FF7 Rebirth critiques: Critics say Final Fantasy sequel ‘a pleasure to play’

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has been hailed as a “stunning recreation of a classic” within the first critiques of the sport.

The follow-up to 2020’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake is the second a part of a trilogy based mostly on the beloved 1997 unique.

A PlayStation 5 unique, the sport’s been praised for enhancements to its prequel.

But some reviewers have warned that it’s going to take gamers dozens of hours to wade by way of the sheer quantity of content material within the sport.

Final Fantasy 7, launched on the unique PlayStation, launched many westerners to Japanese role-playing video games and gave gaming one in all its most beloved casts of characters.

And in Rebirth gamers as soon as once more resume the position of spiky-haired mercenary Cloud Strife and team-mates together with Aerith, Tifa and Barrett.

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier known as Rebirth a “a stunning recreation of a classic”, and “a joy to play and look at, with a phenomenal soundtrack, confident writing and dozens of delightful activities”.

IGN.com’s Michael Higham gave the sport 9 out of ten, describing it as a “best-in-class action-RPG full of exciting challenges”.

Games Radar’s Iain Harris stated it was “a second act that meaningfully improves the past and charts a course for a final act that promises plenty of twists and turns”.

And in a 4 out of 5 evaluate, Eurogamer’s Ed Nightingale known as Rebirth a “toy box of a game that’s messy but loveable”.

Some reviewers complained that the sport’s efficiency mode, which favours clean visuals over graphical element, resulted in a “blurry” expertise – a criticism levelled on the latest demo model.

One factor all reviewers agreed on is that FF7 Rebirth is a big sport.

When BBC Newsbeat spoke to the collection’ lead builders simply earlier than final September’s Tokyo Game Show, director Naoki Hamaguchi stated the primary sport would take between 40 to 50 hours to finish.

But he instructed us including in aspect quests and non-compulsory content material would help you “easily” rack up greater than 100 hours.

Reviews appear to substantiate this, with IGN saying it took 82 hours to finish the sport, taking in the primary story and a big chunk of aspect content material.

And Video Games Chronicle, in its five-star evaluate, known as Rebirth “a hugely enjoyable road trip you’ll be playing for hundreds of hours”.

The sport’s huge vary of mini-games are additionally more likely to hold gamers busy and, consistent with Final Fantasy custom, there’s an addictive card sport – Queen’s Blood – to maintain you hooked for hours.

Some websites, akin to Eurogamer, stated having a lot stuff to do could make the sport really feel “bloated” at instances, but it surely was a minor grievance for many.

The unique Final Fantasy 7 is legendary for holding one of the devastating twists in gaming historical past.

We will not spoil it right here, however after 2020’s Remake made some tweaks to the unique narrative followers questioned whether or not the builders would go away that well-known second alone.

Unsurprisingly, the builders have pleaded with reviewers and streamers to maintain a lid on any spoilers, and not one of the large websites are giving a lot away.

While some critics have been left unhappy or “confused” by the ultimate hours of Rebirth, when the enduring scene is revisited, there was loads of reward for the sport’s story, performances and a spotlight given to every character’s again story.

Console exclusivity’s been a scorching matter just lately, with Microsoft revealing 4 Xbox-exclusive titles would come out on PS5 and Nintendo Switch.

And PlayStation Studios’ Helldivers 2 – launched concurrently on Sony’s console and PC – has been a runaway success.

But as for the revamped FF7 video games on Xbox? We’re not holding our breath.

Producer Yoshinori Kitase beforehand instructed Newsbeat Rebirth “has been developed very much optimised for the PS5”.

And whereas trailers for have said the sport may seem on different codecs from 29 May 2024, that is extra more likely to counsel it should observe Remake and finally come to PC.

But an open beta of Final Fantasy 14 has launched on Xbox this week – ten years after its preliminary launch on PS4.

You will not have to attend a decade to play Rebirth, because it’s out on PS5 subsequent Friday.

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