Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII – Reunion – PlayStation 5 – better than a remaster and a superior upgrade

The original Crisis Core was released on the PlayStation Portable and was one of the handheld’s best titles. From such a limited release to now being released on practically every platform including PC, Switch and PlayStation 4 and 5. This version is way superior to the original and there is no reason to go back to it. The visuals have been enhanced by replacing practically all the assets with Final Fantasy VII Remake-like models and the gameplay mechanics have been smoothed and polished.

Angeal, Zach and Director Lazard meeting at Shinra Headquarters in Crisis Core Reunion

Look at how impressive this section of Midgar looks in Crisis Core Reunion

Superior than the original in every way

There are some games where the original outshines later versions or remasters. Crisis Core seems to beat the original in almost single way. The visual in-game models are almost the same as Final Fantasy VII Remake models. It’s so evident in the way the characters look and feel. A side by side comparison of the original PlayStation Portable version with this remaster easily shows how completely different and masterful this version is. Square Enix ought to be commended for their colossal efforts here in doing more than just a simple remaster.

In addition to visuals, the gameplay is markedly improved with the action role playing elements being much more smooth and easy to navigate. Instead of navigating a menu to perform actions, all the buttons have certain actions mapped and any additional actions made available from equipped Materia are assigned to the R2 button. The Digital Mind Wave has been improved so that when it modulates for a limit break or summon, it doesn’t interrupt the flow of battle.

A remastered cinematic when Odin is summoned with the Digital Mind Wave

All the summons get new cinematics. This makes a lot of sense given that Ifrit needed to look more alike to its counterpart in Final Fantasy VII Remake. It’s also nice to get a glimpse of the upcoming summons likes Odin and Phoenix.

Almost every line of dialogue is voice-acted. This is a really nice improvement and quality of life change. I am used to most of the original English voice actors, but am now getting quite used to the new voice actors. In the fanbase, I know there are quite vocal criticisms of Zack’s new voice actor, but I feel he does a decent job of it. He offers a chirpy version of Zack who sounds more down-to-earth.

Is it worth picking up?

Crisis Core Reunion is definitely worth playing because it gives necessary background to an important character, Zack Fair, and even provides useful insights into existing characters like Sephiroth, Tseng, Cloud and Tifa. It is known that Zack will play some role in the next Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and this game gives many more fans an opportunity to experience his story before the next game.

Although I am quite impressed with so many of the upgrades, I feel they should have redone all the cinematics to make them consistent with Final Fantasy VII Remake models, because its evident that the cinematic models don’t exactly match their non-cinematic models, and I would have liked for them to add more content whether in the way of new story or additional bosses.

An annoyance from me, as a PlayStation trophy hunter, is that some of the achievements for the game are just ridiculous and down-right silly to obtain. Some of the mini-games and side quests are either once-off or miss-able content and there is no way to go back without replaying the whole game. While it is possible to have multiple save spots, it’s not the ideal way to collect trophies.