Square Enix could have gotten away with simply giving the original Final Fantasy 7 a fresh coat of paint and calling it a day, but its vision is much bigger and bolder than most video game remakes. Deciding to greatly expand upon the original adventure, Square Enix has split the Final Fantasy 7 remake project into three distinct games, starting with 2020's Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which retold the Midgar story and threw in some risky plot twists for good measure. The second game in the Final Fantasy 7 remake project is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which retains all the best and worst traits from its predecessor, while also taking everything to the next level.

Whereas Final Fantasy 7 Remake was sometimes painfully linear, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth lets players explore massive open zones that take the place of the original game's overworld map. Instead of walking around a bare open wasteland when traveling from one town to the next, players are let loose in painstakingly-detailed worlds filled with enemies to fight, treasure to find, and side activities to complete. Hours fly by as players explore FF7 Rebirth's breathtaking worlds on the backs of their trusty Chocobos with Cloud Strife and the unforgettable companions that make up his party.

More effectively than any Final Fantasy 7 game before it, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth does a tremendous job of making players feel like they're going on a grand adventure with a party of great friends. While only three characters can be part of the active battle party at any given time, everyone is always visible when exploring the world and even in fights. Players may have Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith in their party, but Barret, Yuffie, Red XIII, and Cait Sith can still be spotted on the periphery, blasting away at enemies even if they are not truly a factor in the battle's outcome.

ff7 rebirth barret cloud aerith and tifa

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth gets players invested in every single party member. While Cloud Strife is the primary playable protagonist throughout most of the adventure, everyone gets their time in the spotlight, with players taking direct control over the other party members at various points in the story. These sections expand on the backstories of FF7 Rebirth's companions and also introduce unique gameplay mechanics tailored to their specific abilities.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth retains the flashy combat from Remake. The game can be played purely as a hack-and-slash, with players furiously swapping between characters to issue commands as their ATB bars are filled, but those that want a deeper challenge can crank up the difficulty and take a more strategic approach to the battles by exploiting enemy weaknesses and experimenting with different builds. As players develop the relationships between the game's characters, Synergy Abilities are unlocked that let players pull off wild double-team attacks that give them even more options in fights.

Players will fall in love with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth 's cast.

As they explore and battle throughout the game's lengthy main story, players will fall in love with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's cast. All the voice actors do an incredible job at bringing these iconic characters to life, even when the dialogue is sometimes clunky or goofy. That being said, there is one voice acting choice involving a playable party member that is going to be hugely divisive. We can't provide details without going into spoilers, but it makes one of the game's coolest characters annoying to listen to and is a definite misstep.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth makes a lot of changes to the source material. Some of them will be appreciated, but others are a detriment to the overall quality of the game. For example, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth repeats a mistake from Remake by expanding on certain sections that don't necessarily call for it, with segments that may have taken 10 to 15 minutes in the original now taking hours. Despite this, Rebirth is paced very well for the first half, but then things start to become a slog, with the final chapters an exhausting exercise in tedium. Certain chapters are full of time-wasting nonsense that frustratingly keeps players from reaching the more interesting parts of the story.

One of the game's final dungeons is especially tedious, filled with repetitive, lengthy fights that extend the time between important plot beats, lessening their impact. Some restraint would have gone a long way, and the lack of it is really what keeps Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth from reaching its full potential. As it stands, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth blowing everything up to 10x the length it was in the original game causes it to fumble its most pivotal moment. It's unfortunate, but many fans are going to come away disappointed with the story by the time the credits roll.

It took us about 45 hours to complete Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's main story, but that barely scratches the surface of what the full game has to offer. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Platinum trophy will likely take double that to achieve, as the game is stuffed full of side quests and open-world activities. Some of the side quests are bland and the open world tasks can get old, but there's also a lot of worthwhile content for those who want to really dig into everything Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has to offer.

ff7 rebirth queens blood

Of particular interest is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's trading card mini-game, Queen's Blood. While Queen's Blood can be mostly ignored, it's legitimately fun acquiring new cards and putting together the best decks possible. One of the most exciting things about reaching a new town is finding new Queen's Blood opponents, as that means there are new cards to gain that will give players even more strategic options. It's easy to lose hours playing Queen's Blood, but it's not the only fun way to kill time in FF7 Rebirth.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth also has fun and challenging rhythm mini-games. Classic Final Fantasy 7 songs can be played on the piano, and the Shinra Parade mini-game from the original has been reworked into a button-press mini-game that is far more tolerable. Costa del Sol has been expanded to include fun mini-games of its own, and there's also the Gold Saucer's array of options. While there's been a lot of buzz about the Gold Saucer, honestly, the best mini-games are found in Costa del Sol.

It took me about 45 hours to beat Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's main story, but that included doing most of the major side quests and plenty of Queen's Blood.

The sheer amount of content in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth may have some worried about potential technical problems that are common in massive games like this, but the game is polished to a sheen. There are minor texture pop-in issues, but otherwise, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is gorgeous, with seamless transitions from cut-scenes to gameplay. We only encountered one serious technical issue in our entire time with the game, though it was annoying enough that it warrants a mention. At the end of a lengthy, especially challenging boss fight against two enemies at once, one of the enemies magically revived itself after defeat and was then impossible to kill or even target. Considering how long Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth battles can take, stuff like this is especially problematic and, hopefully, it's not an issue that rears its ugly head for too many players.

ff7 rebirth sephiroth fight

Despite the pacing issues in its final chapters, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is still bigger and better than Final Fantasy 7 Remake. If the third game can keep everything that's great about these remake projects so far and trim the fat a bit, we will have a spectacular trilogy on our hands.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth releases February 29, 2024 for PS5. Game ZXC was provided a code for this reivew.