Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is a remaster that gets it right and doesn’t miss the essence

Final Fantasy VII Reunion was so successful and its impact was such that it transcended its condition of being just another numbered game in the saga, having become a universe of its own with other titles orbiting around it, ranging from spinoffs to multimedia releases. Crisis Core, originally released for the PSP in 2007, is yet another work that explained other moments in that world and, with the good remaster, Reunion, it remains essential for fans of the saga, even if the design points have already aged to the present day.

Final Fantasy VII Reunion

Zack’s Journey Much of the appeal of the original Final Fantasy VII was the mystery surrounding the characters’ pasts. Cloud, Sephiroth, Aerith and even supporting characters hid a dark journey before what would be the adventure of their lives. A good part of these mysteries are solved in the game itself, but others were left open and were explained in games like Crisis Core. Here we follow Zack Fair, a Shinra SOLDIER who operated years before the events of the original game, having direct involvement in the paths of several characters, especially the three mentioned above. The dynamics of the game is very unique. Divided into 10 chapters, each one tells an important moment of Zack’s journey within Shinra. Although it opens up space for exploration in some maps, it almost always works in a very linear way, where the protagonist runs through corridors decimating monsters until he reaches the place where the story will advance with a cutscene. Characters like Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth himself gain enormous prominence in the story, showing in detail how Shinra’s combat division works and how its elite soldiers were manufactured and underwent experiments, with some of them terrible and with lasting side effects. forever. Zack evolves by discovering more about all this, especially through his connection with Angeal, of whom he is a talented pupil. At first, he is so inconsequential and tomboyish that he resembles another Square protagonist – Sora, from Kingdom Hearts, being even as annoying as he is at times. But, unlike the boy who accompanies Donald and Goofy, Zack shows development in each chapter, until the great outcome that is still able to thrill even those who have played the original.

respect remaster

The quality of the remaster as a whole is stupendous. What stands out the most is obviously the visual part, and the improvements over the PSP version are incredible. It even looks like a remake. Models and scenarios have been completely redone and are very detailed, animations are more fluid, especially since they run at 60 frames per second in the next generation version, skills have more particles and, without exaggeration, the end result is as if you were playing a title of the current generation, which owes nothing to more recent releases on that front. Mechanically there are improvements as well. The action part of combat is now more dynamic and responsive, making it easier to execute good combos of attacks and spells or techniques via Materia. The changes, however, have not even remotely transformed the essence of the game, which still has, for example, its unique roulette wheel system, which keeps spinning during combat and guaranteeing various bonuses according to the result. It’s like quality of life improvements that enhance the experience, but don’t make it different when compared to the base game. However, not everything is flowers. Even for the preservation of the original essence, the design of the levels, the general progression through the campaign, and the secondary activities remain identical. The maps are extremely linear and repetitive. Even with the vast choice of Materia builds, combat becomes repetitive. After a few hours, the story and some elements of the world alone kept me hooked on the game, which is clearly showing its age. Side activities are Shinra missions that can be performed at any save point, and also certain rather ordinary optional missions, which are unlocked by exploring the towns Zack visits in between key points in each chapter. Such activities boil down to more battles in narrow corridors through repetitive maps. There is little story content involved in this part of the game and, apart from some easter eggs and quick appearances of certain characters that will be important in the future, it only serves to get some items that can be powerful for a few hours in character building for battles.

Conclusion

Due to limitations arising from the portable version of the past, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion ends up not being a game in itself and ends up sinning by repeating the same note in gameplay throughout the campaign, with its linear maps and without much inspiration. Even so, it is essential for fans of this franchise universe, both for the story and special characters and for the good remastering work, which makes the game look beautiful and responsive in the two generations in which it was released.

pros

• Updated graphics are gorgeous
• Possibilities of builds given by the Materia system
• Roulette system in combat is unique and still fun
• Unmissable story for Final Fantasy VII fans

cons

• Gameplay is still dated and combat is repeated to exhaustion
• Each chapter’s maps are uninspired and extremely linear
• Secondary activities are repetitive and do not add to the overall

Grade: 7.5/10.0

A PS5 copy of the game was provided by Square Enix for the purposes of this review.

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