Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition

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Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 46

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Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers is not without its issues, and this remaster leaves a lot to be desired, but updated visuals elevate the entire experience.

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Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 46

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 46

Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers is not without its issues, and this remaster leaves a lot to be desired, but updated visuals elevate the entire experience.

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Critic Reviews for Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition

Critic Reviews

Score Distribution

46

Reviews

Average Score - 75/100

75%

Ranges

Recommended

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell (Eurogamer)

Cross often feels like a visitor from a parallel dimension itself – sequel to an acclaimed RPG that’s in practice more of a companion piece, reminiscent of the PS1 Final Fantasies but a very different beast on the battlefield. It’s an engrossing epic, mixing sadness, whimsy and a touch of cosmic dread without, somehow, disintegrating into farce, and if the battle system can be a touch infuriating, coming to terms with it is part of the adventure. The remaster isn’t a dazzling effort, but the game’s revival in any form is something to celebrate.

April 5, 2022 |

Full Review

Parts of Chrono Cross really haven’t aged well, but it’s still a charming, characterful JRPG that evokes feelings of the genre’s golden age on PS1. It’s a game that deserves better than The Radical Dreamers Edition, which, at least at launch, is a dreadfully poor remaster.

April 5, 2022 |

Full Review

4/10

Robert Ramsey (Push Square)

7/10

Jason Faulkner (PlayStation LifeStyle)

Since there’s no way to get Chrono Cross legally on any platform introduced in the last decade other than The Radical Dreamers Edition, you’ve just got to deal with it. I played it on PS5, and I imagine it’s a similar experience on PS4 and PS4 Pro. However, as much as I love PlayStation, I would buy it for PC. We’ll likely see mods on that platform that will fix the issues with the backgrounds and FMVs. I really hope the poor quality of this remake isn’t indicative of what we can expect from Square Enix in the future.

April 5, 2022 |

Full Review

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell (Eurogamer)

Recommended - (Read Review)

Robert Ramsey (Push Square)

4/10 - (Read Review)

Jason Faulkner (PlayStation LifeStyle)

7/10 - (Read Review)

**Read all 46 critic reviews on the desktop version of VSG.

Read the Reviews (46 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
33bits	Jesús Díaz-Suelto Berrueco	80 / 100	04-05-2022	CHRONO CROSS: THE RADICAL DREAMERS EDITION could have been much more than ensuring a competent performance at its launch. Today, this being quite annoying, it remains somewhat bittersweet for what is one of the great games of the JRPG genre and of the first PlayStation.	Read review
Atomix	Sebastian Quiroz	78 / 100	04-05-2022	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition does its job of bringing to life an old public chapter in Square Enix history that many perhaps forgot. However, as a remaster, this collection leaves a lot to be desired.	Read review
BaziCenter	Mohammad Zamani	8 / 10	04-25-2022	The Radical Dreamers Edition is not the best remaster that Chrono Cross could have received, but nevertheless being able to try one of the most important JRPG titles of all time in a better form and on modern platforms is something that the fans of the genre would definitely enjoy.	Read review
Bazimag	Sina Golabzade	8.5 / 10	04-07-2022	More than two decades since its original release, Chrono Cross is still one of the most innovative JRPGs with a brilliant plot and setting. Some of the quality of life improvements are very welcomed and the visual touch ups coupled with the option to just use the original graphics is also a big plus in the world of remasters.	Read review
CGMagazine	Philip Watson	9 / 10	04-05-2022	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is a great game with fantastic elements that can entertain players for many hours. A must play for those looking for a new adventure, or just nostalgia upon revisiting a fond memory.	Read review
Checkpoint Gaming	Nat Patterson	6 / 10	04-08-2022	I had a lot of fun playing Chrono Cross again; the unique spin on turn-based combat, colourful locales, and dimension-hopping narrative was a joy to re-experience all these years later. However, through a critical eye, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition leaves a lot to be desired. Glaring issues with performance, improvements, and graphical inconsistencies take away from the truly great source material. This lack of care and attention to detail flies in the face of some of Square Enix’s other remaster works, and is a disappointing black-eye on what could have been a truly great remaster package of a still phenomenal classic JRPG.	Read review
Chicas Gamers	Álvaro Bustío	Recommended	04-05-2022	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition may remind us of remasters that Square-Enix has offered us in the past, such as Final Fantasy VIII or Final Fantasy IX, with almost the same extra options (speed up combat or have certain advantages) and an improvement renders/graphics, and being for the first time arrived to Europe, making it a must have whether you are a fan of the saga or not (especially if you like JRPGs). Apart from enjoying it with such a good facelift and with the extras it brings, you will be able to enjoy “Radical Dreamers” for the first time and get to know that prequel that never left Japan, in addition to the fact that both have been fully translated into Spanish.	Read review
COGconnected	James Paley	72 / 100	04-05-2022	For all the flaws I’ve dragged out, I still love this game. The powerful music, the ethereal visuals, and the fascinating plot all deserve special attention. And yes, there’s a lot of weird, dense mechanics to wade through. But this just requires some patience and planning. To that end, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition isn’t for everybody. But if you’re looking for a unique 32-bit RPG that will stick with you for years to come? You’ll want to check out Chrono Cross.	Read review
Cubed3	Rudy Lavaux	7 / 10	05-10-2022	Chrono Cross was and remains a great JRPG that has its place in the pantheon of great classics. It’s well worth playing especially for fans of the Chrono series who maybe had only ever experienced Chrono Trigger before. This is perhaps not quite as cohesive an experience as its predecessor was, because it plays in a way that’s more experimental and not quite as refined, and its plot is a bit harder to follow. However, because of its plot ties to the great original and how it connects to it, it is essential to play for fans of the latter, and despite minor shortcomings that hold it back from being as big a classic, it’s still well worth experiencing today. With that in mind, Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition, as a new release of this classic, is not all that it could or should have been on any platforms, including Nintendo Switch, due to a poor level of performance that’s just inexcusable, given that other PS1 games just as demanding as this one made the transition so much better, at least performance-wise.	Read review
Daily Mirror	Eugene Sowah	4 / 5 stars	04-05-2022	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is a great remaster that retains all the glory from the original. The updated visuals are great, really elevating the entire experience.	Read review
Destructoid	Zoey Handley	6 / 10	04-05-2022	Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.	Read review
Digitally Downloaded	Matt Sainsbury	5 / 5 stars	04-05-2022	Like the best in literature and the arts, by the time Chrono Cross’ credits roll you’re going to be left in a reflective mood. It’s not just that it’s a very good game – though it is – is also that it’s a probing work of art that asks meaningful questions of the players and respects them enough to allow them to come to their own conclusions about it. This is the first time that we’ve had the opportunity to play the game here in Australia, and it’s telling that this 23-year-old game comes across as one of the most forceful steps forward for games as an art form that we’re going to see this year.	Read review
Eurogamer	Edwin Evans-Thirlwell	Recommended	04-05-2022	A serviceable restoration of one of the best and strangest games in Squaresoft’s back catalogue.	Read review
Everyeye.it	Raffaello Rusconi	8 / 10	04-05-2022	The restoration is more or less in line with expectations: the inclusion of Radical Dreamers, a discreet reinterpretation of the audio / visual sector, a good localization in Italian and new game mechanics to attract younger users or newcomers to the genre.	Read review
GameGrin	Alana Dunitz	9 / 10	04-05-2022	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is a great game for anyone who loves JRPGs or wants to check out Chrono Cross for the first time, or again. The updated graphics and battle mechanics make this worth the lower price tag!	Read review
GameSpew	Richard Seagrave	8 / 10	04-05-2022	Some will be disappointed that Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is simply a remaster of one of the best JRPGs of all time rather than a remake, and it’s not the most exhaustive one at that. But still, there’s a great game here, and it’s never looked, sounded or played better. So, while the framerate issues may be irksome, and some aspects of the game aren’t so intuitive by today’s standards, anyone keen on playing – or replaying – a piece of JRPG history would be wise to check Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition out.	Read review
Gaming Nexus	Elliot Hilderbrand	7 / 10	04-29-2022	I’m not sure what I thought I was going to get with Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition. I thought I would be swept away in the story and taken on an adventure I wouldn’t forget. What I got was a game that feels like it is trapped in 1995. Some of that is good, solid combat, old-school CG cutscenes, excellent music. If you are new to Chrono Cross this edition is the one you want. It is beyond welcoming to new players. But there was too much holding the game back for me to make it a great game. A cast list so massive I felt bothered by it, and a story that is a bit bonkers was too much for me. Chrono Cross had to crawl so modern JRPGs could run, but it doesn’t fit in with JRPGs of today.	Read review
God is a Geek	Lyle Carr	9.5 / 10	04-05-2022	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition brings possibly the best PS1 JRPG to Europe for the first time, and it simply must be played.	Read review
Hardcore Gamer	Chris Shive	4 / 5 stars	04-05-2022	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition takes one of the great PlayStation RPGs and makes it available to new and returning fans on modern hardware.	Read review
Hobby Consolas	Álvaro Alonso	85 / 100	04-05-2022	‎As a remastering it has aspects that can be improved, but being able to feel the warm sea breeze again and listen to the evocative soundtrack, finally with a Spanish translation, makes Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition a gift for any JRPG fan.‎	Read review
IGN Italy	Alessandra Borgonovo	7.8 / 10	04-05-2022	A classic JRPG well remastered and that deserves to be relived, or experienced for the first time.	Read review
Impulsegamer	Jamie Kirk	3.5 / 5 stars	04-29-2022	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers edition brings a classic JRPG to the PAL region for the first time. The port may not be exceptional, but the game itself deserves to be experienced.	Read review
LevelUp	Pedro Pérez Cesari	8 / 10	04-07-2022	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is a re-release with more love and respect than I ever hoped would be given to a game that many saw as the ugly brother of one of the best JRPGs in history. This is a remaster that did go that extra mile to pamper those of us who for years have been asking for a way to play Chrono Cross on a modern platform.	Read review
Metro GameCentral	GameCentral	7 / 10	04-06-2022	It hasn’t aged particularly well, and there are serious technical issues with the remaster, but the sequel to Chrono Trigger is still one of the original PlayStation’s best Japanese role-players.	Read review
Niche Gamer	Fingal Belmont	7 / 10	04-15-2022	Radical Dreamers is as good as it possibly could be, but the remastering of Chrono Cross leaves a lot to be desired. The latter especially is a 10/10 RPG, but in our Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition review, it disappoints due to the lack of care. The technical limitations were excusable on the first PlayStation, but on PlayStation 5, it is embarrassing that it runs worse.	Read review
Nintendo Life	Lowell Bell	6 / 10	04-05-2022	It’s a shame that, with the release of Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, we likely won’t see a comprehensive remaster or even a full remake of this underrated gem for a long while, leaving us with a somewhat underwhelming version on Switch that isn’t much beyond a port. Regardless, the portability of the Nintendo’s console and the inclusion of Radical Dreamers still makes this the best and most convenient way for fans and newcomers alike to play the 22-year-old classic and its pseudo-prequel. It’s a good game and having easy access to it is a boon	Read review
NintendoWorldReport	Neal Ronaghan	9.5 / 10	04-05-2022	The speed-up and toggles for enemy encounters and battle boosts were welcome in this playthrough, mostly because I could toy with elements and characters more than I did in the past. While Radical Dreamers isn’t much more than an alternate history curiosity, the fact it is actually localized and legitimately available outside of Nintendo’s long inactive downloadable Satellaview network is incredible. Chrono Cross is a wonderful game	Read review
NoobFeed	Asura Kagawa	80 / 100	04-13-2022	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition does an excellent job of presenting to a new audience a period in Square Enix history that many may have forgotten. It achieves this by including two fantastic games in one package. However, there is little doubt that it might have been better as a remaster.	Read review
PlayStation LifeStyle	Jason Faulkner	7 / 10	04-05-2022	Since there’s no way to get Chrono Cross legally on any platform introduced in the last decade other than The Radical Dreamers Edition, you’ve just got to deal with it. I played it on PS5, and I imagine it’s a similar experience on PS4 and PS4 Pro. However, as much as I love PlayStation, I would buy it for PC. We’ll likely see mods on that platform that will fix the issues with the backgrounds and FMVs. I really hope the poor quality of this remake isn’t indicative of what we can expect from Square Enix in the future.	Read review
PlayStation Universe	Timothy Nunes	7.5 / 10	04-05-2022	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition brings a beloved classic to the PlayStation 4, complete with its old pros and cons. Some of the limitations of the first game get washed away with the enhancements and features that come with this release, but they also create a couple of their own. Like a true classic, this edition is not without its issues, but classics have a way of outlasting their criticisms through the eyes of those who experience them.	Read review
Press Start	Kieron Verbrugge	8 / 10	04-05-2022	It’s far from a best-case port, but Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition serves up a cult classic JRPG that deserves to be appreciated by everyone that hasn’t had the legal means before now. The Radical Dreamers part is a very welcome bit of history given some genuine love from Square Enix, too. If you’ve already smashed out a Chrono Cross replay in the recent past though, you might be okay to skip this package for now.	Read review
PSX Brasil	Luis Guilherme Machado Camargo	70 / 100	04-12-2022	Here we enter a particularly difficult case to judge: is it worth playing Chrono Cross these days? Absolutely. Is this faulty port worth buying at its launch price? It depends. It’s a shame the remaster turned out this way, but Chrono Cross is still a gem even after all these years.	Read review
Push Square	Robert Ramsey	4 / 10	04-05-2022	Parts of Chrono Cross really haven’t aged well, but it’s still a charming, characterful JRPG that evokes feelings of the genre’s golden age on PS1. It’s a game that deserves better than The Radical Dreamers Edition, which, at least at launch, is a dreadfully poor remaster. Crippled by frame rate issues, it beggars belief that a title from 1999 could run this badly on modern hardware. Unless you’re desperate for the nostalgia, we strongly recommend waiting to see whether Square Enix releases a patch to improve the package on PS4 and PS5 before buying.	Read review
Saudi Gamer	Unknown	7 / 10	04-07-2022	Shedding light on one of the legends of Japanese RPG games is a successful step and a good opportunity for RPG fans to give the game a chance, whether for the first time or re-visit its beautiful world, even though it did not do enough to attract the attention of a larger segment of the audience due to minor improvements and technical problems. This is the first step in the revival of the Chrono series.	Read review
Screen Rant	Cody Gravelle	4 / 5 stars	04-05-2022	Actually deciding whether or not Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is worth it varies wildly depending on what a given consumer is looking for. As a remaster, it falls short of the high bar some other projects over the last few years have managed to meet. As a gaming experience absent its new bells and whistles, Chrono Cross remains a stunning title that still captivates as a JRPG over two decades since its release, while The Radical Dreamers remains an oddball text adventure that few but the most dedicated lore enthusiasts will find appealing. As a preservation project, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is all but necessary. What players choose to do with that information is up to them.	Read review
Sirus Gaming	Ray Remigio	7.5 / 10	04-28-2022	Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition is a great game to own, albeit being too late for its remaster and release, coming out seems like a quick nostalgia cash-in just to get something out of their fans. But if you’re a longtime fan that seeks to relive the nostalgia or experience Radical Dreamers for the first time, it’s a game you should pick up and will enjoy in the long run.	Read review
SpazioGames	Gianluca Arena	7.9 / 10	04-09-2022	Even if this Radical Dreamers Edition is just good and not great, Chrono Cross is such an essential JRPG that everyone with even a vague interest in the genre should go and download it as soon as possible. let’s hope Chrono Trigger and Tactics Ogre are the next in line for remasters or remakes.	Read review
The Escapist	Marty Sliva	Recommended	04-05-2022	Video Review	Read review
The Games Machine	Danilo Dellafrana	8 / 10	04-05-2022	The rating takes into account the absolute and undeniable value of Chrono Cross, an excellent role-playing game that everyone should experience. Unfortunately the operation of “rebirth” is not entirely successful due to some questionable choices, but the inclusion of the elusive Radical Dreamers contributes to a package that – especially at this price – must be a part of the cultural baggage of any fan of JRPG worthy of the name.	Read review
The Outerhaven Productions	Scott Adams	3 / 5 stars	04-30-2022	Enjoy the timeless adventure of Chrono Cross but with only a slight amount of upgrades to the game and with an AI upscaler that makes the game play like your PlayStation is on Death’s row. Great game but a sad remaster.	Read review
TheSixthAxis	Miguel Moran	6 / 10	04-08-2022	Chrono Cross is an incredible game that has been deserving a remaster for far too long. It’s a shame that, after all these years, it had to arrive in such a sorry state. The Radical Dreamers Edition does some minor work in improving and upgrading the experience, but with such poor optimisation, it’s a headache to enjoy the experience. Longtime fans might be able to forgive the issues and savour the incredible visual novel side-story Radical Dreamers, but a game as iconic as this deserves better.	Read review
Twinfinite	Rebecca Stone	4 / 5 stars	04-05-2022	Chrono Cross stands the test of time, and I implore anyone who enjoyed Chrono Trigger or other 90s JRPGs to give Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition a shot.	Read review
VGChartz	Issa Maki	Not Recommended	04-19-2022	The Radical Dreamers Edition isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be, but to say it’s a far cry from what it should have been is an understatement.	Read review
Video Chums	A.J. Maciejewski	7.7 / 10	04-05-2022	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition brought back a lot of lovely memories and thankfully, Chrono Cross is still a great RPG all of these years later. The fact that you get an officially translated Radical Dreamers is rather peachy, too.	Read review
Wccftech	Kai Powell	4.5 / 10	04-05-2022	Despite being a masterpiece of split universes and the often futile attempts to fight fate, we’re living in the timeline where the original source code for Chrono Cross was lost to the scars of time and the remaster that exists in this age wasn’t given the focus that one of the greatest JRPGs of all time deserves.	Read review
Worth Playing	Chris “Atom” DeAngelus	8 / 10	04-05-2022	Chrono Cross is a weird little JRPG that is arguably hindered by its connection to one of the genre greats. It has a distinctive feel and style, an interesting plot, and the craziest cast of characters you’ll ever see in a JRPG. Weak characters and many nagging PS1-era flaws keep it from being a hearty recommendation. If you’ve passed on Cross because it’s not Trigger 2, it’s worth a shot, and Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is probably the best way to experience it.	Read review

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Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is a remaster of Chrono Cross which includes Radical Dreamers, which was previously only released for the Satellaview in Japan.

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