Final Fantasy 7 Remake Review - 6 Ups & 5 Downs

5. Combat Is Phenomenal (When It Works)

That small bracketed caveat will be expanded on in the negative portion of this article, as for the most part, this is the best combat system Square Enix have ever devised.

Literally, you have all the lessons learned from Final Fantasy 12 and 15, rolled into something that totally works. FF 12 in terms of party management, pausing the action to jump between characters and assign spells, special abilities etc., and FF XV's real-time combat, except this time you're punching attacks in with timed presses, rather than holds.

The result is a blast, especially paired with the visuals I mentioned earlier.

Over time you'll need to constantly switch between the whole party, queuing up attacks and maximising everything they have on offer as a unit. You can always focus on one character and go all-out, but this is a perfect hybrid of 1997's turn-based original, and a new-age "action RPG" feel, the likes of which only Ni No Kuni 2 has ever really got right.

A pioneering battle system for everyone else to take influence from? That sounds like Final Fantasy VII to me.