A faithful but fleeting Final Fantasy experience.
The subtitle “Reunion” is a particularly apt subtitle given Square Enix’s history of Crisis Core and the current state of the Final Fantasy VII universe. Those who were once desperate to relive his game on the PSP will now be able to reunite with the hero Zack and his familiar FFVII characters such as Aerith and Sephiroth. For those who haven’t played the original Crisis Core, this latest remaster offers an opportunity to play with a latent knowledge of the events of Final Fantasy VII Remake. To lessen the excitement of newcomers, however, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion builds on a smaller, more portable title, and its visual brilliance comes from repetitive gameplay and an underage narrative. It is important to note that it may not compensate for the trap of
Over its ten chapters, Crisis Core Reunion tells the story of Zack as a member of SOLDIER and his responsibility to protect the interests of Midgar’s megacorporation Shinra. Much of the story revolves around the pursuit of Genesis, a former SOLDIER first-class, as he begins his battle against Shinra. It passes through in the core timeline and culminates in the beginning of Cloud’s story. Ultimately, the main story can be seen in about 10 to him 15 hours, but completing all the additional missions will add even more time to your playthrough.
The only complaint I have with these side missions, however, is that they end up purely in combat. , followed by a forced battle with a specific enemy or group. No. Beyond that, the game as a whole doesn’t really offer much incentive to complete more than a handful of these missions. On normal difficulty, doing less than 20% of these missions will likely get you all the materia, gear, and stat growth you need.
What works in Crisis Core’s favor is quick and fairly satisfying combat. With the majority of the content consisting of random, scripted combat, I was happy to find it relatively easy to control Zack while battling numerous enemy soldiers and monsters. links spells and abilities to one of six button combinations, and outside of basic attacks, spells and physical movements are tied to their MP and AP meters respectively. You can use items at will, and Zack’s dodge and parry moves help you avoid damage. If you fall in battle, you’ll be prompted to restart the battle or even adjust your loadout before doing so.
As someone who didn’t play the original game but feels nostalgic for Final Fantasy VII as a whole, I found the way Crisis Core’s story was delivered to be somewhat lackluster. In each of the game’s individual chapters, the events that occur thump more than they actually resonate. Zack’s charisma helps him stand out and be likeable, but characters like Angeal and Genesis, who act as mentors and antagonists respectively, are more window dressing than Zack’s charming foil. So often I find myself walking for mere seconds before encountering the next cutscene. This makes the small player agency outside of combat feel empty.
Undoubtedly, the boss battles that conclude each chapter are a major highlight of Crisis Core. , made a lot of the game easier. It doesn’t help that many of the enemies you face are just copies of Genesis, split into slightly different types.
Given its portable roots, Crisis Core Reunion as a remaster is actually quite impressive from an aesthetic standpoint. This will allow more players to experience Zack’s story and meet the FFVII character before he became a hero. The Switch version itself holds up pretty well. Aim for 30 frames per second and stick to it for the most part, with only the occasional stutter. When docked, the target resolution is 720p, which switches to around 540p in handheld mode. Both configurations use temporal anti-aliasing, which gives smooth edges at the cost of artifacts on fast-moving objects.
Evaluating a remaster is difficult. Because enjoying a remaster mostly has to do with how connected it is to the original game. My only connection to Crisis Core is the original Final Fantasy VII and my experience with the recent remake and its Intergrade DLC. Without a doubt, I love the world and characters of Final Fantasy VII, but that alone isn’t enough to easily recommend Crisis Core Reunion. Much of its gameplay is repetitive, and its narrative pays off for just fitting in and starting. Those who want to see and do everything this Reunion Remaster has to offer will find dozens of hours of content, but outside of its compelling protagonist, Crisis Core feels rather hollow and in the context of 2022. It should be judged as a home console experience. As such, its appeal is limited to die-hard fans rather than RPG players as a whole.
