Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII to hit Europe in spring

Square Enix, publisher of the ever-prolific Final Fantasy games, today gave PAL gamers something to look forward to with the announcement that the latest PSP game in the series to be released in Japan, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, will be coming out here in the spring.

The game is a prequel to PlayStation title Final Fantasy VII - arguably the best - and factually the biggest selling - Final Fantasy game to date (it's shifted a more than impressive 9.5 million copies worldwide).

Just in case you need further persuading as to its credibility, see if John Yamamoto, president of Square Enix can sway you at all.

He said: "Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is one of the most anticipated Final Fantasy releases of all times. The game pushes the boundaries of the PSP hardware and will offer a truly fantastic gameplay experience for new fans and fans of the original instalment."

Set seven years prior to the events of Final Fantasy VII, you play Zack, a 2nd Class member of the SOLDIER combat group, sent to discover what's happened to a missing group of operatives. Of course, leading your squad is a certain (anti-)hero, Sephiroth...

The game uses a combination of real-time and menu-based action and utilises a new battle system called the Digital Mind Wave (or DMW for short). This comprises a series of reels which are displayed in the upper left of the screen and spin continuously. If three reels line up with the same character it results in a special power surge.

The PAL release of Crisis Core is promised some extras not seen in the Japanese game too, such as additional challenges and a new Hard mode.

If all this leaves you feeling like you'd rather not have to wait for spring to play it, you might be interested to know Crisis Core will be released in the US on March 25th. For non-importers though, spring is as detailed a release date as us PAL gamers have.