Square Enix could have easily done what a greater majority of gaming companies do, port the original Crisis Core—despite some of the legal issues that may have brought with it—and just slapped a full price tag on it without much care. Luckily, like Final Fantasy VII Remake, Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion got the rework treatment by completely overhauling the visuals, gameplay, and various other elements while retaining the main systems that made Crisis Core on the PSP so incredible.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion stars—as we said earlier—Zack is a 2nd Class SOLDIER who is being trained by his mentor Angeal. After a great desertion takes place at Shinra from another 1st Class SOLDIER named Genesis, Zack and Angeal need to begin an investigation into why this incident took place and if there is a way to stop this legendary warrior before he causes trouble. Unlike traditional Final Fantasy games, Crisis Core mixes action elements like Kingdom Hearts with RPG systems. Players will swing through enemies all while using magic and summons. Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion keeps these concepts still in play including the weird DMW system—Digital Mind Wave—which is like a constant slot machine game playing in the background that leads to Zack’s ability to use special attacks/summons and gain various status effects like infinite MP/AP. What we love is Reunion doesn’t need to revamp the systems we remember from the PSP original to still be good, Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion is a fun action RPG that still has some depth even in 2022!

Like Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion has gotten a lot of love—clearly not as much as Remake—which shows in almost every way. Everything from the character models, environments, cutscenes, and music/voice acting has been altered or changed enough to warrant an almost full price tag. Combat still feels smooth where players use Zack’s abilities to guard, dodge, and unleash magic, and AP-based attacks to decimate their enemies. It’s a very simple system that again mirrors titles like Kingdom Hearts but it keeps battles fun, quick, and story-focused. Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion really is all about the story of seeing Zack grow from his “puppy” demeanor to a man who values heroism but questions all that he thought he knew about what being a hero/SOLDIER really means. We won’t spoil it—even if you played Final Fantasy VII Remake you’ll still be surprised—but Zack’s story sometimes is more interesting than Cloud’s which is shocking.

The worst element of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion is without a doubt the repetitive nature of this title. Despite being set in the expansive world of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core feels like a mini-version of the world you knew with barely much to do or explore. You’ll frequently be running ten feet before entering a battle—none of which is random—and then repeating that cycle a billion more times. Several chapters let you explore the world a bit more for story reasons but the first several and later several chapters are linear affairs that really never change. Battles also aren’t too complicated even on harder difficulty settings due to the DMW which can literally keep you alive with infinite MP/AP or give you the ability to endure a fatal blow. Even if you are new to Crisis Core, we HIGHLY recommend bumping the difficulty up to enjoy the combat a tad more.

There is no doubt in our minds fans who played the original years ago are wondering, is Reunion worth playing now in 2022? Our answer is, absolutely! Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion feels like a brand-new game with all the little updates/fixes. Plus, if you’re like us, you have to ask yourself when was the last time you actually played Crisis Core on your PSP. There were plenty of moments that we forgot about and it’s like watching a movie a decade later while you might have seen it enough times to memorize a lot of it but there’s always a moment or two that shocks you. We just loved reliving Zack’s story and seeing what led to the plot of Final Fantasy VII proper.