Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion – Review

Everything was done for the greater good, which somehow just happens to coincide with the personal interests of a few elites.

The monopoly of power breeds monsters – that is the lesson Crisis Core, the game that tells the story leading up to Final Fantasy VII, tries to teach us. Governments, corporations and any entity with unlimited access to resources and absolute control over the media will inevitably end up committing abuses… And after ruining lives and wrecking other people's efforts, they will argue that it was all done for the greater good, which somehow just happens to coincide with the personal interests of a few elites.

The Final Fantasy VII universe isn't often discussed in a cyberpunk context. Yet the story is packed with lab-made super soldiers, monopolistic mega-corporations and seemingly absurd wars fought to impose economic measures that matter more than occupying territory. At the heart of it all is Mako energy, the lifeblood of the planet – something so efficient and cheap to exploit that it can power every corner of civilisation. And yes, it is quite clearly a metaphor for nuclear power.

The monopoly on producing and distributing Mako energy belongs to the Shinra Corporation – an entity so influential that even the offices of elected politicians sit inside the company's headquarters. And to spread the use of Mako energy across the globe, Shinra raises its own army: police, military, super soldiers (the SOLDIER division) and a secret service (the Turks).

Crisis Core drops you into the middle of this world through the eyes of Zack Fair, a young soldier who has accepted genetic modification with Mako energy in exchange for superhuman powers. Zack is thus used as a pawn in Shinra's war against the primitives of Wutai – the last bastion of resistance against the use of Mako energy.

Through Zack, you end up slaughtering hordes of helpless natives who are doing nothing more than defending their fortress against a threat that completely outclasses their military kit. But it's all fine, precisely because the end justifies the means: our hero Zack happens to believe blindly in the noble, civilising purpose he is serving.

And somehow that's all it takes: well-meaning, naive people carrying out orders, guided by a moral compass whose north points towards authority. Zack Fair is convinced he is the good guy in this story because:

Mako energy is good and useful;
Shinra runs everything under the Sun (and even funds a space exploration project);
The people of Wutai are unreasoning savages. If they are stuck in an outdated mindset, then they must be forced to become free and prosperous.

CRISIS CORE is a tragic story, but a necessary one to explain the events of Final Fantasy VII

Over the course of Crisis Core's adventure, Zack climbs the ranks all the way to the top level of the SOLDIER hierarchy. What's more, he meets Aerith and falls in love with her – and yes, this is the very same young lady my colleague Bogdan Menci described in GRIND 2 as “a sort of demure, immaculately turned-out, delicate good girl you want to roll around with among the church flowers”. These events change our protagonist: where he was once a zealous supporter of Shinra's expansion, he later comes to doubt the mission he is carrying out and even ends up an enemy of the cause he had blindly championed.

It's a tragic story, but a necessary one to explain the events of Final Fantasy VII. And until December 2022 it was available only on the PlayStation Portable. The whole game is built to be played in 10-minute sessions, so you can knock out entire missions during a break at school, in the gap between two bus stops, or during a less hurried sitting on the loo. For the same reason, although the game has been remastered for PlayStation and Xbox, I opted for the Nintendo Switch version. It comes closest to the original released on PSP in 2007.

In principle, the main story can be finished in about 14 hours. But to unlock abilities strong enough to take down the final enemies (and yes, you get an epic three-act battle with Sephiroth), you'll need to do a bit of grinding. Fortunately, there are hundreds of side missions… so many that they can triple the time you spend in Crisis Core, and they offer scenarios far tougher than anything you meet while following the main story.

Crisis Core also introduces two important characters who don't appear in Final Fantasy VII: Genesis and Angeal. The first is Zack Fair's mentor and the very first elite soldier of the SOLDIER brigade. He was exposed to Mako radiation before anyone else, and he is the one who notices his powers fading over time. On the other side stands Angeal: a narcissist who recites passages from the Shakespearean play Loveless and aspires to be the most loved, famous and esteemed of all the elite fighters Shinra has created. If Genesis is the prototype, then Angeal wants to be the superior version.

In a way that is utterly predictable for the series and its story, both of them end up dying towards the end of the game. But the most important thing about their existence, which sets a significant precedent for the Final Fantasy VII universe, is that Shinra is forever rewriting history to offer explanations that are barely credible but handy for holding on to authority. Like the Party in George Orwell's novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, ordinary citizens are treated to a veritable feast of information in which major characters appear, vanish, or are wiped from the records altogether. In Crisis Core the situation goes a little further: near the game's climax, Zack Fair learns of his own death from an internal email Shinra sends to all its employees. And although I've given you a few juicy story details, I guarantee there are plenty of surprises and twists still waiting – because in totalitarian regimes, life and death are just bureaucratic formalities.

What's more, throughout the game you control a single character: Zack Fair, a second-class elite soldier… who is on the verge of getting the promotion he's been longing for. Zack's swordsmanship is fairly rudimentary at the start, but he can expand his powers through complex manoeuvres and spells gained by equipping Materia orbs. Depending on your preferences, you can turn him into a skilled swordsman or into a mage who rarely gets into close-quarters duels. What I found, though, is that a middle-of-the-road approach, combined with a little grinding to level up the Materia orbs, works wonders in almost every situation.

On top of that, Zack Fair has thoughts and feelings during battle. If a particular character who stirs strong emotions happens to cross his mind, he can unleash a devastating attack on his enemies. In practical terms, a three-slot roulette spins on screen, showing portraits of his friends and comrades-in-arms. At certain moments, Zack may think of his idol Genesis and copy his attack. Or he may remember his beloved Aerith and recover some health points. It is a seemingly random roulette, but your chances of landing a lucky combination rise as you keep attacking enemies – so a passive approach in battle is discouraged.

Square Enix made a bold choice in releasing Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion between the two instalments of the Final Fantasy VII remake. Especially as the events involving Zack Fair are a major spoiler for the central revelation of the original Final Fantasy VII – in short, Cloud is living a lie in which he has taken on Zack's identity. It should be said, though, that in the remake the Japanese studio has shown it intends to rewrite certain events to sow confusion and mystery among players. So it is no mistake that Square wants us to learn Zack's story before Rebirth (the second part of the remake) arrives in February 2024. And as a fan of the series, I can only admire the love and attention to detail its creators have shown. They could have told exactly the same story with prettier graphics, but they opted for something far more special: they pushed the limits of the very concept of a “remake” and most likely redefined it entirely. Honestly, I can't wait to find out what happens in Rebirth.

All told, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is a worthy remaster of a title that became obscure precisely because it was a PSP exclusive in 2007. It clearly has its place in the Final Fantasy VII story universe, but it works more as a prologue to what comes next.

If the next game is called Rebirth, will we get a surprise return of the characters who died in Crisis Core? There's only one way to find out! Until then, if you're a fan of cyberpunk stories laced with Orwellian elements, I recommend giving Crisis Core a chance. It might be just the introduction you need to come to appreciate the Final Fantasy VII universe.