Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
Now you have to admit that Final Fantasy VII is one of the best games for the Playstation if not one of all time and the fans of the game have been waiting for a true sequel to the game for the longest time, myself included. However this game is the next best thing, not a sequel but a spin off. Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII takes place three years after Final Fantasy VII and you play as a character favorite, Vincent Valentine. But this is no rpg, oh no. It may have some rpg elements within the game but this is a fast paced shooter in the vein of Devil May Cry and Vincent Valentine is the perfect character for this style of game play. Afterall Vincent and Dante are pretty much two sides of the same coin. Interestingly enough though within the story they keep on mentioning back to the events that happened three years ago, now this makes sense normally but there is a story that happens in between the two. Although the Final Fantasy VII movie, Advent Children takes place a year before this game there is no mention of this at all during the game. Overall this doesn't effect the story but much like how Chain of Memories didn't have a strong presence in the story of Kingdom Hearts 2 it just feels like a cheat that's all. However those who have seen Advent Children will be pleased to find out that the voice actors reprise their roles although some characters appearances are stronger than others. You'll be seeing a lot more of Yuffie and Cait Sith than other fans favorites such as Cloud, Barret or Tifa. As for the gameplay it can pretty much be comparable to any other type of shooter. You run around shooting pretty much anything that moves. There's a little bit of melee combat in the game but it's not strong enough to make it a style you'll be using much. Your weapon is very customizable, not only can you change between a handgun, rifle and machine gun but also the size of the barrel and even equip materia to perform magic attacks but even this has it's problems because you can only equip one materia at a time unlike FFVII where you can pick a variety of materia to equip to each character. Still one of the biggest draws will be the limit breaker feature. Unlike FFVII where you had to get hit so many times before you can use a limit break. The limit breaker is now an item that you can use at anytime, as long as you have it and it's always great to see Vincent transform before your eyes. Now most of the enemies are going to mostly be the same, however you will get to see some creatures from FFVII like the guard hound. Still the enemies aren't that hard to kill, even most boss fights can be beaten the first time through but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. One great feature is the visuals, although the graphics aren't perfect it's great to see the Train Graveyard and Shinra Manor as well as other recongizable locations in a new light. But although you'll get to travel around Shinra Manor, Nibelhiem is off limits. Still some of the cut sences in the games are absolutely beautiful and compare to what you'll get to see in Advent Children. The main reason you'll want to play this game is the story, much like FFVII before it the game has a very strong story that'll give you a deeper look into Vincent's past which in some cases raises more questions than answers still you'll love every minute of it. Now if you are unfamiliar with Final Fantasy games and FFVII in general than this game probably isn't for you, but if you are you own it to yourself to get this game and continue on an excellent story.
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII gets a 3 out of 5. 
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