Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (PS2)

Reviewed by Kit

I know I said I'd do reviews on Sunday, but I went out of town and I didn't plan for posting early. Anyhow, today we're reviewing a game that many other sites and magazines have already gotten to. While Yuuki and I do try to play games that are not reviewed by every site out there, there are some things that we need excuses to play. Anyhow, now to the review.

Story: Three years after the events in FFVII, one year after the events in Advent Children, Vincent is sitting, being his usual moody, pensive self, when Kalm is suddenly attacked by a strange army. Despite the fact that he is moody and doesn't want to do anything but pine for Lucrecia, he gets up and starts taking down the baddies. Shortly after Reeve, aka Cait Sith, recruits Vincent into helping with this army led by an elite group of warriors known as the Tsviets (it is possible I mispelled that, but how would you know). These warriors are from an experiment done in Midgar, and now they are chasing Vincent for some reason. The story isn't great, but it is entertaining, and I have heard worse. Certainly the tidbits on Vincent's background make you want to hear more. 4/5

Audio: The music isn't great, but it's not bad either. It suits the mood, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's great. The opening movie, rather the title screen movie, has a nice song with a lovely montage of clips from the game. On the whole though, average. 3/5

Graphics: So here is where no expense was spared. There are three levels of graphics, gameplay, cutscene, and Cutscene. The Cutscenes are those rare moments (though they last a few minutes each) that have as much effort put into them as Advent Children did. The cutscenes and gameplay graphics are at about the same level, thoguh obviously it is easier to see details in the cutscenes when you aren't constantly moving to dodge bullets. The characters look good, though they break some laws of physics. But then again, it's not a true Final Fantasy unless hair and clothing follows their own rules. Lots of effort in the graphics, and if nothing else, the game looks good. 5/5

Gameplay: I don't play a lot of shooters, so I can't give any comparison as to whether it is better or worse than the average shooter. You aim with the right joystick, and when your target is within this aiming circle, a smaller more exact circle will appear and bullets will automatically be sent to this smaller circle (a bit of autoaiming but not quite). You can also use a melee attack (finally a use for Vincent's pointy toed boots). For the doglike monsters, this is by far the superior way to kill. You can attach materia to your guns and cast magic as well. All the guns are customizable: you get a pistol, a shotgun, and a machine gun. You can equip different equipment for each guns too such as long barrel, short barrel, snipe scope, materia floater, etc. These can usually be upgraded too for a fee. At the end of each stage you have the option to either put points into your exp (level up) or exchange the points for money. There is also a shop for equipment at the end of each stage, though vending machines can be found throughout the stage. Overall, the gameplay isn't too difficult to pick up though the aiming scheme isn't the most accurate. 3/5

Replay: These is no real reason to replay besides a different difficulty, or attempting to beat the game using different guns/customization. There is a hidden ending, but you do not necessarily have to wait until a second playthrough to see it. 2/5

Overall: The graphics are beautiful, the music is decent, the story is appealing even if it isn't riveting. The worst drawback of the game is the gameplay, but that isn't a horrible thing, and if you like Final Fantasy VII, this is something that might be worth picking up, or at least renting. The game is fun though, and if the snipers are horribly frusterating, sniping them back has a lot of appeal. 4/5