Final Fantasy VII, originally released in 1997, marked a sea change in what games were considered to be capable of. Critics fawned over everything from its technical graphics accomplishments to the execution of its gameplay mechanics to its epic magical cyberpunk story. The cover image of protagonist Cloud Strife is surely one of the most iconic in gaming history. It's credited with selling six million PSOnes and it smashed numerous sales records. In short, Square Enix had a big job on its hands when it came to remaking this JRPG classic. Fortunately, with this first part of the project the publisher seems to have done an excellent job of bringing this classic several generations of console forward in time, creating a game that is at once incredibly faithful to the original and a modern-feeling role-playing game that can stand alongside the modern greats. And with this PlayStation 5 version the team has gone a couple of steps further, introducing support for the next generation console that includes graphics improvements, DualSense haptic feedback and new difficulty modes. The dev team has, for the most part, been very faithful to the original. They've gone right down to the level of delivery of certain lines of dialogue and NPC clothing choices to make sure that fans feel like they're in safe hands. There are, however, a few twists along the way. One example is the Wall Market, which retains many of the details etched into a generation of gamers' imaginations, but reworks some of them in ways that will delight the old-timers. Other changes are bigger, operating on the level of narrative and promising some interesting twists when the next part of this project comes around. Perhaps more significant is the way that combat has been modernised to feel comfortable to gamers playing 23 years on from the original. You control your party as it moves around the battlefield in real time. As you perform basic attacks or blocks you'll fill up the ATB ('active time battle') bar, which gives you the opportunity to slow down time and use special abilities, spells and items to impact the tide of battle. It's more hands-on than the original system, but still provides a surprisingly deep tactical element. This is 45 hours of classic gaming reinvigorated for a modern audience, and there's more to come.