Buy Final Fantasy 7 Remake

Final Fantasy 7 Remake only covers the five-hour-long Midgar section of the game. The breakdown is about 90% absurdly loyal remake of the first five hours of the game and 10% new stuff. I found that I was willing to go along with the new stuff because the actual game was so faithful and enjoyable that it earned enough of my trust to give the new stuff a chance. FF7 Remake expects the player to have a knowledge of the original game and some of the other extended universe games, like Crisis Core. This is a solid stand-alone title, but a lot will be lost if this is your first experience with FF7.

Cloud Strife, a magically powered soldier, is hired by a group of eco-terrorists called Avalanche to aid them in their fight against the Shinra power company. Shinra has a monopoly on Mako Energy, which provides electricity by drawing energy from the planet, slowly killing it in the process. Avalanche's bombings puts them in the crosshairs of Shinra and a certain silver-haired antagonist.

FF7's story is more relevant today than when it was originally released in 1997. While it's absurd in many ways, it's still an interesting story with a strong ecological message. FF7R doesn't tone down the silliness of the original game, but the humor and absurdity make it endearing and memorable.

A big part of this is that the characters are excellent. FF7's cast is translated near-perfectly, retaining the same personality they had in the original games but more well-rounded. Cloud veers between incredibly talented mercenary and massive dork. Aerith is impishly playful and seems to enjoy trolling everyone. Barret looks like a take-no-nonsense terrorist but is fluffy as a marshmallow on the inside. Tifa is incredibly cool and capable while still having moments of vulnerability and humanity. This extends to the entire cast, who all get some form of development that makes them feel like more than one-note characters. (Some of the villains still fall into that category, though.) This is a game that is immensely loyal to the original even when it is changing things up.

This is what helps FF7R shine. Technically, it's a small amount of plot stretched over a full game's length, but it feels well done. It helps that Midgar was one of the most memorable parts of FF7, and the remake basically takes every area and makes it bigger. What might have been two or three rooms in the original game is now an entire dungeon, and what might have been a regular enemy is now a memorable miniboss. Small side characters now have their own side-quests, and a few twists inject tension into an otherwise "known" story.

There is inevitably going to be some controversy about the game's ending. It's hard to discuss without spoilers, but some people may find it to be frustrating. That was my initial reaction, but once I had time to think about it, I was OK with the direction it took. Up until that point, the game had earned my trust, so I'm willing to see what happens next. The follow-up is still going to be at least two or three years off, so we'll have to see if the second game in the series can cash the checks that this title wrote.

The gameplay in FF7R is excellent. It does away with the turn-based combat of the original, although there is an automated mode for those who don't feel comfortable with action combat. Instead, you have a party of three who you control directly. You can attack, block and dodge, and you can also swap between characters with a button press. You can also order the inactive members of your party to use moves or magic. There's more RPG than action here, and the timing is fairly forgiving.

The Stagger meter figures prominently in the game. Every attack you perform damages the enemy, but most enemies resist damage unless you can Stagger them, at which point they become incredibly vulnerable. Some enemies build Stagger by being attacked, but others need to be pressured more. Every enemy has a different Stagger trigger. For example, flamethrower-wielding troopers need to be hit in their tanks, and giant robots need to have their arms destroyed first. If you exploit an enemy's weakness, they go into a state called Pressure, where their Stagger damage becomes much higher.

Boss battles play with this a lot. Your goal is to Stagger them so you can unload damage, but that may require good timing and tactics. You may need to hit them with certain magic at certain times or trick them into hitting certain things. FF7R's boss battles are a delight filled with cinematic moments. They feel like the battles that existed in my mind when I played the original game.

Each character has an Active Time Battle (ATB) gauge, and a special move costs at least one ATB bar. Special moves are any action besides basic attacks, blocking, and movement. The ATB gauge fills up naturally over time; it goes more quickly if you're attacking, and the active character's ATB refills much faster than the gauge of inactive characters. Whoever you are controlling will also be the target of enemy attacks, so you'll need to be careful to not spend too much time as squishy Aerith unless you know the enemies are otherwise occupied.

This may sound limiting, but it isn't. The game expects you to constantly swap between characters to take advantage of enemy's strengths and weaknesses. Each character has special moves with different effects. Barret can buff himself or take damage for allies, Tifa can improve her own combat speed or Stagger enemies faster. Aerith can plant wards that allow for double-casting of magic or summon fairies to help her fight. Cloud can do everything from counterattack to shoot lasers from his sword. Since you use these moves regularly, they feel really cool to use.

Each character has a unique move that's part of his/her basic combos. Cloud has Punisher mode, which allows him to instantly counter any melee attacks and perform more powerful slashes at the cost of defense. Barret has a Charge that either fires a powerful blast or allows him to charge into enemies face-first, depending on whether he's armed with a ranged or melee weapon. Tifa has Martial Arts, which get more powerful the more she uses her personal buff. Aerith has Tempest, a powerful magic attack that can be charged for more damage.

Beyond that, each character can also be built in different ways with the Materia and Weapon system. Every weapon and armor you find has a certain number of Materia slots, so you can equip Materia to grant magic spells, buff your character, or unlock new moves. Some Materia can even be linked, so you can increase their effects and give yourself immunity to certain damage types. Materia also levels as you use it, and it can be freely swapped between characters.

In FF7R, weapons are no longer straight upgrades. Instead, each weapon has its own upgrade tree that gradually makes it specialize in something. Some are built for magic, quick attack speed, defense, and so on. Each weapon has a built-in skill that can be permanently learned by using the weapon, which allows you to do even more complex builds. For example, it's very easy to make Cloud into a strong physical attacker. With a different weapon, you can make him the party healer, taking advantage of the strong magic stat and his Blade Beam attack to keep him effectively damaging and healing in equal measure. Every character can fill every niche, so you're not stuck with a team that can't do what you need.

This is good because the game doesn't have much flexibility in characters. FF7R has static set party members for the entire game, except for one optional arena area. Every character leaves your party for a little while, and some leave for large chunks of time. Particularly disappointing is that Red XIII, a party member from the original game, only shows up as a non-playable guest character despite being around for a fair chunk of the endgame. Most of this is true to the original title, but it is pretty disappointing if you don't see your favorite character for hours of gameplay.

The core gameplay is fairly linear. You're generally going toward your next destination with little deviation, but there are side paths and hidden treasures to discover. At several set times in the game, you'll get some downtime to do side-quests for people, and you gain rewards such as special items and fun plotlines. There is some variation, including one chapter that has multiple possible outcomes, but the only time you have the freedom to explore is near the endgame, when you can backtrack to complete a number of side-quests. Once you finish the game, you can return to any previous chapter with your equipment and levels intact, and you can even take on a challenging Hard mode, which limits items and healing.

Fortunately, the linearity is disguised well with engaging and interesting set pieces in almost every area. The game constantly swaps what you're doing and throws in enough random minigames and weird diversions, so it doesn't feel that linear unless you're looking for it. There are a couple of times when it shamelessly reuses a dungeon or boss, but for the most part, you're going to run into something new in a new area. The game isn't short, with a 25- to 30-hour runtime; it'll probably take longer if you intend to do all of the side-quests.

Most of all, FF7R is a lot of fun. The game has a sense of humor and whimsy about it. Your time in dungeons is broken up by visits to towns and completing side-quests, so you rarely feel like you're doing the same thing over and over. Despite knowing the story and characters, I never really got bored. There's enough additional – and occasionally new – content to drive home how fun the game is to play.

Graphically, the characters are exceedingly well animated, and many of the cut scenes are fantastically directed. There are some very noticeable issues with low-quality textures or slow loading, and the use of prerendered backgrounds can be very noticeable at times. It's not enough to ruin things, but the occasional slow loading or bad texture can be distracting. The voice acting is excellent, and it's easily the best-acted Final Fantasy game to date. Every character knocks their role out of the park. Most of the characters have been recast, and that works in the game's favor. The soundtrack is also phenomenal, combining amazing remixes of the original songs with some new tunes that fit the various scenes extremely well.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a love letter to the original game. With likeable characters, engaging gameplay, and clever twists and turns, FF7R does everything that it needs to. An over-reliance on pre-existing knowledge of FF7 may make it a tough introduction for new players. The strong writing and excellent gameplay should carry newcomers over the finish line, even if they're confused by things by the end. The ending might be a little controversial, but the rest of the game sets up such a strong base that I can't wait for Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2.

Score: 9.0/10