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36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Final Fantasy Should Remain in the RPG Realm, August 17, 2006
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
The unfortunate thing about Dirge of Cerberus is that it has the curse of being in the universe of one of the greatest and most beloved video games of all time: Final Fantasy VII. There's no way Dirge of Cerberus could possibly stack up to Final Fantasy VII. To expect any spinoff to stack up to the original Final Fantasy VII name and legacy is unrealistic. Dirge of Cerberus is pretty different... for Final Fantasy, that is. For your basic shooter, though, it's really not that different from any other shooter.
A group of underground soldiers known as Deepground have plans to revive the dreaded Omega Weapon. In order to do that, however, they need Vincent Valentine. Throughout the game you'll play as Vincent Valentine, getting to the bottom of this mystery. The gold of the story is that it provides quite an interesting look into Vincent's past. There are moments when the story feels a little complicated, but it's still a good experience nonetheless.
Dirge of Cerberus isn't really an RPG. Square refers to it as an "RPG Shooter," but in reality, it's really just a shooter. The game has a rather simple formula for its missions. You'll view a cutscene that introduces you to the level. The cutscene is usually long, and you'll have to wait for it to load first, and then you'll have to wait for it to load after its over. Then you'll go into said level and blast everything and anything that moves. Then at the end of each level you'll fight a boss. Rinse and repeat. Every stage in the game is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is keep shooting at virtually anything that moves. In some missions there are other things you can do, but really, you don't have to do these optional events. They're just there so you can improve your score. The basic goal of just about every mission is to kill stuff.
A lot of these levels feel a little uninspired. Most of them are bland looking with not much of anything for you there. You can't tear apart the environment or anything like that. It's also sad that a lot of areas in some levels look the same. These stages don't really show you a lot of variety in the environment. You'll also find yourself visiting some pretty familiar areas like Midgar. When you visit most of these familiar areas, however, you don't really feel like you're revisiting anything in Final Fantasy VII. Also, you'll mostly find yourself in the sewers or something. It's also really sad that you can't explore more of the world. The game is set in such a linear path that you can't explore your surroundings.
Going through most of these levels isn't always bad. Most of the action isn't all it's cracked up to be. You simply aim and shoot. The game provides a nice targetting system that makes missing most enemies nearly impossible. Even worse for the gameplay, there aren't a whole lot of variety with the enemies themselves. You'll mostly battle soldiers. Though from time to time you'll battle other things such as mechs and dogs. Once you've seen one soldier, though, you've seen them all. They're downed within a couple of shots, and their attack patterns aren't really all that varied. Before long, the enemies will do the same predictable things they always do. The game becomes incredibly easy before it even gets a chance to get hard. When you're near the end of the game, the enemies will still have their same old attack patterns. They never ever change. Bosses can be tough, but the only thing that actually makes the bosses tougher than your normal enemy is that they have more health.
In addition, most levels have little in-game cutscenes of their own. Again, though, you have to wait for the cutscene to load and then wait for it to load when it's over. These moments wouldn't be so bad if they didn't constantly come in the middle of the action. One minute you're shooting up your enemies, the next the game is loading a cutscene that might only last for a minute, and then the next your back in the middle of the action. It isn't that these moments are bad, it's just that they're inserted at inappropriate times.
Using magic also has its own hits and misses. You can equip materia to your weapon and fire off a magic shot. This adds some variety to the stale gameplay, but you'll end up depleting your MP really fast. There's not enough of the magic to go around. Likewise, you'll find items called Limit breakers which will allow you to use Vincent's limit break for a limited amount of time. Using Vincent's limit break provides some more fun to the game. You'll get to rip most of your enemies to shreds, but unfortunately, it only adds more ease to the game. Even bosses become a cakewalk with the limit break. Even though it only lasts for a limited amount of time, you'll still be able to take down a boss using the limit break.
Weapon customizing is a nice addition, however. After each level you have a chance to use the gil you've earned from enemies to upgrade Vincent's weapons. Throughout most of the game you'll be using the Cerberus, though. It's by far the most potent weapon in the game. It's nice to be able to explore and customize a vareity of weapons at least.
Dirge of Cerberus isn't a long game. It may take you less than ten hours to complete it. Upon completing it, though, you unlock an abundance of extra missions and such. The standard game is nothing special, but the extra missions can really keep you busy for a while. They're a lot more fun than the standard missions, and ask a lot more of your skills.
Graphically, it's hard to judge Dirge of Cerberus. Most of the environments are pretty run of the mill for the genre. There's not a lot of vareity or interaction with anything in these levels. Most levels really aren't that impressive looking. On the other hand, the pre-rendered cutscenes are beautiful to look at. These cutscenes themselves look just as good as the movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Outside of that, however, Dirge of Cerberus doesn't take the PS2 to its full capacity. Most of the music is alright. Nothing great, but good enough nonetheless. The voice acting is pretty standard. Not a lot of emotion, but at some points it goes along with the dark mood of the game rather well. Sometimes the characters not having emotion is what makes the voice acting good at some parts of the game. On the whole, though, it's not fantastic voice acting.
Dirge of Cerberus isn't really a bad game, but outside of it having the Final Fantasy name on it, there's really nothing in this game that sets it apart from other shooters and action/adventure titles. The Final Fantasy name is the only real reason to get this game. It's interesting to learn about Vincent, and to expand upon the Final Fantasy VII universe, but perhaps Final Fantasy should stick strictly to the RPG genre.
The Good
+You get to play as Vincent Valentine
+Vincent's past and story is explained rather well; the overall storyline of the game is pretty well done
+Beautiful pre-rendered cutscenes
+Neat weapons customization
+You get to use Vincent's Limit Break
+Tons of extra missions after the game is completed
The Bad
-Little innovation
-In game graphics are not up to standard for the PS2 or Square-Enix for that matter
-Poor voice acting in many spots
-Environments are bland
-There isn't enough vareity to the enemies, they do the same thing over and over until the end of the game
-The gameplay gets stale... fast
-The stages lack variety and exploration; they're all linear paths
-There's little challenge to the game
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45 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing cut scenes and main character - but not well developed, September 2, 2006
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
In an odd twist, the Final Fantasy series has "gone backwards" to expand on Final Fantasy VII. Latching onto a minor character - Vincent Valentine - we now find out what happened 3 years later.
Vincent is older than the typical Final Fantasy Teen character - more along the lines of Auron from FFX. He loves to dramatically swirl his cape as he moves. He is dark, brooding, and ruthlessly efficient in his attacks. I like all of this.
The cut scenes are simply *gorgeous* at times. The movements of characters is just amazing. The small motions, the emotions shone, this is a work of art.
Unfortunately, given these great achievements, the actual gameplay really doesn't hold up well for me. I understand that this is not a RPG - it is a combat game. You go around attacking enemies, little numbers of damage bounce over their heads, and you reduce them to zero. The "world" is a Final Fantasy world, but it's not really a Final Fantasy game. It's about building up gun components, shooting, and then shooting some more. Puzzles involve getting cards to get through doors, and figuring out how to kill enemies.
The in game graphics are much less impressive than the cut scenes. Your character is reduced to jumping and walking. There's no diving, rolling, or other special moves. Even worse, there are incredibly numerous long pauses as you go between gameplay and cut scene. There must have been a better way to integrate those quickly, especially as many of the cut scenes are just brief little "thank you"s.
Also, while I know Vincent is a dark, brooding type - a type that appeals to me a lot, by the way - I find him a bit too uncaring about the people around him. He seems often to get involved reluctantly. He almost seems to dismiss some people as being beneath his notice. This isn't a kind of hero I appreciate.
In general, as much as I tried to get into this new style of game, it just didn't work very well. There are many other combat style games that involve characters that can creep, roll, dive and use great combat moves. With Vincent doing these things in cut scenes, he should be able to do them in actual gameplay as well.
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88 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Why Vincent, why?, August 19, 2006
Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars
Ah.. What have they done to you Vincent? Final Fantasy VII for the Playstation was an instant classic. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children also received fine reviews. How then, could Dirge of Cerberus be bad? Well.. if it was done like this I guess.
This game is unique to the Final Fantasy world because it is an action game, not the usual RPG. Also, it stars a side character from an earlier game which hasn't been done yet either. However, in this case change isn't good. For starters many of the guns are basically the same thing. Of course there are a few differences, but none really too noticeable. Also, the action just becomes stale after awhile. Sure, the enemies change but it's never anything special. All you really have to do is click the R1 button a few times and they all die. Not to mention, the game designers seemed to try and make it as annoying as possible. There are constant loading and saving in the middle of the game that really bogs down the action. But, even after all these saves mid-mission death takes it's toll. You can run through three parts of a four part mission, waste a bunch of time doing boring gun fighting, and then die. And sometimes when you die, they send you all the way back to the start. ...That sucks.
Still, for fans of Final Fantasy the game does have some redeeming qualities. The CG cutscenes are beautiful and the story of Vincent Valentine is rather interesting. Still, when those cutscenes are just popping up two or three times every mission it can get a little tedious. Not to mention, there are load times between the cut scenes and the action. So, you have to wait through that as well.
It is also good to note, that it is cool to hear voices of the characters from a game from 1997. The music isn't too bad either. But, compared to Final Fantasy games from the past it really isn't anything to write home about. Overall, this game doesn't really last too long if you go through it quickly, like I did. But, after you beat the game there are a bunch of extra missons that you can take on for fun. I would have added more value for that, but Square decided to scratch the online portion of this game. That makes the additional missions mute.
A Final Fantasy fan will probably buy this game regardless of what I say. But, as a fan of the series I'd reccommend just renting it. You can easily play through the game in 5 days, and with no online or anything to make it worth keeping, the replay value isn't great. Dirge of Cerberus delivers on telling a story of a very popular side character, but fails at actually creating a decent shooter.
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