Crisis Core –Final Fantasy 7– Reunion is a perfect example of how a game can blur the line between a remaster and a remake, using the skeleton of its already great 2007 PSP original while completely rebuilding the muscle around it. Every change brings it much closer to 2020’s excellent Final Fantasy 7 Remake, from its gorgeously updated graphics to its considerably faster combat. However, Crisis Core stops short of the total upheaval FF7R leaned into, and many design choices made with the original PSP game in mind prevent this remaster from being an entirely unblemished reunion.
Just as before, Crisis Core is an action-focused prequel that follows Zack Fair, a plucky and likable foil to his far more moody companion, the iconic Cloud Strife. Starting roughly seven years before the events of Final Fantasy 7, Zack hopes to climb the ranks of Shinra Electric Company’s SOLDIER program with dreams of becoming a Soldier 1st Class – the best of the best, just like Sephiroth. Even today it’s still a great story that neatly ties Zack, Cloud, and Sephiroth’s threads together, with real-time combat that melds some quirky systems in interesting ways – like the strange DMW (Digital Mind Wave) slot machine that brings a bit of the Gold Saucer to every fight.
What we said about the original Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7
“Issues aside, Crisis Core is a great PSP game — no question. It honors Final Fantasy VII’s legacy. Even the game’s music, while not composed by Nobuo Uematsu, is charming and fits the overall style of the world (though some of Uematsu’s pieces do make a return and to absolutely stunning effect). I was sincerely moved by certain portions of the title and I suspect many others will feel the same. I wouldn’t dream of spoiling anything for eager players, but I will say that Crisis Core’s ending moments are a must see. I’d go so far as to call them brilliant. The power and emotion of the game is heightened by the raw inevitability of Zack’s fate, which is fully explored in the original. I really enjoyed my time with this title, despite the gameplay problems, and I think this is yet another fantastic reason to own a PSP. Enjoy it.” – Ryan Clements, March 18, 2008
Score: 8.5
Read the full Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 review.
The most immediate and noticeable change to Reunion is its graphical overhaul, using Unreal Engine 4 to get its in-game visuals relatively close to parity with FF7R. Character models look great, environments are highly detailed, and even its menus and UI replicate the remake’s clean look that blends form and function so nicely. Though Crisis Core was already one of the better looking PSP games, these visual improvements make it feel far more modern and surprisingly high-budget for what Square Enix is classifying as a remaster.
Reunion could easily be mistaken for a brand-new game in most regards, though there are some remnants of the original holding it back from looking as good as it possibly can. For example, the original CG cutscenes are reused here – they benefit from being presented on bigger and higher definition screens, but they are disappointing when compared to the in-game action. Think of them as being somewhere between the visual quality of Advent Children and the cutscenes from the original PlayStation Final Fantasy games. They’re still fun and well-animated after all these years, but that can’t entirely hide how noticeably they’ve aged.
Summons have the most visually impressive upgrades.
Thankfully, that thick layer of dust is easier to forget about in the heat of battle, especially during its incredible summon sequences, which are the single most visually impressive additions to Reunion. Ifrit’s fiery, lava-filled Hellfire never failed to wow me, nor did Bahamut’s particle effects-heavy Mega Flare. While it’s understandable why Square Enix may not want to completely redo every pre-rendered cutscene, these summons are a tantalizing look at what could have been had they decided to remake all of that footage with modern technology.
Animations are greatly improved from the original, but can sometimes feel stiff, particularly when it comes to the way certain in-game scenes are staged. The models themselves look so fresh that it can be jarring when a character unexpectedly moves in a stilted manner, reminding you that, yes, this was originally a PSP game made with the limitations of the time. Still, most dialogue delivery and character movement looks great during in-game cutscenes, and even better in combat.
Not Your Grandpa’s Combat
Reunion’s graphical facelift may be what catches your eye initially, but its most substantial improvements are in its gameplay tweaks. Crisis Core was always an action RPG, but the PSP’s single thumbstick and two bumper layout forced Square Enix to get creative with its design, making you shuffle through spells, attacks, items, and more using the left and right bumpers. With a modern controller at your disposal, Zack’s basic attack, dodge, and guard commands are now all mapped to face buttons and triggers, and you can use abilities and cast spells much more quickly by pressing those same buttons while holding L1. If you don’t like how the controls are layed out, you can even remap virtually everything in the pause menu.
The DMW system also returns largely unaltered, for better and for worse. Throughout combat, a three-tile slot machine is automatically running in the upper lefthand corner, and when a particular character lines up or certain number combinations are achieved, Zack can get some pretty substantial boosts. Those include temporarily having unlimited MP or getting the ability to execute a powerful Limit Break or Summon. It’s a fun way for combat to feel consistently fresh, but the rate at which these boosts are achieved is incredibly uneven and random, sometimes making a boss a pushover and taking the fun out of figuring out more unique ways to best them.
Combat is also faster. A lot faster. Zack can swiftly dodge attacks, roll behind enemies for critical hits, sneak in a few sword slashes, and roll back out of the way to deliver a Firaga blast in a way that makes the original seem downright sluggish. I replayed a bit of it while making my way through Reunion as a refresher, and the difference in pace is simply night and day. Combat still doesn’t feel like it has quite as much depth as the admittedly high bar set by FF7R’s action, and doesn’t benefit from that game’s ability to switch between party members on the fly, but the changes here are still by far the biggest improvement made over the PSP version.
Unfortunately, not every aspect of Crisis Core’s gameplay has been updated with the same level of success, and the aging game underneath it all can rear its ugly head again outside of combat. There are some relatively open areas Zack can run around across Midgar and Gaia, but several interior and exterior corridors are often strung together with (thankfully brief) loading screens. And while the 10 story chapters are mostly compelling and typically last about an hour each, Crisis Core’s mission system still offers additional, bite-sized quests originally designed to be played on the go. Most of them aren’t very substantial and almost all boil down to running through the same small number of hallways, randomly encountering enemies, and collecting items from a few chests. Playing these can greatly extend the runtime of the campaign, but I only felt compelled to do a handful of them – some to get additional accessory slots, some for high-powered Materia, and some to see cute story beats from a young, spunky Yuffie.
Extra missions are still clearly designed to be played on the go.
The original game’s fantastic Materia Fusion system returns for Reunion, and lets you combine generally weaker magic, command, special, and support Materia to create stronger and more interesting results. Using the Materia Fusion system, I was able to create the powerful Quake spell relatively early on, and while it allowed me to obliterate large groups of weak enemies almost instantaneously, I still felt like I had earned that strength thanks to some smart fusing.
Reunion is also stuffed with simple, distracting minigames that return throughout the story. These distractions almost unfailingly annoyed me until I could get back to the far stronger fights, with activities ranging from slashing down missiles midair to collecting items while on a timer. No matter the task, none are much fun. Thankfully, those don’t slow things down enough to ruin the combat around them, which shines from start to finish even through those distractions.
Reunited, and It Feels So Good
Given how heavily FF7R played with the expectations of fans, I was curious to see if Square Enix was going to adjust Crisis Core’s storyline at all to account for some of the more surprising changes that had occurred, particularly in regards to Zack. However, the main story is identical to what was told in the original game. (Maybe there’s still some sort of unlockable cutscene hiding behind side missions, but I haven’t found it yet if so.) A big change doesn’t exactly feel necessary, either – just like the original Final Fantasy 7’s plot feeds into the changes that occur in Remake, so too does Crisis Core’s, and its story still feels like the most integral entry in the Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 outside of the first game.
The events that transpire in Crisis Core add intriguing depth to Cloud, the Turks, and many other characters from Square’s beloved classic and its remake – Sephiroth, in particular, becomes much more humanized during its runtime. It’s easy to play the original Final Fantasy 7 and not really know a thing about Zack, but his story is so pivotal to Cloud’s that his presence towers over it in surprising ways even without much screen time, and his arc in Crisis Core is still as emotional as it was 15 years ago.
Voices for characters like Zack, Sephiroth, Aerith, and more have also been replaced by their respective voice actors from FF7R, giving a stronger sense of cohesion between Reunion and the as-of-yet unfinished trilogy of Final Fantasy 7 remakes. However, while the overall story of Crisis Core remains compelling and fascinating as a prequel, there are aspects of the tale that veer towards the endearingly nonsensical flavor of storytelling present in some other Square Enix games. These moments don’t derail the story entirely or anything, but awkward jokes, strange obsessions with what it means to be a monster, and sometimes cringe-worthy dialogue do occasionally distract from the otherwise enjoyable story.
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