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Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus

by Matthew Perry
09/08/2006

Today I'm writing on the new Squenix title Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus. A strange blending of RPG and an action-shooter, cries of "Devil May Cry" ripoff have echoed in the cold corridors of the gaming journalism world, but this adventure starring Vincent Valentine, the enigmatic quasi-vampiric broody MySpace looking ex-Turk of FF7, is actually a decent game. Read on to discover the blessings bestowed upon us by our Japanese overlords, and learn of the unfortunate shortcomings that we can blame only on the inexperience of the dev-team in the action genre.

Gameplay:

This isn't another Final Fantasy game in the traditional sense. Whether you want to blame Square's ego or their desire to break the formula, Final Fantasy on the whole has been changing, and this game definitely follows a different path. Yes, you gather gil after battles and you use items, but that's about where the similarity ends. Materia, the magical crystal balls of FF7, are now accessories for your guns, allowing you shoot magic bullets, be they Fira charged shells from a Hydra Rifle, or a burst of Thunder from the game's titular triple-barreled pistol. The game itself is fun, allowing for customization out the wazoo, from the frames for your guns, the barrels, sights, etc, and it's a nice touch that allows you to quickly adapt to many different situations. There's a ton of Deepground soldiers there? A shortbarreled Griffon sub-machine gun is in order. Long, narrow corridor with sneaky bastards around the corner call for a strong pistol with some quick aim, thanks to the Gravija trinket that lets you handle the gun like it was a feather. Beyond that is a powerful story that brings a lot of new things to light; I will say no more other than that it's not just a money-making scheme - it actually does explain a lot of those "But what about... "s that were left over from the original game. There is one problem with this story-telling attitude, and that is the constant in-game cutscenes. It breaks up the action, and that's something I'll touch on in my next rant for the site. However, the game is more challenging than its Japanese counterpart, so it gets props for that, and it's a satisfying play, worthy at least of a rental.

Graphics:

The Playstation 2 is no longer next-gen, let's face it. It was the weakest graphical competitor in the last generation, and with the Xbox 360 and the latest generation of PC games, DoC isn't necesssarily a 'beautiful' game. However, SE has a ton of experience on the platform, and they've done a really good job with the hardware. The graphics are better than those of FFX (or its Charlie's Angels sequel) and the texturing does create an immersive environment. I wish there had been some more variety in the way that a lot of the levels look drearily similar, but considering all that the world of Gaia (Planet, in the original) has been through, I guess I can forgive them for all the empty streets and dilapidated cities.

Sound:

As always, Squenix manages to shine in the sound department. Masashi Hamauzu, composer for the game, has a lot of experience with the non FF games of SE's. He got his start as a choruster in the company, with his breakout as a performer in 'One Winged Angel', composed by Uematsu-san. After handling a few side projects (anyone else remember Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon?) he di a lot of the work on FFX. He's now taken off on his own with DoC and does a good job. As far as the effects go, the sound is clean and crisp, and I'm thankful for that. There could've been more variety in some of the vocal work - if I hear the EXACT SAME GRUNT when Vincent jumps one more time, I'm gonna hurt someone.

Controls:

Ouch is all I have to say here. Now, I'll be forward, I'm mostly a PC gamer, so when it comes to the shooter genre, I'm very very partial to the keyboard and mouse combo. It takes something special (Metroid Prime Series) for me to really enjoy a console shooter's controls, and Dirge of Cerberus is lacking that something special. I eventually got used to it, but in the hours of play I've put into it, I still don't like them. I can't blame it entirely on the controller, because DMC3 was alright. I just wish that Squenix had done something more for the controls. They adjusted the difficulty for the American market; why not work on the controls in the time between the Japanese and the US releasese? The controls were not so appalling as to ruin my enjoyment of the game, but they did make 'getting into it' a bit hard when I was constantly accidentally zooming in on the chest of some random Deepground soldier. There is support for a USB keyboard and mouse... if you have those and you're willing to hook them up to the PS2 and try to get it to recognize them and NOT hate you for it.

Closing Comments:

This game is good. Had it come out earlier, and had it been designed for a better platform (ie PC, as dumb as most Sony fanboy's will say I am for that) I think the game could have really become something better. The story is the main selling point for this game, and the general kick-assedness of Vincent is something that I think no person can deny; could you take down a helicopter with one three-barreled pistol? I thought not. The game is worth at least a rental, and does have some replay value, but the linearity of the game and the breaking up of the action through the ingame cutscenes is something that needs to be worked on, to say nothing of the shoddy controls. This is a diamond in the rough, but it does show a lot of potential for Squenix to combine the FF series with some different genres.

Overall Score: 7 / 10

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