Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
THE GOOD:
I had mixed feelings when I first heard about this game. Sequels to Final Fantasy aren't generally a good idea (see FFX-2). That said I've always loved Vincent Valentine, who happens to be my favourite character from the franchise. A game documenting his past seemed like a good idea; moreover, the alternate genre of shooter felt like a natural fit for Valentine even if it isn't my genre of choice. However, limited finances and even more limitations on my schedule meant that I never got around to this game until just now. By the time I was ready to play all of the professional reviews had made one thing abundantly clear – this game is a 5 out of 10. That worried me a little bit but I'm happy to say that those reviews are all wrong. I don't play shooters, so maybe that's why I feel differently about this game than most. I have no frame of reference to measure the controls or the enemy AI. I can only assess the game as a stand alone. And I thought it was great. This is my counter-review to the professional negativity that has obscured what should be a great game.
One of the biggest complaints leveled against Dirge of Cerberus is that it doesn't play well as a shooter. Maybe that is true – as I said, I have no frame of reference. But that said many reviewers are being quite unfair to Square Enix. What were they expecting this to be, the next Halo or Half Life? The point wasn't to redefine the shooting genre, it was to tell the story of Vincent. And this story could not have been told properly in RPG format – I thought the FPS genre worked well even if the execution wasn't perfect. Controls were a bit awkward at first, but they were workable. The gameplay mechanics were engaging with the ability to customize your own weapons on the fly. The mini-missions within each stage kept things refreshing by often incorporating different styles of shooting, such as rail gunner or stealth mode. Again, none of these were particularly robust or redefining but they weren't supposed to be. Dirge of Cerberus exists to tell Vincent's story and that's it.
Everyone playing the game should know that, including the reviewers. This is an action-RPG, so storyline is central. This begs the question of why so many people found the lengthy cutscenes, voiced dialogue and FMV sequences to be such a deterrent? Without the storyline this game wouldn't have much to its name. The Advent Children movie, love it or hate it, was visually spectacular. The FMVs in this game are rendered with the same software, so yes, they do look like they could've been taken from Advent Children. But why is that a problem? Some reviewers made comments to the effect that this game is little more than an excuse to render some more footage – but how is that problematic? As game FMVs go these graphics are superior to everything else on all consoles, both past and present. Dirge's cutscenes look amazing for PS2 – they'd look exceptional even on a next gen console. So why is it a problem that they resemble Advent Children? Advent Children is the CG standard, especially for videogames.
The next critique is often leveled at the plotline, calling it shallow fan service. (And these are the same morons who just LOVED Kingdom Hearts, which is nothing but fan service being used to cover up a terrible game). I agree with the fan service part, but that's to be expected. Don't misunderstand – one can play this game with a reasonable level of enjoyment and understanding even if they never have played FFVII. But the game exists primarily for fans of the series. And given the wide berth of FFVII player out there, that's a fair market share. The whole point of the game from a marketing perspective is fan service, so why are people criticizing that? Again, what did they expect? A storyline that was somehow completely independent from the FFVII plotline, which would somehow appeal to people who either didn't play or disliked the original game? The story in this game, surprisingly, feels necessary. I didn't perceive it as an add-on or a cash grab. The notion of what happens makes perfect sense to me – I don't want to give anything away, but essentially a group of people are attempting to awaken the final, ultimate Weapon called Omega. Throughout the story you learn who these people are, why they're doing what they're doing and the ramifications therein, and all of it made complete sense to me. Advent Children felt like a bit of a stretch for me, but not so here – this story makes complete sense.
Why all the negative publicity then? Here's what I think happened. Final Fantasy is the epitome of mainstream RPGs. And, as is the case with most mainstream media, it is somewhat cool to dislike it. Or at least behave like you dislike it – things can't get into the mainstream if they don't have a mass appeal. Now the central RPGs in the series are generally too good to criticize; no one can reasonably give 5 out of 10 to FFVIII, or X, or XII or what have you. But because Dirge exists as a sequel and as a genre experiment, it becomes an easy target. And thus a posse of reviewers think it's cool to pick on this title. Now Dirge isn't perfect, but the majority of criticisms against the game are exaggerated and unfair. It isn't the best shooter in the world, but it isn't supposed to be. It does have a lot of dialogue and cutscenes; it's an RPG, so it's supposed to. Moreover, those CG's look amazing. If they were rendered at the same time as Advent Children, who cares? That doesn't make them any less impressive. Truly this game has gotten a bad rap for no good reason. THE BAD:
The flaws in the game, in my mind, are minor. It is unfortunate that you cannot restart the game once you beat it while retaining all your hard earned items and experience. They do let you keep your guns if you start over, but that's it. Your level goes back down to 1, your HP drops to 780 from the 2000's and so forth. It would be more enjoyable to replay and continue to strengthen yourself; as things stand, ever getting yourself above level 40 is essentially impossible. You can go back to completed stages, but only with the items/equipment that you had in those stages. So if you're in Chapter 12, and decide to go back to Chapter 4 for some fun, you'll only have the stuff you had at that point in the game. And anything you earn in that stage (other than hidden extra features, which are contained in concealed powerups throughout the game) won't carry over. Your character is tied to quicksave points throughout the game in that fashion – it would've been better if your character was independent from the story and could go back and forth (once it was beaten) while retaining all of the earned items. For me this is the major flaw because it impedes proper replay value. You're basically forced to restart on hard mode (retaining only your guns), instead of being allowed to jump around to your favourite stages without handicap.
Another mild point of annoyance comes through with how Vincent's guns are rendered. When you go to the gun customization screen you can basically build a weapon from the ground up, and logically they all look different. However, when playing the gun in Vincent's hand always looks exactly the same as the default; either the default handgun, machine gun or rifle. This is annoying because when you put really cool looking accessories on the gun (like the gravity floater), you don't get to see them. Sometimes the game actually animates in the wrong accessory, which is very confusing. You think you have a short barreled machine gun with a gravity floater and ice materia equipped, but the thing in Vincent's hand is a normal barreled machine gun with a power booster and no materia. It's not the end of the world, but it is unfortunate.
There is one other complaint. At the end of FFVII, eight of the nine characters survive (Aeris, of course, does not). Given that you play as Vincent in Dirge, it would follow that if other characters are going to make a guest appearance, all should eventually show up. But they don't. You get to see Reeve (Cait Sith), Yuffie and Cid animated into the game. You get Barret, Tifa and Cloud in the CG cutscenes. But where's Red XIII? He's not in the game at all until the very end (literally, the end credits) where he appears onscreen for half a second. That isn't fair at all – all the other characters play at least a minor role and have a few lines. It would've been no issue to include Red in a similar capacity.
SUMMARY:
That's really about all I can say against the game. I loved the storyline, despite it getting slightly convoluted right at the end and the absence of Red XIII. I don't want to spoil anything, but suffice to say the plot wraps up nicely with no plot holes, the characters are well developed and the dialogue is translated admirably. The soundtrack was not nearly as memorable as most FF games (and I'm not a fan of Gackt), but it wasn't terrible either. The gameplay is sufficient and enjoyable. That's what all this boils down to – even if short, Dirge is a fun game to play especially if you're a fan of the series. And now that the poor reviews have driven it down to bargain basement prices, there really is no excuse. If you enjoyed FFVII then you really should play this game. Don't listen to the holier-than-thou pro-reviewers who just sit there creaming in their pants for a chance to take a shot as Square Enix. Try this game (you can beat it in a rental, more than likely) and enjoy it for what it is.
