Review of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (PS4/5, PC)

On the date of this review being recorded, and uploaded, today marks the 18th anniversary of my accident in 2004. The day

Started with me being an average 13-year-old boy, starting my third year at my local secondary school. Unfortunately, the day ended in a coma, with my life hanging by a thread, minutes away from being switched off a life-support machine.

As you can probably tell, this particular day of the year has been very emotional. Even today, I still have the mental image of a family member waiting, and waiting for me to return home, with police officers coming to our door, stating that a boy matching my description fell from Greenan Castle, down to the rocky shore below

This year, I have decided to review a remake of one of the most influential, revolutionary titles from the PS1 library, can this game restore our faith in remakes/remasters, will this be another step on this downward slope?

Let's find out!

Now, what is there to say about the original Final Fantasy VII that has not been already said? This game single-handedly revolutionised the JRPG subgenre. Originally released on January 31, 1997, with tomb Raider developer, Eidos, porting the game to PC, which was released to the rest of the world, excluding Japan in June 1998.  The review of this version can be found here: 

https://youtu.be/lKf4NNe1giU

The game is an instant classic, with a remastered version of the game's opening cut scene, unveiled to the public in   E3, 2005. The purpose of this was to showcase to the world want Sony's newest console (at the time), the PlayStation 3 was capable of. However, such a remake of this classic never came to pass through the console's life cycle.

This only added fuel to the fire, as thousands of diehards screamed out, for over a decade for a full remake of this title.

During Sony's E3 2015 conference, Square Enix dropped the bombshell. They announced that a full remake of the original Final Fantasy VII was in active development. During the game's development, it was confirmed that it will be split into numerous parts. The game was finally released on 10 April 2020, exclusively for the PlayStation 4, to worldwide acclaim. One year later, the game received a further remake, exclusively for PlayStation 5, on 10 June 2021.

The game was ported, once again, to PC systems, as an Epic Games Store exclusive on December 16 2021. As I have said earlier, this game is the first part of the full remake of the 1997, PS1classic, you play as Cloud Strife, a former soldier of the army of the Sninra Power Corporation turned mercenary who was hired by the ecoterrorist group AVALANCHE. It is up to you to stop one of his former captains, who went rogue from destroying the planet.

The access ability scores are as follows –

Visibility 8

Let's get the negatives of the way. There is no colourblind mode present in its interface. The original version of this game has an option to fully customise the background of the menus. This game does not contain this feature. However, there are no elements of this game that will cause an issue for colourblind players.

Audibility 10

There is subtitles support which can be enabled and disabled via the options menu. You can also switch on a chat log that will subtitle dialogue from a person that is out with your party. However, font size customisation options for this game would make it easier to play, as the player can read them without the risk of gaining any eyestrain.

Mobility 11

The PC version has customisable controls when using a mouse and keyboard. Although it is not the recommended way to experience this game. Luckily enough, there is controller support for this game. Better still, those controls can be completely customised as well! So, this game is completely accessible for mobility-impaired players.

Gameplay 11

In today's gaming world, the words "remake" and "remaster" seems to be away for developers and publishers to gain a quick buck by porting the game to a current generation system, while mollifying the game to make it compatible with modern hardware, resulting in most cases, unfinished, buggy messes at launch, as these titles are quite literally rushed out the door.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection, The Grand Theft Auto Trilogy, and  WarCraft 3: Reforged are prime examples of these. This game is one of the very rare exemptions of this trend. I understand that the game only covers a part of the original story. However, the game's plot has been extended, with a lot of side quests, and additional chapters to make this game worthwhile.

Graphically, it looks stunning. I understand that there is a four-generation gap between the original, and the remake, you will forget that you are, in fact, playing a game, originally released in 1997.

Also, this version, in particular, has the Intermission Campaign, which follows the story of the  Wutai Ninja Yuffie. So, you are, in fact, getting two games for the price of one.

Seriously, I have been waiting, which seems to be a lifetime for this game to be freed from the shackles of PlayStation exclusivity. When I find out that this game is released on Steam, I purchased it in a heartbeat.

The reason why I specifically chose this game to commemorate the 18th anniversary of my accident is that I remember playing the original, with my brother, the night before the accident itself. I almost was reduced to tears when the main/world map theme was playing as my friend was exploring the Sector 17 slums.

In summary, Final Fantasy VII remake: Intergrade is one of the best games that I have been playing in a while. If you are looking for a nostalgia junkie, looking for a long-winded JRPG, I seriously can not recommend this game enough to you.

OVERALL SCORE 100%

See You guys in the next review, which will be a week 1 release!

SpartanCommander1990 out!

Roll out, Spartan Legion