Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Xbox Series Review
Summary: Even several years later, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth works great on both consoles and PC. It offers a thrilling narrative, endearing characters, and an unforgettable gameplay experience that whets the appetite for the upcoming final entry in the trilogy.
4.3
A Fantastic Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is Square Enix’s penultimate instalment in its Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy. The title launched two years ago exclusively on PlayStation 5, then on PC a year later. Now, the game is finally getting a multiplatform release on Switch 2 and Xbox, and Square Enix has blessed us with an early copy of the game for review. The Xbox version works excellently and makes efficient use of the console’s resources to their fullest. However, as far as major differences between platforms go, the game performs just as well as the PlayStation 5 version, if not a little better, but is not as versatile or feature rich as the PC version.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth picks up immediately after the events of Final Fantasy VII Remake. After escaping Midgar, Cloud Strife and his allies travel across the world in pursuit of series villain Sephiroth. Along the way, they uncover deeper truths about the Planet, the mystical Lifestream, and Shinra’s exploitation of the world’s life energy, Mako.
The party travels through iconic locations such as Junon, Costa del Sol, the Gold Saucer, and Cosmo Canyon. While pursuing Sephiroth, the group becomes entangled in mysteries involving fate, alternate possibilities, and strange visions that challenge their understanding of reality.
As Cloud’s mental state grows increasingly unstable, Sephiroth manipulates both his memories and emotions, driving a wedge between him and his companions. Meanwhile, Aerith’s connection to the ancient Cetra people becomes central to the conflict, as she may be the key to stopping Sephiroth’s plans.
While the Remake focused on Midgar, Rebirth opens players up to the game’s vast, branching open world, where they meet and interact with many more characters and go on more adventures. As such, the narrative is much more engaging, as each arc sees Cloud and his group interact with many characters, all of whom are well written and endearing. Many character and story arcs feature touching stories and hilarious moments, and are all enjoyable in their own ways. While some moments in the narrative, especially earlier on, feel noticeably slow and dragged out, their peak moments are worth pushing through.
Gameplay-wise, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth offers several features not present in the previous title and enhances many elements. Like the previous installment, players can take advantage of combat features like Materia crafting and upgrades. There’s also a variety of new additions, including new weapons, that, combined with new Materia and upgrade options, offer mesmerizing and powerful moves, some of which combine several elements in exchange for more MP.
Players can also upgrade their arsenal of spells through the Foolio system, which, like traditional skill trees, allows Cloud and the gang to unlock more skills and increase their stats in various ways. The system works just as well as standard skill trees, but is noticeably more limited, especially compared to other Final Fantasy games, and has fewer generally useful skills as well. However, learning which Materia does what and creating the best Materia combination is usually key to succeeding in combat. All in all, Rebirth provides players with many more customizable options that are really accessible.
And speaking of combat, fights in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth are fast, fun, smooth, and feel positively weighty. Performing charged and quick attacks, combos, linked abilities, special abilities, spells, and finishing moves is quick and satisfying, and the transition when swapping between moves and characters is effortless. One of the highlights of the game is its many great bosses. Each boss fight differs from the last and offers unique, satisfying, and fun challenges for players.
Visually, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth looks excellent on Xbox. The game features a slew of vibrant, intricately designed locations, all of which are well designed and modelled. The Xbox version is slightly better visually than the PlayStation 5 version, likely due to it being the more updated and newly released version, with excellent lighting and reflections across the board. Additionally, despite the game not needing it much, textures have noticeably more detail than the previous title. Xbox‑exclusive features like Quick Resume make the console experience even better by allowing players to play at their own pace.
Performance-wise, Rebirth’s Xbox version also runs well. While the Xbox version doesn’t offer as many visual and performance options as the PC version, it still maintains a crisp, consistent frame rate, and despite the chaos that often occurs on-screen during fights, there’s little to no lag, dips, or freezes.
Final Thoughts?
Overall, even two years later, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth works great on both consoles and PC. It offers a thrilling narrative, endearing characters, and an unforgettable gameplay experience that whets the appetite for the upcoming final entry in the trilogy.
About the Author
Abdul Saad Abdul Saad is an avid gamer and computer geek. He's been writing for four years on news, reviews, previews, and more on multiple gaming sites. When he isn't writing or playing the latest JRPG, he can be found coding games of his own or tinkering with something electrical.
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