Compared to the few hours I played of Final Fantasy VII Remake back in 2022 – before I played the original game – this full playthrough I recently did for the first time had a much different impact. The way the game opens, the remixed soundtrack and its iconic cues and themes from the original, it wasn't difficult to see it's all very familiar and faithful right from the getgo. This feeling ebbs and flows throughout, with many callbacks and reprised moments alongside several new parts too.
By the end, I could see that whilst it certainly had condensed the original's opening Midgar sections into one entire game, there was also a lot of new going on that helps justify its length. The end result is a game that's brilliant at its highest moments, and a considerable step down at its lowest, sporting a few flaws throughout. However, with what this game sets out to accomplish, I can easily say that it strongly succeeds in recreating and revitalising the Midgar segments from the original title in a number of ways.
Not to get too bogged down in graphics, but I do want to say at the top that visually speaking, the art style and presentation of FFVII Remake is striking to say the least. Some areas aren’t as good as others, but I was often in awe of the various locations the game takes you through, thanks to their fantastic lighting and great attention to detail. The character models of the main cast here are the true stars of the show, realising the crew from 1997 in fantastic detail, complete with glorious animation that lets all of them be presented authentically. I especially loved Aerith's very bubbly and endearing attitude, whilst Cloud's introversion and Barret's comedy and passion are equally as perfect, as is the caring and loyal Tifa. I'm genuinely fascinated by how the characters look in this game, and even back in 2022, I knew that were a Jak and Daxter remake ever a possibility, this would be the way to do it.
As for the game itself, the story setup is essentially identical to the original, and all the same cast are here too. Since the entire game is set in Midgar, following the original's opening segment at Mako Reactor 1, there's a lot more time and focus given to the Avalanche crew and the events that take up the second half of this game. It does this, all while maintaining essentially all of the key moments from the original - which I reviewed last month. Some are altered, others extended, and a select few gone completely, but in hindsight, there's very little that feels missing, and it's a damn good recreation of all those events without being a straight 1-1, or totally trying to rewrite every aspect.
Remake’s pacing isn't as good as the original, but there's also a lot more depth to characters, and much of what's added rarely feels shoehorned in, making those additions feel like they fit in well. However, there most certainly are some questionable sections that I'm still left wondering as to why they were included. One in particular involves giant mech hands you have to move to be able to pass through an area, but controlling these mechanical hands is so sluggish and really drags the pacing of the game down. There were still some good moments here – and some banging music – that helped alleviate some of the issues, but it’s still largely one of the slowest moments of the game.
For the most part though, the new content is fairly solid – even if it results in longer gaps between core events, it usually connects them pretty well, and I was shocked but impressed at just how many iconic elements they kept from the original. Even if things are moved around, they’re usually presented exceptionally well that make them feel all the more surprising when revealed.
On the whole, this recreation of the story is handled rather well, going the extra mile too, with its own twists and elements that seem like they'll go on to be relevant in the following titles, leading to plenty of theorising in the meantime.
What it leads to is that this first part in the remake trilogy acts as more of an extension to the original rather than pretending to be the definitive way to experience it. Not only does that show respect to the original, making it hold even greater value and importance to these newer titles, the choices in writing here are a fun way to make the story intriguing on a deeper level for those who have already played the original, who want to explore Midgar and its inhabitants further, whilst still presenting the general point A-B for those entirely new.
I’ll readily admit that certain new elements were at first confusing to me, but with theories in mind, I've come to appreciate them and where it seems directors Tetsuya Nomura and Naoki Hamaguchi are taking this remake trilogy. It's all quite a fascinating study, and I've only grown to appreciate – what seems like – the narrative intention more since I finished it.
In terms of how Midgar has been recreated in Remake, there's a lot of brilliant callbacks with intricately rebuilt spaces that are often very close to the original, and essentially 1-1 in many cases. There's also a lot of expansion here too which often affects how the story plays out — similar to what I was saying earlier, some events fit in and feel like a natural extension, whereas others pad the game a bit too much. It's all good having new elements, but when they feel disjointed or mess with the flow of the game, you have to ask as to the reasoning behind their inclusion.
This actually happens around just over halfway through, during a segment that’s leading up to one of the most important plot points. Whilst it has some touching character moments, its particular placement and how the cutscenes spliced in are building up what comes next, on top of the mini-narrative that plays out led to me questioning its inclusion since it felt so disconnected from the main events. It’s difficult to anticipate the upcoming major event when the here and now is off on a largely-irrelevant tangent.
This section doesn’t add any genuine urgency, and it's only really the character development here that adds proper weight. Even if it is fairly compelling in its own way, its placement is an odd one to say the least, and it ends up doing a disservice to both the mini-narrative it weaves in and the moments that follow, and that’s a shame because the execution of what follows is handled exceptionally well, and is no doubt one of the best bits of the whole game.
Whilst we’re on the topic of pacing, the game also has a high number of ‘squeeze-throughs’, an inclusion I'm very much used to as a fan of several first party PlayStation games, but they seemed in abundance here and often really slowed the game down. They may be there to load the next area, but you don't get more obvious than Remake's consistent inclusion of them that might be some of the most annoying usage I’ve seen in any game.
Another area that's seen more or less a complete overhaul is combat. Retaining a few elements from the original, Final Fantasy VII Remake is bold, making its set of four party members all playable. Each with their own weapons, abilities, upgrades and moveset, each character feels almost as well-thought-out as Cloud. This not only stops the game from becoming too repetitive – especially when in a full party of 3 – but also gets you thinking about combat in different ways, particularly as you figure out enemy weaknesses and understanding how to fill their Stagger gauge. This actually felt like a learning process throughout my first playthrough, and I was still learning new things even towards the end of the game.
One aspect I’m mixed on is the necessity of the 'Assess' Materia that has to be equipped to a weapon/armour slot to be used. It doesn't get in the way too much, but since it's so useful – and the fact that it's only helpful once per enemy with it saving their info after each use – it felt like I always had to have it equipped, which then meant one Materia slot was always in use by it. Maybe it could be considered a difficulty-focused item I suppose, letting players choose if they want to learn enemy weaknesses themselves, or just have the game tell them, but when you’re mid-battle and have had it swapped out, you’re then stuck in the decision of do you want to restart the fight just to equip it, or just hope the enemy shows up again at some later point.
Ultimately it's not a huge issue, but for something that feels so essential, I almost feel like it should be baked in as part of your general moveset somehow. Maybe it’s just a carryover from the original, but the difference is, in the original it made sense as the game never saves enemy weaknesses in a menu (as far as I know), so it's in a bit of a strange design space here in Remake.
Another aspect I wasn't super into was the weapon upgrading. Whilst it was cool to level up and have points to put into weapons, it was difficult to track what upgrades were on which weapons, as well as know where points should be placed, and how to really employ those weapons and upgrades in combat. The game doesn't make a note of this anywhere but the upgrade screen, so you can't even compare your weapons in the equipment screen or effectively build each one differently in a way that’s visible at a glance. Whilst there’s some depth here, this system ended up feeling hollow, better off left up to the game's automated upgrade function rather than something to properly delve into and learn inside and out.
As for combat on the whole though, its moment-to-moment gameplay is a blast, and only grew on me the deeper I understood its systems and characters, the weaknesses of enemies, and the evolved Materia system.
For those unaware, the combat system here essentially has you attacking enemies with each character’s main and special attacks – mapped to square and triangle respectively – to build up ‘ATB Charges’, which you then expend to execute various commands, spells, and abilities.
When you first get started it does feel a bit simplistic, and later in the game it can feel like you’re constantly in the menu which can disrupt the flow of combat, but on the whole, when you have a full party of three, there’s a lot of fun that can be had with this combat and it has a nice tactical edge that has you weighing up what abilities and spells to use, and when – Assess Materia depending.
The biggest flaw in combat is probably aerial combat, where some encounters didn't play too well depending on the party makeup you’re stuck with at any given point. With no dedicated jump button, if enemies are in the air and outside of the playspace, when stuck with melee-based characters, there’s nothing you can do besides coax them back in or wait for your ATB gauge to fill up and fire off a spell. These particular instances are very, very rare – maybe only like one or two encounters in the whole game – but it never felt great to have enemies be inaccessible like this.
When you have either Aerith or Barret with you, the pain is lessened thanks to their ranged attacks and it is nice to have a reason to swap to them during these moments, but when they’re not around – or incapacitated – ranged and aerial combat is where battles become tedious and the flaws of this combat system are laid to bare. Considering it took me about 50-or-so hours to near-100% this game however, you’re looking at a very minor selection of encounters all things considered.
Since this is part one of three in the Final Fantasy VII remake project, something you’ll notice playing this game is that it doesn’t reach the full open expanse of what happens beyond the walls of Midgar in the original. That narrative and level design approach remains true here in Remake where it’s all quite linear with only a few areas that you can truly wander around in and explore. Furthermore, there's a limitation to how and when you travel around the world, and there’s only one particular point in the game that lets you move around freely.
This wasn’t a huge problem, but there is some concern when you’re several hours in and see items in unreachable locations – you’re left to just assume you will return at some point, even without any clear indication of that in the moment. Generally, I appreciate the dedication to embodying the linear-style opening of the original, but having the way to complete old side quests and collect missed items be via a chapter select unlocked after beating the game can feel a bit weird even if it makes sense with the narrative in mind.
Due to this, it also means having to retread some of the slowest sections of the game to net various trophies and objectives. To me, there’s some smoothing out that could’ve been done here, but it’s a minor gripe ultimately, and I liked the game enough to redo these sections and even now I still want to play it, so that probably says more than my criticism here itself.
It also ties Hard Mode in as a New Game Plus only mode that loops in the chapter select too, and whilst I wasn’t sure at first on this approach, it actually works out nicely, letting you make progress in hard mode, and if you want to go increase your level, acquire a trophy, or grab something on Easy or Normal and then return to try again, that’s an option available to you. The game also handily tracks what missions you’ve beaten on Hard mode and it has its own additional rewards to earn as well, wrapping its implementation up rather neatly.
Outside of the main story, there’s also various bits of side content, with a fair bit to do. Whilst it has several slower, less-interesting side quests, it also has a few fun mini-games that again help Remake really stay true to the original game. Not just that, but it expands and adds to this pool with a multitude of its own standout moments and side characters – shoutout to Wall Market and the Honeybee Inn specifically.
On the side, there are also bonus challenge-like objectives you can work through with a character called Chadley who will develop new Materia as you complete these various tasks. They’re all relatively simple, but add a nice little checklist aspect to the game. Beyond that, there are also various arena challenges that can be engaged with, all with their own rewards. All-in-all, they’re a solid bit of variety that add further density to the game’s side content.
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When looking at my review holistically, there’s a fair number of criticisms here across several aspects of the game. Whilst I stand by them, I also can’t overstate how strong of a remake this is. They took what is probably the shortest section of the original and turned it into an entire game. There is for sure pacing issues and some needless padding at times, but it’s all in service of a title that gets so much else right. And when it gets it right, it does so nearly always without faltering, executing on the game’s biggest moments and making them as standout, if not moreso than they were in the original.
That said though, is it better than the original? Of course not, but it’s the first of three parts in the remake project, meaning it’s barely scratched the surface of the original’s most iconic moments. It’d be impossible for one part alone to be better than the whole of the original, especially considering just how good that 1997 release is.
From here into Rebirth however, the potential of this new reimagining is anything but underwhelming, with exceptional quality on the cards for the next two entries. Whilst they too may not end up as inherently ‘better’ than the original, it doesn’t mean they can’t be brilliant and surprise and delight in their own myriad of ways just like Remake does here. After playing the original and now Remake, and seeing a very limited set of trailers for Rebirth – that I’m intentionally doing my best to avoid for the sake of spoilers – I see just how tantalising the next two parts are to speculate and marinate on. It’s clear I’m well and truly in on this ride at this point – after all, there ain't no gettin’ offa this train!
By the end, I could see that whilst it certainly had condensed the original's opening Midgar sections into one entire game, there was also a lot of new going on that helps justify its length. The end result is a game that's brilliant at its highest moments, and a considerable step down at its lowest, sporting a few flaws throughout. However, with what this game sets out to accomplish, I can easily say that it strongly succeeds in recreating and revitalising the Midgar segments from the original title in a number of ways.
Not to get too bogged down in graphics, but I do want to say at the top that visually speaking, the art style and presentation of FFVII Remake is striking to say the least. Some areas aren’t as good as others, but I was often in awe of the various locations the game takes you through, thanks to their fantastic lighting and great attention to detail. The character models of the main cast here are the true stars of the show, realising the crew from 1997 in fantastic detail, complete with glorious animation that lets all of them be presented authentically. I especially loved Aerith's very bubbly and endearing attitude, whilst Cloud's introversion and Barret's comedy and passion are equally as perfect, as is the caring and loyal Tifa. I'm genuinely fascinated by how the characters look in this game, and even back in 2022, I knew that were a Jak and Daxter remake ever a possibility, this would be the way to do it.
As for the game itself, the story setup is essentially identical to the original, and all the same cast are here too. Since the entire game is set in Midgar, following the original's opening segment at Mako Reactor 1, there's a lot more time and focus given to the Avalanche crew and the events that take up the second half of this game. It does this, all while maintaining essentially all of the key moments from the original - which I reviewed last month. Some are altered, others extended, and a select few gone completely, but in hindsight, there's very little that feels missing, and it's a damn good recreation of all those events without being a straight 1-1, or totally trying to rewrite every aspect.
Remake’s pacing isn't as good as the original, but there's also a lot more depth to characters, and much of what's added rarely feels shoehorned in, making those additions feel like they fit in well. However, there most certainly are some questionable sections that I'm still left wondering as to why they were included. One in particular involves giant mech hands you have to move to be able to pass through an area, but controlling these mechanical hands is so sluggish and really drags the pacing of the game down. There were still some good moments here – and some banging music – that helped alleviate some of the issues, but it’s still largely one of the slowest moments of the game.
For the most part though, the new content is fairly solid – even if it results in longer gaps between core events, it usually connects them pretty well, and I was shocked but impressed at just how many iconic elements they kept from the original. Even if things are moved around, they’re usually presented exceptionally well that make them feel all the more surprising when revealed.
On the whole, this recreation of the story is handled rather well, going the extra mile too, with its own twists and elements that seem like they'll go on to be relevant in the following titles, leading to plenty of theorising in the meantime.
What it leads to is that this first part in the remake trilogy acts as more of an extension to the original rather than pretending to be the definitive way to experience it. Not only does that show respect to the original, making it hold even greater value and importance to these newer titles, the choices in writing here are a fun way to make the story intriguing on a deeper level for those who have already played the original, who want to explore Midgar and its inhabitants further, whilst still presenting the general point A-B for those entirely new.
I’ll readily admit that certain new elements were at first confusing to me, but with theories in mind, I've come to appreciate them and where it seems directors Tetsuya Nomura and Naoki Hamaguchi are taking this remake trilogy. It's all quite a fascinating study, and I've only grown to appreciate – what seems like – the narrative intention more since I finished it.
In terms of how Midgar has been recreated in Remake, there's a lot of brilliant callbacks with intricately rebuilt spaces that are often very close to the original, and essentially 1-1 in many cases. There's also a lot of expansion here too which often affects how the story plays out — similar to what I was saying earlier, some events fit in and feel like a natural extension, whereas others pad the game a bit too much. It's all good having new elements, but when they feel disjointed or mess with the flow of the game, you have to ask as to the reasoning behind their inclusion.
This actually happens around just over halfway through, during a segment that’s leading up to one of the most important plot points. Whilst it has some touching character moments, its particular placement and how the cutscenes spliced in are building up what comes next, on top of the mini-narrative that plays out led to me questioning its inclusion since it felt so disconnected from the main events. It’s difficult to anticipate the upcoming major event when the here and now is off on a largely-irrelevant tangent.
This section doesn’t add any genuine urgency, and it's only really the character development here that adds proper weight. Even if it is fairly compelling in its own way, its placement is an odd one to say the least, and it ends up doing a disservice to both the mini-narrative it weaves in and the moments that follow, and that’s a shame because the execution of what follows is handled exceptionally well, and is no doubt one of the best bits of the whole game.
Whilst we’re on the topic of pacing, the game also has a high number of ‘squeeze-throughs’, an inclusion I'm very much used to as a fan of several first party PlayStation games, but they seemed in abundance here and often really slowed the game down. They may be there to load the next area, but you don't get more obvious than Remake's consistent inclusion of them that might be some of the most annoying usage I’ve seen in any game.
Another area that's seen more or less a complete overhaul is combat. Retaining a few elements from the original, Final Fantasy VII Remake is bold, making its set of four party members all playable. Each with their own weapons, abilities, upgrades and moveset, each character feels almost as well-thought-out as Cloud. This not only stops the game from becoming too repetitive – especially when in a full party of 3 – but also gets you thinking about combat in different ways, particularly as you figure out enemy weaknesses and understanding how to fill their Stagger gauge. This actually felt like a learning process throughout my first playthrough, and I was still learning new things even towards the end of the game.
One aspect I’m mixed on is the necessity of the 'Assess' Materia that has to be equipped to a weapon/armour slot to be used. It doesn't get in the way too much, but since it's so useful – and the fact that it's only helpful once per enemy with it saving their info after each use – it felt like I always had to have it equipped, which then meant one Materia slot was always in use by it. Maybe it could be considered a difficulty-focused item I suppose, letting players choose if they want to learn enemy weaknesses themselves, or just have the game tell them, but when you’re mid-battle and have had it swapped out, you’re then stuck in the decision of do you want to restart the fight just to equip it, or just hope the enemy shows up again at some later point.
Ultimately it's not a huge issue, but for something that feels so essential, I almost feel like it should be baked in as part of your general moveset somehow. Maybe it’s just a carryover from the original, but the difference is, in the original it made sense as the game never saves enemy weaknesses in a menu (as far as I know), so it's in a bit of a strange design space here in Remake.
Another aspect I wasn't super into was the weapon upgrading. Whilst it was cool to level up and have points to put into weapons, it was difficult to track what upgrades were on which weapons, as well as know where points should be placed, and how to really employ those weapons and upgrades in combat. The game doesn't make a note of this anywhere but the upgrade screen, so you can't even compare your weapons in the equipment screen or effectively build each one differently in a way that’s visible at a glance. Whilst there’s some depth here, this system ended up feeling hollow, better off left up to the game's automated upgrade function rather than something to properly delve into and learn inside and out.
As for combat on the whole though, its moment-to-moment gameplay is a blast, and only grew on me the deeper I understood its systems and characters, the weaknesses of enemies, and the evolved Materia system.
For those unaware, the combat system here essentially has you attacking enemies with each character’s main and special attacks – mapped to square and triangle respectively – to build up ‘ATB Charges’, which you then expend to execute various commands, spells, and abilities.
When you first get started it does feel a bit simplistic, and later in the game it can feel like you’re constantly in the menu which can disrupt the flow of combat, but on the whole, when you have a full party of three, there’s a lot of fun that can be had with this combat and it has a nice tactical edge that has you weighing up what abilities and spells to use, and when – Assess Materia depending.
The biggest flaw in combat is probably aerial combat, where some encounters didn't play too well depending on the party makeup you’re stuck with at any given point. With no dedicated jump button, if enemies are in the air and outside of the playspace, when stuck with melee-based characters, there’s nothing you can do besides coax them back in or wait for your ATB gauge to fill up and fire off a spell. These particular instances are very, very rare – maybe only like one or two encounters in the whole game – but it never felt great to have enemies be inaccessible like this.
When you have either Aerith or Barret with you, the pain is lessened thanks to their ranged attacks and it is nice to have a reason to swap to them during these moments, but when they’re not around – or incapacitated – ranged and aerial combat is where battles become tedious and the flaws of this combat system are laid to bare. Considering it took me about 50-or-so hours to near-100% this game however, you’re looking at a very minor selection of encounters all things considered.
Since this is part one of three in the Final Fantasy VII remake project, something you’ll notice playing this game is that it doesn’t reach the full open expanse of what happens beyond the walls of Midgar in the original. That narrative and level design approach remains true here in Remake where it’s all quite linear with only a few areas that you can truly wander around in and explore. Furthermore, there's a limitation to how and when you travel around the world, and there’s only one particular point in the game that lets you move around freely.
This wasn’t a huge problem, but there is some concern when you’re several hours in and see items in unreachable locations – you’re left to just assume you will return at some point, even without any clear indication of that in the moment. Generally, I appreciate the dedication to embodying the linear-style opening of the original, but having the way to complete old side quests and collect missed items be via a chapter select unlocked after beating the game can feel a bit weird even if it makes sense with the narrative in mind.
Due to this, it also means having to retread some of the slowest sections of the game to net various trophies and objectives. To me, there’s some smoothing out that could’ve been done here, but it’s a minor gripe ultimately, and I liked the game enough to redo these sections and even now I still want to play it, so that probably says more than my criticism here itself.
It also ties Hard Mode in as a New Game Plus only mode that loops in the chapter select too, and whilst I wasn’t sure at first on this approach, it actually works out nicely, letting you make progress in hard mode, and if you want to go increase your level, acquire a trophy, or grab something on Easy or Normal and then return to try again, that’s an option available to you. The game also handily tracks what missions you’ve beaten on Hard mode and it has its own additional rewards to earn as well, wrapping its implementation up rather neatly.
Outside of the main story, there’s also various bits of side content, with a fair bit to do. Whilst it has several slower, less-interesting side quests, it also has a few fun mini-games that again help Remake really stay true to the original game. Not just that, but it expands and adds to this pool with a multitude of its own standout moments and side characters – shoutout to Wall Market and the Honeybee Inn specifically.
On the side, there are also bonus challenge-like objectives you can work through with a character called Chadley who will develop new Materia as you complete these various tasks. They’re all relatively simple, but add a nice little checklist aspect to the game. Beyond that, there are also various arena challenges that can be engaged with, all with their own rewards. All-in-all, they’re a solid bit of variety that add further density to the game’s side content.
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When looking at my review holistically, there’s a fair number of criticisms here across several aspects of the game. Whilst I stand by them, I also can’t overstate how strong of a remake this is. They took what is probably the shortest section of the original and turned it into an entire game. There is for sure pacing issues and some needless padding at times, but it’s all in service of a title that gets so much else right. And when it gets it right, it does so nearly always without faltering, executing on the game’s biggest moments and making them as standout, if not moreso than they were in the original.
That said though, is it better than the original? Of course not, but it’s the first of three parts in the remake project, meaning it’s barely scratched the surface of the original’s most iconic moments. It’d be impossible for one part alone to be better than the whole of the original, especially considering just how good that 1997 release is.
From here into Rebirth however, the potential of this new reimagining is anything but underwhelming, with exceptional quality on the cards for the next two entries. Whilst they too may not end up as inherently ‘better’ than the original, it doesn’t mean they can’t be brilliant and surprise and delight in their own myriad of ways just like Remake does here. After playing the original and now Remake, and seeing a very limited set of trailers for Rebirth – that I’m intentionally doing my best to avoid for the sake of spoilers – I see just how tantalising the next two parts are to speculate and marinate on. It’s clear I’m well and truly in on this ride at this point – after all, there ain't no gettin’ offa this train!