as an important part final fantasy 7 Legends and universes, it always seemed inevitable that Square Enix would be re-released somehow crisis core, the FF7 prequel first released for the PSP in 2007. FF7 steward Tetsuya Nomura said that the release, which fostered internal discussions about whether it qualifies as a remake or a remake, does sort of defy classification – but now that I’ve played it for myself, I’ll try it out anyway.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is a remake. It might not be exactly “more than a remake,” as Square Enix suggests, but it’s impressive in terms of finishing and improving the game on the handheld console, and ultimately, it’s not as powerful as the PS2.
In the stills, though, Crisis Core does appear to be more than just a remake. What you have here are understated PS4 quality character models that don’t look out of place in FF7 Remake and fit properly into a PSP game. In many cases, Square Enix seems to have made clever use of FF7 Remake assets – directly using some of the models and textures from that game, only backporting them to the 2007 game. In still images, and even sometimes in motion in battle, it looks perfectly flawless.
However, when the character moves, the characteristics of the PSP come to the fore. These higher quality character models were put onto the same animation rigs that appeared on the PSP, which sometimes resulted in an uncanny effect, these incredible high-fidelity characters in a basic way that felt out of date for 15 years Make animations. because it is. The characters stand intently and straight, their mouths quivering as the newly recorded dubs appear.
Interestingly, it sheds light on Final Fantasy VII Remake’s charm in animation — the voice acting is of similar quality, and in many cases from the same actor — but without the nuanced animation to sell the characters, the performance wouldn’t be Landing is also good.
Elsewhere, though, it’s one of the best and savviest remakes I’ve seen. I especially like the development team’s decision to keep everything in line with FF7 Remake – it sounds like a simple proposition on paper, but it’s certainly a pretty tough testing task in reality.
This doesn’t mean the gameplay of the game has changed (it’s definitely the same Crisis Core), it means that every UI element has been tweaked and twisted to be the same or very similar to FF7 Remake. Certain things, like the post-battle script reading out the items the enemy was defeated and acquired, are actually the same. It makes the game feel like part of the same universe – and of course, it is. Between that and the seemingly borrowed artwork and models, it’s the perfect marriage of this older game with FF7 Remake.
As for the game itself? not bad! It’s a more combative action RPG, but it can be seen how Crisis at the Core was a key step in the development of the systems and ideas that would later be so well presented in FF7 Remake.
While some systems have been tweaked to make the game more manageable and feel more console-like, encounters in Crisis Core haven’t changed significantly, at least from this brief hands-on – meaning you can expect more Actions in FF7 Remake are clunkier and smaller. But that’s okay — it’s a remake. More remakes and we’ll have to wait for the respawn. It’s fair.
Crisis Core tells a story worth experiencing. Of all the extra-curricular FF7 lore expansions released in the 2000s, this is the only one that’s really worth everyone’s time.
This remake repackages it in a sharp, good-looking way. Like I said, it’s one of the best looking and most impressive remakes I’ve ever seen. That doesn’t mean it’s still not a PSP game, though. If you take that into consideration, you might have a good time.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII – Reunion Coming December 13, 2022 Available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC (via Steam).
