The Planet Is In The Palm Of My Hand
If by chance you have read my review of Final Fantasy VII Remake:Intergrade, its clear I’m a huge fan of Final Fantasy; specifically the 7th instalment. I remember when Rebirth was initially released and I was beyond excited. Even now, having the opportunity to review a new port of this game which I have clocked over one hundred hours has excited me. The narrative threads and changes that remake produced tantalised my imagination. We also had the prospect of what The Planet looks like in the modern day. Leaving Midgar on the PS1 and realising a whole world was there to explore blew my mind. Now we get to experience that awe again for the first time. Just every thought of Rebirth tickles the brain grooves in all the right nerdy ways. Alas Rebirth has had a few years on store shelves and many of our libraries. We can now look at the most recent port for the portable behemoth, Switch 2.
Most readers surely want to know how Rebirth runs on the Switch 2. Which is fair enough as plenty of opinions about the rest of this game already exist. Rebirth runs interestingly on Switch 2. I feel to truly enjoy playing Rebirth on this console, you need realistic expectations on the sheer scale of Rebirth and what hardware is running it. Without those expectations firmly set I can let you know now you will be disappointed. Rebirth targets 30 FPS on Switch 2 and it mostly hits that target. While loading new areas or seeing new assets in an expansive area the dip in frame rate is noticeable. This does commonly happen throughout the game, however after assets are loaded in the memory the Switch 2 does get back to speed. As far as this hardware goes I find it perfectly acceptable, but you can’t expect it to hold its own against other versions of the game.
Visual fidelity is also a bit of a mixed bag ranging from impressive to compromised. Cutscenes look brilliant and continue to dazzle. It really is hard not to be completely immersed in moments like these. I think it’s fair to say this is probably the best showcase of visuals the Switch 2 has to offer. The gameplay is a bit of a different story. Rebirth looks good but with obvious visual compromises. The models and environments actually look pretty decent. The main characters especially look great, even with the intense anti-aliasing on their hair. The things that look a bit a miss are the details. Rooms and houses have significantly less clutter and objects making them feel barren. The flavour objects that remain have really crazy geometry to draw less power from the Switch 2. Textures are a similar affair being rather low resolution. Pop-in plagues Rebirth and the Switch 2 version is no different, but it is more noticeable than ever. Granted these short comings may only be noticed to those who have played Rebirth on other consoles. However they are easy to spot.
With all of that critique on how Rebirth runs on Switch 2, I bizarrely find this port gobsmackingly impressive. Even more oddly I would recommend it. As a player experiencing it for the first time you will be sucked in by the beautiful cutscenes. For those who have played it before the compromises to make it handheld are more than worth it. Heck it runs considerably better than the Steam Deck and looks nicer too. While writing this I did notice a huge update dropped for Rebirth on Switch 2 aiming to polish performance for day one players as well. Now we have the juicy part out the way I will get into my opinions on the actual game.
I absolutely love Rebirth. It truly is second to none in the core moment to moment gameplay. Exploring the huge world and brawling bad guys is a treat. The gameplay isn’t without its flaws though. For every brilliant and snappy fighting mechanic there lays an equally obtuse mini game. While the mini games debatably flesh out Rebirth, towards the half way point they come off as bloat.
A complex discussion could easily be had about the story Rebirth tells. As a fan of the original Final Fantasy VII, some narrative choices are baffling. Even in the context of Remake:Intergrade some characters act totally different. Some scenes do the original complete justice and in some cases excel. The treatment and introduction of Vincent and the parties reaction to the Nibelheim incident are two real stand out moments for me. Equally as moving as the great parts can be cringe lies around the corner. Costa Del Sol and Cosmo Canyon contain some of the worst examples of this. Coming across as terrible anime made for children rather than the profound generation story it’s source material told. While Rebirth does retell the rest of disc one’s story the tone shifts wildly. I do hope part 3 of this trilogy returns with a more serious tone or at the very least act more conservative with its changes.
We finish off with the music. My God! The music is beyond fantastic. The re-imagined and re-orchestrated tracks are unreal. The music makes me feel things that as an adult I should probably be embarrassed about. The soundscapes transform me to a happy and emotional place. The revamped Overview theme that plays while exploring the grasslands never fails to bring joy to my heart and a hum from my lips.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a stunning video game both for the right and occasionally the wrong reasons. Do I still love it considering I can easily talk about its flaws? Yes! However it must be said it’s a far from perfect game and remake. Playing on Switch 2 feels amazing yet compromised. It feels like it shouldn’t be playable yet somehow just about is. Even more bizarrely it is an experience I kind of recommend.
Review Code Kindly Provided By Square Enix
