So what does one say about the prequel to possibly the most beloved game in the Final Fantasy series? Well, here's a little background from me. I've played Final Fantasy VII twice, most recently a little over a year ago on the Switch. So I know the plot and how Zack fits in, for the most part. I don't remember him discussed too much, though, so a lot of Crisis Core Reunion was new territory for me.
Let me start out by saying I had seen pictures of Zack and formed an image in my head of what he was like: serious, probably a deep voice, more like Sephiroth... That is NOT the person I was introduced to in Chapter 1!! Zack was goofy, arrogant, reckless... the complete opposite of what I thought. On top of that he seemed to randomly break out into those strange "squats" while having a conversation. I mean, seriously... this is the person everyone is fawning over online!?

The game uses an RNG leveling system, though, Zack seemed to level up regularly. I did feel the need to grind out missions, however, to keep him competitive in boss fights. The sheer number of missions is overwhelming. I think at the end of the game I had completed just over 25% of them so there was plenty left to see. I guess this is good for those that want more out of the game than just the main storyline. It really seemed daunting to me, though, but I'm glad I didn't need to grind most of them to finish the game.
The battle system was very fun. It always takes me awhile to get used to button combos for a new game (I wish there was a standard that all games would follow) but it started feeling natural a couple chapters in. It was lots of fun mixing physical attacks and materia spells while figuring out the enemeies' weaknesses. Bosses were challenging and, except for one near the end of the game, were doable once I was able to figure out the weakness and the correct plan of attack.
The materia combining system wasn't really for me, though. It would take a long time to grind up to a level 5 materia and by that time I would just find a shop that sells the one I'm trying to make. So I do wish the materia leveled up faster so I could make more use of that system. I'm aware I could combine materia before leveling it up but I didn't want a weaker product in the end.

Now let's talk about that story. This is where it shines and what changed my initial opinion of Zack. In the beginning Zack is simply following orders with Angeal mostly as his guide. Then of course, things start to fall apart with the various characters leaving Zack to figure stuff out on his own. This is where his cockiness was pleasantly balanced out by his desire to help others. One scene stands out to me was the kid in the slums who stole his wallet. Sure, he was behaving himself for Aerith mostly, but you could see him realizing the child's needs instead of giving him a beatdown. I appreciated the fact that Zack was strong and really wanted to be a hero and that really developed well throughout the story. He truly believed in a righteous path even with his superiors losing their way for obvious plot reasons. In fact, the more the story moved along the more I appreciated Zack. He really would sacrifice himself to help others, a true hero.

This takes us to the ending... without any direct spoilers I will just say that it was one of the most emotional endings I've ever witnessed. One that's too easy to internalize, attaching the experience to our own of losing those we love and care about. Square Enix is a MASTER at production and this was movie quality stuff, hands down. The torch has been passed on to Cloud and I'm really excited to see where Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth take these characters!