Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion

Genre: Action-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

When it became clear to Square Enix that their 1997 JRPG Final Fantasy VII was most likely going to remain the most iconic title in the series, and in turn one of the most iconic game franchises ever created, they changed tact for their treatment of the Final Fantasy franchise, which hard previously featured mostly one-off self-contained installments, and now started releasing numerous spin-off titles for Final Fantasy VII. Among these was Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation Portable in 2008, a prequel to Final Fantasy VII that puts players in the role of Zack, the ill-fated mentor of the original game’s protagonist, Cloud.

More recently, as Final Fantasy VII has seen a resurgence in popularity thanks to the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake in 2020, Square Enix has seen fit to give Crisis Core a somewhat less-extensive remake as an intermission of sorts before Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the second half of the original game’s remake. Crisis Core Reunion, released in 2022 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, updates the original game’s graphics considerably to make it better-suited to modern platforms, and has also tweaked some of the gameplay to bring it a bit closer in line with the reworked action-focused gameplay of Final Fantasy VII Remake.

On the Nintendo Switch, it may be tempting to say that this makes it the closest the platform is likely to get to receiving a port of Final Fantasy VII Remake, but that’s not really the case. Crisis Core Reunion is much smaller in scope, its characters and story are nowhere near as iconic, and in many ways fully understanding this story really relies on players having played through at least some version of Final Fantasy VII.

At least when it comes to visuals, Crisis Core Reunion looks pretty good on Nintendo Switch, with detailed characters and environments (many of those environments pulled directly from Final Fantasy VII Remake), some nice lighting and reflection effects, and some excellent visual flair in its magic spells and attacks. However, compared to the version of the game we received on other platforms, the Nintendo Switch version has less-detailed shadows, really nasty aliasing, and features a lower resolution, with a dynamic 720P in both docked and portable modes and a drop from 60FPS on other platforms to 30FPS here (thanks to Digital Foundry for the numbers!). Overall, it’s a pretty decent compromise to get this game running on Nintendo Switch, though out of all of this I will say the lower resolution and aliasing bugs me a bit.

The game also features a decent orchestral soundtrack that fits in well with the game it’s derived from, and has some decent voice acting, with many actors who voiced roles in Final Fantasy VII Remake reprising those roles here. However, I will say that the directing here seems a bit cheesy in a way that seems like a signature for game director Tatsuya Nomura, artificial in a way that may fit a more cartoony game like Kingdom Hearts, but seems out-of-place with more the realistic characters in this game.

When it comes to the gameplay, as I mentioned earlier, Crisis Core is much smaller in scope than Final Fantasy VII was. You won’t be exploring a large world, going from town to dungeon to town as you often tend to do in a typical RPG. Rather, you’ll head out on linear self-contained missions you accept from your main base in SOLDIER headquarters. For those hoping for a spin-off of an RPG to be… well, an RPG, this may come as a disappointment.

Furthermore, as noted above, this game eschews the Turn-Based JRPG gameplay of Final Fantasy VII in favor of more action-centric combat that’s closer to what we saw in Final Fantasy VII Remake, with the gameplay getting close to being akin to Spectacle Fighters like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry. Only… well, the action here is nowhere near as good as either of those games. Your movement is pretty clunky, changing your aim between enemies is inorganic, and your attacks lack the fluidity that the best games in the Spectacle Fighter genre are known for.

To be clear, the gameplay in Crisis Core isn’t bad, it’s just trying to straddle the line between the series’ RPG roots and the more actiony direction the series has trended towards in recent years, and it ends up doing neither of those things very well. The limited environments, derivative story, lack of exploration, and limited character customization will make RPG fans crave an actual RPG, and the clunky, inelegant combat will have fans of Spectacle Fighters crave something with a much more well-crafted combat system.

As fanservice for fans of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core Reunion on Nintendo Switch is an excellent accompaniment to the franchise, though its presence makes it all the more noticeable how the Nintendo Switch is once again getting what amounts to a side-dish in the Final Fantasy franchise while being left out in the cold when it’s time to feast on the main course that is Final Fantasy VII Remake.

However, if you take Crisis Core Reunion out of that context and just look at it in its own right, it’s a game that is trying to do multiple things while not succeeding particularly well at any of them. Again, this isn’t a bad game, and in fact it’s fairly enjoyable. But suffice it to say that if this really is the closest the Nintendo Switch gets to a port of Final Fantasy VII Remake, it’s a pretty pathetic substitute.

tl;dr – Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion is a remake of a PlayStation Portable Action-RPG that tells a story that is a prequel to the events of Final Fantasy VII. This game’s gameplay straddles the line between its RPG elements and Spectacle Fighter-esque combat, but it does neither of those things especially well, and while it’s not a bad game, its presence acts as a reminder that Nintendo Switch owners are apparently getting this game instead of Final Fantasy VII Remake, rather than as a supplement to it. On it’s own, it’s a good but not great Action-RPG, but in that context it’s hard not to see it as a disappointment.

Grade: B-

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