New Game Plus option. The North American and European releases of Crisis Core also have an added difficulty mode, which increases the power and health of enemies.
Plot Characters
Crisis Core begins seven years before the events of Final Fantasy VII, and many characters from that game and related works appear. However, the primary characters in the game are from either SOLDIER, which consists of Mako-enhanced superhuman soldiers, or from their covert branch of operatives, the Turks.
The main protagonist is Zack Fair, a young and friendly SOLDIER. His mentor and friend is Angeal Hewley, a 1st class SOLDIER who is also friends with fellow SOLDIER members Sephiroth and Genesis Rhapsodos, who ultimately becomes the game's primary antagonist. The SOLDIER operatives work under Director Lazard, the illegitimate son of President Shinra. Zack is also friends with the Turks, particularly their leader Tseng and one of their female operatives, Cissnei. Over the course of the game, Zack encounters and befriends Aerith Gainsborough, a young woman tending flowers from a ruined church in the Midgar slums, and Cloud Strife, a Shinra infantryman.
Story
SOLDIER's Zack Fair and his mentor Angeal Hewley are dispatched to Wutai to support the Shinra war effort, but during the fighting, Angeal disappears. Zack is appointed to find both him and another missing SOLDIER, Genesis Rhapsodos. Zack, accompanied by Tseng, learns that Genesis and Angeal deserted Shinra, and he and Sephiroth are assigned to kill them. With help from Dr. Hollander, a scientist with a vendetta against Shinra, Genesis creates an army of clones to attack Shinra headquarters. After the forces are defeated, Zack and Sephiroth track down Hollander's secret laboratory, where they learn Hollander used both Genesis and Angeal as part of "Project G," an attempt to create supersoldiers infused with the extraterrestrial lifeform Jenova's cells. Sephiroth faces off against Genesis while Zack pursues Hollander. Angeal, intent on keeping Hollander alive so he can be returned to normal, prevents Zack from killing the doctor and knocks him into the slums of Midgar.
Zack recovers as he finds Aerith tending to him. After spending some time together, Zack returns to SOLDIER headquarters, which is now under attack by Genesis. Zack re-allies with Angeal, who has developed doubts about his and Genesis' actions. As Angeal, Zack, and Sephiroth protect the headquarters, Angeal confronts Genesis before both disappear. Zack is subsequently ordered to investigate Modeoheim, where Genesis has been spotted. While en route to Modeoheim, Zack meets Shinra infantryman Cloud, and they become friends. Near Modeoheim, Zack encounters and defeats Genesis, who seemingly commits suicide by throwing himself into the depths of a reactor. Zack travels on to Modeoheim, where he finds Angeal and Hollander. Tired of the fighting and succumbing to his gradual degradation, Angeal summons and fuses with his own clones and mutates into a monster, forcing Zack to kill him. Before dying, Angeal gives Zack his Buster Sword, telling him to protect his honor.
While Shinra continues the pursuit of Hollander, Genesis re-emerges, producing clones; some of them appear in Midgar, forcing Zack to return to protect Aerith. Leaving her with an Angeal clone to protect her, Zack travels with Sephiroth and Cloud to investigate a Mako reactor near Nibelheim. Upon confronting Genesis at the reactor, Sephiroth learns that he is also an experiment, as he was implanted with Jenova's cells before his birth. Genesis explains that his body is degrading and he needs Sephiroth's cells to survive, but Sephiroth refuses. Overcome with the recent revelations regarding his past, Sephiroth locks himself in Nibelheim Mansion. He sets Nibelheim ablaze a week later, going to the Mako reactor to take Jenova's body and wrongfully believing her to be his mother. When Zack fails to stop him, Cloud throws Sephiroth into the Lifestream below the reactor. Zack awakens to find that Shinra covered up the Nibelheim incident and that both he and Cloud have become part of Professor Hojo's experiments on Jenova cells and Mako exposure. Zack is able to escape and takes a catatonic Cloud with him, but they immediately become high-priority targets for Shinra. While fleeing, Zack learns that Genesis and Hollander are still trying to stabilize Genesis' mutation, and plan to use Cloud's cells since he is the only one with Sephiroth's genes.
Hollander tries to get to Cloud, but Zack kills him. Zack then finds Director Lazard who, now mutated into a humanoid Angeal clone, has turned against Shinra. Lazard directs Zack to the remains of Banora to find Genesis, where he defeats Genesis. Upon returning, he discovers Shinra has located them and killed Lazard. The Angeal clone left guarding Aerith arrives but is also killed. Zack discovers a note he had carried from Aerith and learns he and Cloud were subjected to Hojo's experiments for four years. As Cloud begins dying of Mako poisoning, he and Zack are hunted by the Turks as he carries Cloud towards Midgar. Genesis' body is collected by two soldiers: Nero the Sable and Weiss the Immaculate of Deepground.
Shinra pursues Zack and Cloud, catching up with them just outside Midgar as Tseng and the Turks attempt to rescue Zack against Shinra's wishes. Leaving the still semi-conscious Cloud hidden away, Zack fights off an enormous number of Shinra troops but is fatally wounded. Cloud awakens and finds Zack's body after Shinra leaves; as he is dying, Zack bequeaths the Buster Sword to Cloud, as Angeal had done to him. Zack is welcomed into the Lifestream by Angeal and wonders if he has become a hero. The epilogue recreates the opening scenes of Final Fantasy VII, as Cloud arrives in Midgar and claims to be a former SOLDIER.
Development
The idea of Crisis Core originated when Hajime Tabata was chosen as director for an upcoming Final Fantasy title for the PlayStation Portable. After discussing with Tetsuya Nomura and Yoshinori Kitase, Tabata decided that the game should be another installment in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, feeling that the pressure of producing a game from a popular series would motivate both the staff and himself. The original idea was to make a PlayStation Portable port of Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, as it had been released for mobile phones and the staff wanted to expand it, but after deciding Zack was going to be the protagonist of the new game, the idea of a Before Crisis port was canceled.