Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is a remake of the original PSP version of Crisis Core in HD.
The game is a prequel to both the original Final Fantasy VII (FFVII) and the Final Fantasy VII remake. It tells the story of Zack, a minor but important character from FFVII, and features the tragic events leading up to FFVII, including the fall of the once-famous soldier Sephiroth.
Crisis Core Reunion is pretty much the same game as the original.
This means that it has some of the same flaws as the original, like a few strange plot points and a DMW wave that doesn’t always work. Crisis Core makes up for these flaws with a fun story, the main character you like, and a great attempt at action RPG gameplay. If you liked Final Fantasy VII Remake, Reunion is the next game you should play.
Midgard in Trouble
Zack Fair is the main character in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion. He is a member of the Shinra military group SOLDIER, and he wants to be a first-class soldier like his mentor, Angeal. When another SOLDIER named Genesis leads a rebellion against the company, Zack will have to work with the best member of the division, Sephiroth, to stop them. But in doing so, they find out a lot about Shinra’s dark past that will change the course of history for everyone.
The game has ten chapters, which add up to about 10–15 hours of playtime. Even though you don’t have to play FFVII or Remake to understand Crisis Core, I strongly suggest that you do. It’s clear that the game was made with the last one in mind, and it gives away a lot of the big surprises in the world of VII. If you don’t know what happens in FFVII, certain events and hints later in the game won’t hit as hard.
The new graphics are the part of the remaster that stands out the most. All of the assets in Reunion were redone from scratch to make them look more like the heroes from FFVII Remake. Zack and Cloud look better than ever now that their models are more detailed and show even the pores on their cheeks. The settings and places have also been given a big makeover, from the run-down slums of Sector Five to the creepy labs of Shinra.
Seeing Zack again
Our hero Zack, who might be one of the most fun main characters in the series, brings some fun to those scary labs. He’s happy, easy to talk to, and ready for an adventure. The guy’s constant energy makes him the kind of person anyone would want to be friends with, which is why Cloud and the other characters take to him so quickly. It also makes it sad when the game goes on and Zack’s good intentions are tested. Even though the odds are against him, you still want him to do well.
I liked what they did with Sephiroth as well. This game shows how he fell from grace, but at the beginning of the game, he seems reasonable and even likable. Even though he keeps to himself, it’s clear that he takes his job as a soldier seriously and cares about his allies. His change into a bad “mama’s boy” is a little too sudden, but it’s still interesting to watch him change and become crazier and crazier.
A Creepy Genesis
This brings us to our main bad guy, Genesis, who is voiced by and based on the Japanese music star Gackt from the 2000s. I’m sure that whenever someone says that a Final Fantasy character is “emo” or a “mellow dramatic pretty boy,” they are talking about this guy. Not only does he spend most of his screen time whining about himself, but he is also obsessed with a poem called “Loveless” and uses it to explain his own life and the lives of other characters. Half of his lines are bad poetry, and they are just as cringe-worthy as they sound.
He didn’t ruin the story by any means, but every time Genesis showed up on the screen, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and wish he’d hurry up with his 7th-grade diary entries so we could get back to the more interesting characters.
Slot Machine Combat
As far as action role-playing games go, Crisis Core is fairly ordinary fare. You can use the attack, dodge, and item buttons. Managing the system is simple, and if you master dodging, not even the largest mechs or bad-tempered ostriches will be able to hurt you.
Magic is accessed by holding down the L1 shoulder button, which displays a menu of available spells. You can use your AP bar to perform a variety of physical moves, including elemental assaults, healing, and more. The magic system is very similar to that of Kingdom Hearts, and it does an excellent job of increasing the excitement of battle, however, some spells may make the game too simple for cheese fans. If you ever find yourself in a jam, just stand back and keep casting Blizzard on your foes’ heads.
You can learn new spells by donning Materia orbs, and there are many of them to be found throughout the game’s optional quests. These are an excellent way to level up and acquire new gear because they can be accepted from save spots and only take a few minutes. I’ve never been one to seek out sidequests, but I found myself enjoying how quickly and easily they could be completed, so much so that I found myself eager to take on more of them. The option to combine Materia, later on, to create more potent spells only added fuel to my collector’s fire. My Blizzard concussions were unstoppable toward the end of the game.
Final Words
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7: Reunion pushes the limits of what it means to be a remaster by completely updating the graphics, combat, and other parts of a 15-year-old PSP game. Still, a lot of the design choices made for the original handheld game are there, like short side missions and a lot of loading screens. This keeps the game from feeling completely modern. But even though it’s getting old, Crisis Core is still a fun, interesting, and important part of the Final Fantasy 7 Compilation, and Reunion is the best way to play it.
