FFVII Crisis Core Reunion
First Impression - 7
7
out of 10
Not terrible but seems to exist to simply milk the franchise, however it will probably please ardent fans of the original Crisis Core.
FFVII Crisis Core Reunion is a HD remaster of the 2007 PSP FFVII Crisis Core, which tells the story of Zack Fair before the events of FFVII.
As bias, first off, I was not a fan of the original Crisis Core at all (I’d score it 5.5/10), but I was anticipating this game because I assumed that some of the flaws in the original would be improved upon even though it’s simply a remaster. And yes, there are many QOL improvements in this remaster, such as being able to skip DMW moves, that makes it more enjoyable to play. But ultimately I feel the flaws of the original Crisis Core are hard-baked into it, and much of the game hasn’t aged well even with the improvements in visuals.
The game has generally garnered some favourable reviews of between 8/10 and 10/10, similar to the original. To me, calling this a 10/10 game is just questionable. People give far too many ridiculously inflated scores for games these days, especially game journalists, who seem to score everything from large developers a 9/10 game no matter what.
It’s not an AAA game, and the price of the game indeed reflects that. The game doesn’t purport to rival, for example, the very polished FFVII Remake. But a lot still just frustrates me about Crisis Core that I can’t get past it, and it’s honestly a nostalgia bait sometimes.
The start of the game is very poor, and the game does indeed get better in later chapters. The level design is outdated, and the writing is below fan-fiction level. Obviously, in a remaster, there’s the idea that you just keep the game the same and fix little things. People complained that the FFVII remake isn’t a remake at all; it’s a re-envisioning. But personally, I would have much preferred a re-envisioned remake of Crisis Core; then again, I was not a big fan of the original, so that is fairly obvious.
I’ve never liked the luck-based role of the DMV system; it just doesn’t feel that fun to use. I understand that the original game was designed for the PSP, and the gameplay is intended to be very pick-up-and-play; everything is pretty short and shallow, and you can complete the main game very quickly. Chapters generally take 30 minutes to an hour to complete, and the side missions are over within a few minutes, although there are 300 of them.
I personally dislike the milking of the FFVII universe. FFVII is one of my favourite games, and at the time, I would have given it a score of 9.4/10. The original has aged a bit visually, so it wouldn’t score like that now, which is why I give Square Enix the pass to make the FFVII remake, which I score 9.1/10. But Crisis Core was never a top title for me, and this remaster seems to be part and parcel of Square Enix simply milking the FFVII franchise because the main game is so good and we all lap up anything from that universe.
Some people will genuinely enjoy this remaster, i.e., fans of the original especially, and people who can overlook its many flaws. But for me, I wish it hadn’t been made. I would have rather had Square Enix spend time on either an original project or the upcoming FFVII Remake Part 2. Maybe they could have put the Crisis Core story section as paid DLC into the game, like how Intergrade introduced Yuffie.
As a remaster, my conclusion is that whilst it does improve on the original and has QOL improvements, it still doesn’t raise this game to a great score, especially at its price point. The game is, for me, a fairly mediocre release, which by now I should really expect with how Square Enix has progressed.
