When the original Final Fantasy VII came out on the Playstation back in 1997, I had just gotten my console. I remember getting Wild Arms and Brahma Force (no, it’s not a game featuring The Rock) just as Final Fantasy VII launched. When Crisis Core came onto the scene years later (along with Dirge of Cerberus and Advent Children), I’ve firmly made up my mind that Final Fantasy VII was overrated. Now, years later Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is here.

I played Crisis Core when it was available on the PSP. I didn’t think much of it. I thought the gameplay was kind of generic and the roulette wheel was really annoying since it made the game feel like a luck based affair.

Fast forward to TGS 2022, and here I am playing the same damn game…but much spiffier looking, running on the Playstation 5.

If you’ve played Final Fantasy VII Remake then you know the kind of quality I’m talking about here.

Characters look like they’re ripped right out the CGI scenes from Advent Children. It might have taken a decade, but we’re at the point where in-game models finally are starting to look like CGI ones from movies.

Zack looks damn great, as do the drones he fights and (in our demo) the Wutai rebels right at the beginning of the game. Yep, the demo is when Zack storms Wutai and first encounters a young (well, youngER) Yuffie. There’s nothing that’s different recognizably in the parts that I played, though I admit that it’s been years since I touched the original Crisis Core.

Combat is still action based (clearly influenced by FFVII Remake’s combat in this remake), with the same roulette system from the original to spice things up. Unfortunately, the roulette system still doesn’t jibe with me but on the whole, the faster more visceral feel to the combat did. It’s still not as hard hitting as I’d like (Zack swings a huge sword but the enemies don’t seem to be staggered or react much to being hit) but it’s a definite improvement over the tepid combat from the PSP version.

While I did enjoy Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion and its new look, I’m hoping that Square Enix makes a much more concerted effort to tie-in the game to the Final Fantasy VII Remake games than just with some all new nods or easter eggs here and there.

Guess we’ll find out when the game launches later this year.

Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.