“`html
Remakes are a precarious proposition. Do too much and you risk losing a fanbase. Do too little and fans question if it was even worthwhile. With a game as iconic and beloved as Final Fantasy 7, the risks are gigantic. This new trilogy, based on the PlayStation classic, is proving to be less remake and more a re-imagining of the original, a reinterpretation – a rebirth, if you will. But how do you balance old and new? How far can the boundaries of this story be pushed?
These are the sorts of meta-narrative questions Final Fantasy 7 Remake posed. In that game’s brand new finale twist, Cloud and co battled the physical embodiment of fate to break away from destiny and carve a new future. It was seemingly a message from Square Enix: just like Cloud, its developers wouldn’t necessarily be sticking to the script. Now in Rebirth, it appears both parties are wrestling with their decisions as the game attempts to answer the ultimate philosophical question: why should it exist?
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Review – FF7 Rebirth Spoiler free review new gameplay
So while this is still deep down the same Final Fantasy 7 with its science experiments and cover ups and cosmic events and conspiracy theories, it’s also a fresh experience – albeit one that’s overstuffed in a bid to please. By its close, it buckles somewhat under the weight of the original’s legacy as a groundbreaking game with a seminal twist that, in 1997, shocked the world.
Anyway, enough of all that heavy stuff. Let’s talk about Chocobo Racing. Upon reaching the kitschy glamour of the Gold Saucer amusement park, this minigame unlocks, though it’s more a game-within-a-game. There are tons of tracks to race through. There’s boost drifting and special abilities. You can deck out your chocobo in silly cowboy hats and armours to vary their stats. It’s like the now defunct Chocobo GP game is stuck inside Rebirth. And it’s awe-inspiring how many remixes of the chocobo theme tune there could possibly be. It’s too easy to win, but it’s a lot of fun.
Forgive me the segue, but that sort of tonal shift is indicative of this toy box of a game that’s messy but loveable. It continues the story of protagonist Cloud Strife and members of the eco-terrorism group Avalanche as they chase down the assumed-dead war hero Sephiroth and thwart the omnipresent Shrina Electric Power Company that’s sucking the planet dry of its natural resource, Mako energy. As an allegory for fossil fuels and destroying our own planet, the narrative is as prescient as ever. And if all that is lost on you, there’s a handy recap video at the start of the game – though honestly, Rebirth is not a starting point for the series, as much as Square Enix may state otherwise.
The game leans heavily, and pleasingly, into the bizarre and the flamboyant. Final Fantasy 7 has always been emo but eccentric – and now it’s even more so. There’s eco terrorism and science experiments gone wrong, but also talking animals, homoeroticism between the lead and his nemesis, and giant rideable chickens that fart jet-propelled water. Take the new card game Queen’s Blood, one of Rebirth’s best new additions. It’s FF8’s Triple Triad by way of Gwent and it has you battling in tense duels to win power over the board, with opponents becoming increasingly outlandish, from a man who won’t stop crying, to a clockwork robot, a country singer, and even a dog. One minute the protagonists might be taking part in a high-stakes card tournament, the next they’re battling an infestation of insect-like abominations. In this world, a card game is just as dramatic as a boss fight.
Yet what’s most striking – and what really ties the game and everything in it together – is its playfulness, its humour, its characterisation. It presents the most likeable Final Fantasy party in series history, offering flawed and layered characters, yet Square Enix isn’t afraid to make them look silly and undermine their actions with bathos, physical comedy and repeated in-jokes. Cloud the stoic soldier thrust into uncomfortable situations. Gun-toting muscle head Barret in a sailor outfit. Red XIII awkwardly riding a chocobo, awkwardly climbing a ladder, or attempting to swim.
Rebirth is frequently, unexpectedly funny, but it’s not an outright comedy game – it’s just one with heart. Between the jokes there’s past trauma and emotional baggage that unravels over the course of the narrative, resulting in deeply emotive human drama amplified by expressive character faces. John Eric Bentley’s turn as big softie Barret is particularly moving, while previously sidelined characters like the overly bubbly Yuffie and one-note comic relief Cait Sith now feel well-rounded. They all bond and bicker as a family – like the game itself, they’re messy but lovable.
So while the desire to remake this iconic classic has resulted in an uneven, elongated experience that’s bulkier than a fat chocobo, the focus on characterisation is where Rebirth really justifies its existence. It’s an opportunity for fans to deepen their feelings for the cast. There are some divisive changes to debate, but for me the good outweighs any issues as deep down Rebirth does enhance the tone and mood of the original game. For all its cosmological and world-ending drama, it offers warmth and tenderness, its world bustling with detail and culture and extravagance, yet still full of pain. More than ever, this is a world that deserves saving.
A copy of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was provided for review by Square Enix.
“`
