Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is, on some accounts, nothing extraordinary. The open world is full of things that would make a Ubisoft game blush; however, some side quests and mini games are incredible. Chadley may be the most annoying companion I have ever had to suffer through. The story is mind bending--much like other Square Enix titles Kingdom Hearts, but with this game only covering up until the end of disc one, it is easy to feel like the plot isn't going anywhere. If anything, the game ends right after things start to pick up. The combat, much like its predecessor, Final Fantasy VII Remake, is an amazing blend between contemporary action games like Devil May Cry or God of War mixed the revolutionary ATB system that was introduced in Final Fantasy IV.
I'm going to be going in-depth with each of these segments: open world and side content, story and presentation, and combat--in that order. This review will be spoiler-free.
The open world is exactly what you would expect from a AAA game. It takes most of its inspiration from cookie cutter, copy and paste games like Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Ghost of Tsushima. I think Ghost of Tsushima especially is an interesting point of comparison with how CBU1 has decided to craft each of the regions. I feel like Ghost of Tsushima is slightly above the likes of Assassin's Creed and the like when it comes to side content. Sure, you have the open world tropes of towers and enemy camps, but you also have these side missions with certain characters that tell an overarching story that is both separate and in tandem with the main story. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth does this as well.
The characters and mini games that stay throughout the story have a lasting impact on your judgement of the world and of each of the characters in your party. Having party members be companions in the side quests really deepen your relationship with each of the characters. Chadley and MAI are the most annoying companions I have suffered through in a game. After doing what feels like any kind of open world item, either Chadley or MAI will butt in and tell you that they analyzed what you did, or there's a new battle simulator, etc. It really bogs down the pace. Many of the side quests range from good to great. The mini games in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth are also usually great. Everyone knows that Queen's Blood is fantastic, but some other great mini games in Rebirth include Chocobo Racing and the performance of Loveless. There is also a frog mini game similar to Fall Guys' Jump Club that I loved too. The dolphin race is also quite fun.
Something this remake trilogy has done so far that I love is how much it makes you care for each of your party members. The performances of each character is noticeably better than Final Fantasy VII Remake's, and that lets you get immersed with each character's story. The chemistry between each character also reminds me of the original Final Fantasy VII as well as Naughty Dog titles like The Last of Us Part II and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Hearing the characters talk about their interests, their doubts, their aspirations... it's all top-tier stuff.
Speaking of performances though, my main gripe is that the game is quite inconsistent when it comes to its presentation. Some parts can look incredible--a real showpiece for what these consoles can do--but it is let down by some things that can look a full generation behind. Some textures are low res, the shadows in the game can look terrible, the lighting can sometimes look really out of place, and the pop in is atrocious. These issues were also present in Final Fantasy VII Remake on PS4, but they were completely fixed in its Intergrade update for PS5. Because of this, I was really hoping that Rebirth would not suffer from these issues.
Graphical woes aside, though, the game is able to tell its story well. The inclusion of Zack is interesting, and the expansion of most areas are great. Seeing each of the locations in the original with contemporary graphics is truly a sight to behold. I found myself constantly saying to myself, "Hey this is exactly like the original!" and "Huh, they changed some stuff around." It's a remake, so this is to be expected; however, I was surprised that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was able to modernize each of these locations. The filler from Remake is still here, and most of the time I didn't find it to be too distracting. Some places overstay their welcome--especially towards the end of the game. I will not be going into specifics about the story or the ending here, but I will say that it has me extremely interested to see how part three of this remake saga will go.
The combat of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has some nice additions upon Final Fantasy VII Remake's already incredible combat system. The main addition to Rebirth's arsenal is the synergy abilities. These, like limit breaks, are really flashy and they can give you various effects like splitting your ATB bar into three, making your limit break level go up, etc. There are also synergy skills that allow two characters to perform an attack together--just like synergy abilities--but these skills do not give the characters any effects. Instead, these are more like normal abilities--meaning that they only deal damage.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a massive game that I enjoyed nearly every minute of. I have put in 90 hours, but I still have some things to do. I still need to finish up the combat trials and 100% every mini game. I don't think any game is going to come close to beating this as game of the year for me. This formula is what Final Fantasy should be going forward. It marries the old Final Fantasy with the new, and it does so almost perfectly.
I'm going to be going in-depth with each of these segments: open world and side content, story and presentation, and combat--in that order. This review will be spoiler-free.
The open world is exactly what you would expect from a AAA game. It takes most of its inspiration from cookie cutter, copy and paste games like Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Ghost of Tsushima. I think Ghost of Tsushima especially is an interesting point of comparison with how CBU1 has decided to craft each of the regions. I feel like Ghost of Tsushima is slightly above the likes of Assassin's Creed and the like when it comes to side content. Sure, you have the open world tropes of towers and enemy camps, but you also have these side missions with certain characters that tell an overarching story that is both separate and in tandem with the main story. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth does this as well.
The characters and mini games that stay throughout the story have a lasting impact on your judgement of the world and of each of the characters in your party. Having party members be companions in the side quests really deepen your relationship with each of the characters. Chadley and MAI are the most annoying companions I have suffered through in a game. After doing what feels like any kind of open world item, either Chadley or MAI will butt in and tell you that they analyzed what you did, or there's a new battle simulator, etc. It really bogs down the pace. Many of the side quests range from good to great. The mini games in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth are also usually great. Everyone knows that Queen's Blood is fantastic, but some other great mini games in Rebirth include Chocobo Racing and the performance of Loveless. There is also a frog mini game similar to Fall Guys' Jump Club that I loved too. The dolphin race is also quite fun.
Something this remake trilogy has done so far that I love is how much it makes you care for each of your party members. The performances of each character is noticeably better than Final Fantasy VII Remake's, and that lets you get immersed with each character's story. The chemistry between each character also reminds me of the original Final Fantasy VII as well as Naughty Dog titles like The Last of Us Part II and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Hearing the characters talk about their interests, their doubts, their aspirations... it's all top-tier stuff.
Speaking of performances though, my main gripe is that the game is quite inconsistent when it comes to its presentation. Some parts can look incredible--a real showpiece for what these consoles can do--but it is let down by some things that can look a full generation behind. Some textures are low res, the shadows in the game can look terrible, the lighting can sometimes look really out of place, and the pop in is atrocious. These issues were also present in Final Fantasy VII Remake on PS4, but they were completely fixed in its Intergrade update for PS5. Because of this, I was really hoping that Rebirth would not suffer from these issues.
Graphical woes aside, though, the game is able to tell its story well. The inclusion of Zack is interesting, and the expansion of most areas are great. Seeing each of the locations in the original with contemporary graphics is truly a sight to behold. I found myself constantly saying to myself, "Hey this is exactly like the original!" and "Huh, they changed some stuff around." It's a remake, so this is to be expected; however, I was surprised that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was able to modernize each of these locations. The filler from Remake is still here, and most of the time I didn't find it to be too distracting. Some places overstay their welcome--especially towards the end of the game. I will not be going into specifics about the story or the ending here, but I will say that it has me extremely interested to see how part three of this remake saga will go.
The combat of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has some nice additions upon Final Fantasy VII Remake's already incredible combat system. The main addition to Rebirth's arsenal is the synergy abilities. These, like limit breaks, are really flashy and they can give you various effects like splitting your ATB bar into three, making your limit break level go up, etc. There are also synergy skills that allow two characters to perform an attack together--just like synergy abilities--but these skills do not give the characters any effects. Instead, these are more like normal abilities--meaning that they only deal damage.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a massive game that I enjoyed nearly every minute of. I have put in 90 hours, but I still have some things to do. I still need to finish up the combat trials and 100% every mini game. I don't think any game is going to come close to beating this as game of the year for me. This formula is what Final Fantasy should be going forward. It marries the old Final Fantasy with the new, and it does so almost perfectly.