Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion review: One of the greatest PSP games received an incredible remaster

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion has finally arrived, and it’s just the thing to tide me over until the next FFVII Remake title launches. Built upon the original PSP title’s framework, this PlayStation 5 game is a beautiful, rich experience. The remaster is gorgeous, and it is one that I was very fortunate to have experienced.

Despite having a PSP when the original game was released in September 2007, I did not play it. However, thanks to the FFVII Remakes, I have a more vested interest in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion. This might be one of the best remakes from Square Enix, recreating the original game one to one.

It’s no secret that Zack doesn’t survive to become the protagonist of Final Fantasy VII. But how did he meet his fate? That’s what you find out by playing Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion.

A PSP masterpiece is made even better with Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII was already among the top games on the PSP. However, thanks to the power of Unreal Engine 4, the remake looks better than ever. It reminds me of the Final Fantasy VII Remake, so I wonder if any of those assets were used to save time and money.

The story of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- is built around Zack Fair, a man with an important dream: to be a hero. The game goes over his life, loves, and tragedies. It’s a plot filled with laughter, love, and heartache. While the story has been around for years, I will not do any major spoiling for the game.

Of course, players will see some very familiar faces. As Zack comes up in SOLDIER, he works with the legendary Sephiroth, who will, of course, not do anything evil later in his career. We learn how he falls in love with Aerith and interacts with some of the protagonist's best friends.

There is no new content, so if that’s what you expected, you’re going to be disappointed. However, it’s newly voiced and has an updated combat system alongside new musical arrangements, courtesy of Takeharu Ishimoto.

Watch: A brief peek around Shinra HQ.

However, while it’s amazing that everything is back in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion, this is also, in its own way, a bit of a negative. The Mission system is a great way to upgrade Zack and unlock powerful materia, but it’s incredibly tedious. You play the same maps repeatedly, with increasing difficulty and slightly varying enemies.

It made sense for the PSP, though. It's a handheld console, so you want gameplay that you can quickly dive in and out of and feel rewarded for doing so. I feel like I’ve spent almost as much time doing those as I did regular gameplay. It’s not a bad feature, but it’s incredibly time-consuming if you want to be as strong as possible.

Watch: Zack punishing evil in a mission.

However, there have been some excellent changes to the overall gameplay in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion. These changes helped the game make sense and improved the overall gameplay experience.

What quality-of-life features does Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- have?

The best new feature of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- is the combat, which is amazingly fast. It feels exactly like it does in the FFVII Remake. Zack rolls and strikes with speed and precision, capable of dodging out of the way of an attack and following up with a powerful spell or ability.

The original game was, of course, an action RPG, but the PSP had a limited number of buttons. Now, you have two thumbsticks, four face buttons, four trigger buttons, and of course, L3 and R3. You can easily remap all your attacks to be on buttons that make sense for you, and you don’t have to shuffle through your loadout in combat.

Watch: Zack rips through enemies on the way back to Shinra HQ.

To use your special attacks and spells, hold L1 and press the corresponding attack button. It is also easy to use items. Cycle through them with L2/R2, and press Circle to use them. The UI is cleaner and makes far more sense than the previous games. It’s so much easier to find everything that you’re looking for while playing.

Some things weren’t changed, for better or worse

One of the neat features of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion is the DMW - the Digital Mind Wave system. It is a system that’s tied to your character’s emotions. How he feels about people he’s interacted with can enhance his combat.

As you fight, there’s a slots icon that regularly spins. It can grant you some amazing features, like powerful limit breaks, invulnerability, or 0-cost MP/AP attacks. It’s a really weird feature, but honestly? I really like it. It’s made some incredibly hard fights so much more bearable.

The more you interact with someone, the more often they show up on your DMW. It’s very random, though, so it can be helpful at best but do nothing at worst. At least it doesn’t punish you. It’s a system that makes the game more enjoyable. It’s so satisfying to see that random “777” pop up before you suddenly level up.

It's so satisfying to trigger invulnerability and then proc Mega Flare from Bahamut (Image via Square Enix)

However, one thing that probably should have been adjusted and wasn’t was the Mission System. It made sense in the game’s world, though. After all, Zack is a member of SOLDIER and has to go on missions. The chapters of the game are main missions, and these are his odd jobs for Shinra.

Many of them give incredibly useful rewards, like new summons on your slots, accessories, and materia. However, it just feels so repetitive and tedious. I mean, I still did essentially all of them. That sort of thing doesn’t bother me, but I can see why it would frustrate others.

The visuals and soundtrack were stunning in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion

Visually, Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion looked closer to the art style in FFVII Remake, and that’s certainly a compliment. It’s a gorgeous game, and the cutscenes, as well as the world itself, were very striking. The cutscenes were breathtaking, and them being fully voice-acted was a nice upgrade. The characters felt more alive than they did on the PSP version.

The soundtrack was beautiful, too. Each song felt distinct, and there were lots of little callbacks to Final Fantasy VII, which makes sense, given this is directly tied to the classic RPG.

Not all remakes and remasters put in the hard work to make a game stand out, but Square Enix definitely did here. The presentation - both the soundtrack and graphics - are top-notch.

In conclusion

While I don’t have the same nostalgia for the original PSP game, I quickly fell in love with this story. Sure, I know how it ends by now, but it’s the journey, not the destination, that matters.

Zack is a very likable character, and watching as he goes through his trials and tribulations - being a part of his adventure - is a joyous experience. It’s also heartbreaking at the same time. Whether or not you played the original, you owe it to yourself to pick up this remaster.

Square Enix outdid themselves here, and Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion has only multiplied my excitement for the next remake as it launches in 2023. This game plays and looks great, and it was incredibly hard to put down once I started playing.