Final Fantasy VII - Dirge Of Cerberus Review - PS2

7.5

Gameplay: 7
Graphics: 9
Audio: 8
Innovation: 6

Introduction

Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus is an interesting break-out in the Final Fantasy series, in that it is the first time the franchise has branched out into a first person shooter title. As the title suggests, the game takes place in the Final Fantasy VII world of Gaia near Midgar, a year after the recent animated movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. This followed on from the original Playstation 1 game. Square-Enix apparently has plans of rounding out the world of Final Fantasy VII in several other ventures to come, and this is one of the first to appear.

A first person shooter set in the world of Final Fantasy? To some, the announcement of the game was greeted with skepticism, to others it maybe offered an interesting experiment that could just work. We jump in and find out how.

Gameplay

Like any of the Final Fantasy Series, the moment is set with a lengthy movie-quality cut-scene lasting several minutes. It shows the again peaceful city of Kalm being attacked by Deep Underground Soldiers after the defeat of the Shin-Ra during the events of Final Fantasy VII. You play as the suave Vincent Valentine, one of the heroes of the original Final Fantasy VII game as you help to prevent the deeper plot to the events.

Unless you specifically opt to switch with the R3 button, most of the game can be played in 3rd person mode. In this mode, comparisons to Devil May Cry are inevitable, and rightly so, as the game does play out much the same sort of feel. At any time you can shift to first person mode, where the game feels a bit more natural, and a bit more different to your standard PS2 action-shooter. In many ways, when you get used to it, we found the game played better in this mode over the course of the game. The only slight quirk from playing the game totally in this mode, is in close hand-to-hand combat the game automatically switches back to 3rd person, which can be fairly frustrating.

Dirge of Cerberus uses elements of the RPG universe to replace standard FPS ideas, although in the game the effects are a little toned down. For instance, each stage there is the option of powering up Vincent's abilities, and MP and HP are upgraded as you go along, and the good ol' High Potions and Phoenix Down play similar roles to their RPG brethren.

Vincent primary weapons in the game are his guns. Cerberus gives a unique angle to this, allowing players to customise and refit their weapons by purchasing upgrades with Gill picked up along the way from defeated enemies. By fixing different barrels for different distances and attachments such as sniper scopes you can customise the weapons to your exact liking. Three different slots can be utilised to store different guns, allowing you to quickly flip between them for the best strategy. Customising your guns to your exact liking (continued next page)