Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable. It was released in 2007 in Japan and in 2008 in North America and Europe. The game is a prequel to Final Fantasy VII a part of the metaseries Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

The game primarily focuses on Zack Fair, a young member of the paramilitary 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 how it is related to two other high-ranking SOLDIERs Sephiroth and Angeal Hewley. The game's storyline goes from 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.

Gameplay
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII features an action-based battle system. Actions are chosen from a menu, with options for regular attacks, magic attacks, special attacks, and items. Enemy actions are performed in intervals, spread out to imitate Final Fantasy VII's turn-based Active Time Battle system.

The key feature of Crisis Core is the Digital Mind Wave, a slot machine-like system in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. The Digital Mind Wave continuously consumes Soldier Points to spin three slots, and grants status effects based on the combination of images and numbers. Landing the same image in the left and right slot triggers Modulating Phase, in which certain combinations of characters and numbers allow Zack to perform special Limit Breaks, power up materia, activate summons or level up. The Digital Mind Wave operates automatically and cannot be influenced by player input.