Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus for PlayStation 2
- Online: No Online Gaming Support
- ESRB Descriptor: Violence Mild Language Use of Tobacco
- ESRB Rating: T - (Teen)
- Publisher: Square Enix
- Genre: Action
Available From
Why are these offers here?
Smart Buy!
Lowest price from a Trusted Store
Lowest Price!
Featured Offer
- Overview
-
Reviews
- Compare Prices
User ReviewRead All Reviews »
don't make me angry, I'll rip you a new one when I am angry
Pros
some solid story telling featuring Vincent
Cons
bad camera angel and cut scenes that are two long for a shooter.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
That was my sin this is my punishment.
I rented Final Fantasy 7 Dirge of Cerberus the other day because I wanted to try it out before I bought. Well FF7 Dirge of Cerberus is a competent shooter but it isn't the best. Still if you're a Final Fantasy 7 nut you will find a lot to enjoy even if it isn't an RPG.
Story.
The game follows Vincent Valentine and optional character in FF7, Vincent was a mysterious character who could transform into a werewolf and many other monsters has his special ability. He also packed heat so what better Final Fantasy character to do make a survival horror game off of.
It's been 3 years since Meteor fall and Vincent is waiting for Reeve/Cait Sith to show up in the village of Kalm. When Kalm is attacked by a group called Deep Ground and the villagers are taken away. Vincent of course jumps to the defense of the town force and gets caught up in a battle against deep ground. And has he battles these evil doers he finds there over all plan is to wake up the omega weapon, the planets way of reincarnating itself in a disaster and the monster called Chaos that Vincent's late girl friend Luchretzea had implanted in him is the fail safe device.
The story is pretty deep for a shooter and there fore might be its main problem. Unlike RPG's shooters are expected to be more streamlined with less cut scenes. This game has cut scenes I find to be an annoying length even in RPG's. Luckily the really long 20 minute long cut scenes are done in between episodes but expect a few in games cut scenes that can last several minutes.
Graphics.
The world of Final Fantasy 7 doesn't look so cute when you're no longer dealing with brightly colored Lego Colors. A lot of the stages have a dark and eerie mood to them and the monsters and baddies have a bit of a creepy side to them. Even the ones you saw from the original game can some times surprise you when they jump out of the corner.
The frame rate is fairly solid and the game runs smoothly with the exception of the camera. While I hear they fixed a lot of the camera bugs that the Japanese version had I haven't gotten killed from being hit in a blind spot since the original Kingdom Hearts.
The FMV scenes that come up at key times look like they come out of Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children and look just as awesome has any action scene that came out of that movie.
Sound.
Some good music sets the environments and all the VA's from Advent Children return to do voices here. Steve Blum (Spike from Cowboy Bebop and Toonami's Tom the announcer robot) does a decent job of playing Vincent. The other VA's do a good job of voicing there characters.
Gameplay.
The gameplay follows pretty much a linear path of your average shooter. The idea is to shoot your way through bad guys in till you kill the boss and can continue on to the next mission. There are a few Final Fantasy twists to the game system though.
Vincent has four weapons he can use first he can use that metal arm to good use by pounding on bad guys by pressing the circle button. Does pretty good damage up close and costs no ammo. But since this is a shooter Vincent's main arsenal of course goes with the guns he's packing. There are 3 of them there is the pistol that is good for medium range fights against 2 or 3 bad guys. There is the rifle for sniping and dealing with big enemies from far away. And then there is the machine gun for melee attacks. To use these you have to select a weapon using R2 and then press R1 to bring out the cursor and when the cursor has highlighted a bad guy press R1 repeatedly to fire. Pressing O puts away the gun and brings the camera back to normal; it takes a lot of getting use to. Like any shooter Vincent will need to find ammo for his weapons and will find them off of bad guys he's killed.
Now for the Final Fantasy twists to the game, since Vincent never gets anything like grenades or rocket launchers he will have to collect materia and equip it to the weapon. The materia goes on his weapon and can be used by pressing the L1 button. Fire materia causes explosions, ice seeks enemies and thunder travels along a straight line and through objects. Each time you use of these attacks you use up a magic gage and will have to collect Mako or use Ethers to refill it.
Vincent will also have access to final fantasy potions and ethers that he will find along the way or buy from vending machines on his quest. He will also be able to collect and use Phoenix Downs that will bring him back to life if he gets shot down. And not forgetting his ability to turn into a monster there is the rare limit breaker item that Vincent can pick up. With this item his health is restored and his turn into a ware wolf. The ware wolf has a better defense and claws do more damage then Vincent's fists. He also has unlimited amount of Fire Materia spells. This mode of course only lasts a short while but it's enough to take down most bosses power bar down a good chunk.
Like any Final Fantasy game you have the ability to equip stuff. While Vincent is limited to 3 types of guns you can customize them with items you come across adjusting there speed, power, weight, and accuracy with the items you can equip to each gun so you can prepare yourself for any type of boss the game throws at you. Also like an RPG you can level Vincent up, he receives EXP after each episode depending on how well he did in the side missions that come up.
Extras.
The game has a few extras that can be unlocked including a scene viewer, art galleries, character views and trailers. So there is plenty to find and unlock to keep you coming back to try the games other difficulty levels. The bad news is there is no two player VS mode in the game it's a strictly one player game.
Final Recommendation.
With the rather unusual firing system and the bad camera angle has well has the lack of a 2 player mode there are some bad things to say about this game. Of course even though the story is a bit long it does have some interesting plot twists and there are plenty of extras. If you're interested in seeing how the story of FF7 continues then this game isn't a bad rental. I suggest has far as buying it though to wait in till it hits the 20 dollar barging bin price.
Story.
The game follows Vincent Valentine and optional character in FF7, Vincent was a mysterious character who could transform into a werewolf and many other monsters has his special ability. He also packed heat so what better Final Fantasy character to do make a survival horror game off of.
It's been 3 years since Meteor fall and Vincent is waiting for Reeve/Cait Sith to show up in the village of Kalm. When Kalm is attacked by a group called Deep Ground and the villagers are taken away. Vincent of course jumps to the defense of the town force and gets caught up in a battle against deep ground. And has he battles these evil doers he finds there over all plan is to wake up the omega weapon, the planets way of reincarnating itself in a disaster and the monster called Chaos that Vincent's late girl friend Luchretzea had implanted in him is the fail safe device.
The story is pretty deep for a shooter and there fore might be its main problem. Unlike RPG's shooters are expected to be more streamlined with less cut scenes. This game has cut scenes I find to be an annoying length even in RPG's. Luckily the really long 20 minute long cut scenes are done in between episodes but expect a few in games cut scenes that can last several minutes.
Graphics.
The world of Final Fantasy 7 doesn't look so cute when you're no longer dealing with brightly colored Lego Colors. A lot of the stages have a dark and eerie mood to them and the monsters and baddies have a bit of a creepy side to them. Even the ones you saw from the original game can some times surprise you when they jump out of the corner.
The frame rate is fairly solid and the game runs smoothly with the exception of the camera. While I hear they fixed a lot of the camera bugs that the Japanese version had I haven't gotten killed from being hit in a blind spot since the original Kingdom Hearts.
The FMV scenes that come up at key times look like they come out of Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children and look just as awesome has any action scene that came out of that movie.
Sound.
Some good music sets the environments and all the VA's from Advent Children return to do voices here. Steve Blum (Spike from Cowboy Bebop and Toonami's Tom the announcer robot) does a decent job of playing Vincent. The other VA's do a good job of voicing there characters.
Gameplay.
The gameplay follows pretty much a linear path of your average shooter. The idea is to shoot your way through bad guys in till you kill the boss and can continue on to the next mission. There are a few Final Fantasy twists to the game system though.
Vincent has four weapons he can use first he can use that metal arm to good use by pounding on bad guys by pressing the circle button. Does pretty good damage up close and costs no ammo. But since this is a shooter Vincent's main arsenal of course goes with the guns he's packing. There are 3 of them there is the pistol that is good for medium range fights against 2 or 3 bad guys. There is the rifle for sniping and dealing with big enemies from far away. And then there is the machine gun for melee attacks. To use these you have to select a weapon using R2 and then press R1 to bring out the cursor and when the cursor has highlighted a bad guy press R1 repeatedly to fire. Pressing O puts away the gun and brings the camera back to normal; it takes a lot of getting use to. Like any shooter Vincent will need to find ammo for his weapons and will find them off of bad guys he's killed.
Now for the Final Fantasy twists to the game, since Vincent never gets anything like grenades or rocket launchers he will have to collect materia and equip it to the weapon. The materia goes on his weapon and can be used by pressing the L1 button. Fire materia causes explosions, ice seeks enemies and thunder travels along a straight line and through objects. Each time you use of these attacks you use up a magic gage and will have to collect Mako or use Ethers to refill it.
Vincent will also have access to final fantasy potions and ethers that he will find along the way or buy from vending machines on his quest. He will also be able to collect and use Phoenix Downs that will bring him back to life if he gets shot down. And not forgetting his ability to turn into a monster there is the rare limit breaker item that Vincent can pick up. With this item his health is restored and his turn into a ware wolf. The ware wolf has a better defense and claws do more damage then Vincent's fists. He also has unlimited amount of Fire Materia spells. This mode of course only lasts a short while but it's enough to take down most bosses power bar down a good chunk.
Like any Final Fantasy game you have the ability to equip stuff. While Vincent is limited to 3 types of guns you can customize them with items you come across adjusting there speed, power, weight, and accuracy with the items you can equip to each gun so you can prepare yourself for any type of boss the game throws at you. Also like an RPG you can level Vincent up, he receives EXP after each episode depending on how well he did in the side missions that come up.
Extras.
The game has a few extras that can be unlocked including a scene viewer, art galleries, character views and trailers. So there is plenty to find and unlock to keep you coming back to try the games other difficulty levels. The bad news is there is no two player VS mode in the game it's a strictly one player game.
Final Recommendation.
With the rather unusual firing system and the bad camera angle has well has the lack of a 2 player mode there are some bad things to say about this game. Of course even though the story is a bit long it does have some interesting plot twists and there are plenty of extras. If you're interested in seeing how the story of FF7 continues then this game isn't a bad rental. I suggest has far as buying it though to wait in till it hits the 20 dollar barging bin price.
