Chrono Cross remaster gets first gameplay only days before release as poor reviews stream in

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Let’s just say I feel rather bad for anyone who was anxiously awaiting the imminent remaster of 1999 RPG classic Chrono Cross. Dubbed the ‘Radical Dreamers‘ edition (to the extreme, dude) it aims to bring a game which already was a critical darling – earning that rare coveted perfect 10 from several publications – bang up to date with snappier visuals, tighter controls and general modern niceties. Ostensibly. But see, despite all these promises, there’s a bit of a problem. The ‘not even sure if the game really exists’ kind of problem. Until now, we’ve not actually seen any gameplay of the thing; and considering that the April 7th release date is kind of, uh, here, that’s a bit suspicious. Turns out there may be a reason for this under-wraps approach, however.

The Chrono Cross double-cross

As Video Games Chronicle reports, we have only just gotten the first official excerpt from the Chrono Cross remaster – and things ain’t looking too hot. Posted to YouTube by Japanese publication Famitsu (wow, thanks for making it so accessible to your Western audience there, lads) “the footage is from the PlayStation version of the game, although whether it’s being played on a PS4 or PS5 is unclear. Gameplay footage of the Nintendo Switch version has yet to be shown.” Perhaps that’s for the best. Because if the now-arriving critic reviews, and online analyses of this sliver of footage, are to be believed, the game kinda blows.

Before anything else, check out the secretive gameplay video yourself:

Users on such sites as ResetEra have immediately blasted the “inconsistent experience” represented here, with one commenting: “framerate in battles fluctuates between 60 and 15fps. Lol. The filter on the backgrounds is really awful.” And this isn’t a classic case of gamer-critic divide, either; just check out what some of the proper reviews have been hurling Chrono Cross‘ way.

Push Square dub the game “shockingly poor,” and declare that Square Enix “has somehow managed to destroy Chrono Cross.” Apparently, “you can barely walk across the screen without the frame rate tanking to an embarrassing extent — and it gets even worse in battle.” Elsewhere, Kotaku calls the port “barebones,” a project that “deserved more love,” and “another missed opportunity by a publisher intent on doing the bare minimum.” The folks at Rock, Paper, Shotgun go right for the jugular: “this could have been a timeless JRPG; if it weren’t for the utterly shonky performance.” I could go on (and no doubt earn us some shameless goodwill from bigger sites in the process – you’re welcome, lads, we’re always here) but I think you get the idea.

Overall, this whole situation constitutes a bit of a muck-up. Even if Square weren’t necessarily confident with the quality of the product, attempting to hide it from consumers, Rise of Lyric style, is the worst possible way they could have gone. How about delaying it to fix things up a bit, or being more transparent with the fans? Public opinion of the House of Enix is not exactly riding high at the moment, so they certainly don’t need a fallout like this.

But first, how about fixing that Kingdom Hearts Switch version? Yep, still on that.

What’s your take on the situation? Will you be picking up the Chrono Cross remaster regardless? Let us know!

Via, Video Games Chronicle.