By now I'm sure that everyone has heard of Final Fantasy VII in some form.  The original game is one of the best Playstation games that's has ever been made, and its (first) sequel Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children recently came out on DVD and UMD (review of this awesome movie coming soon).  There are also two planned prequels (Before Crisis and Crisis Core for mobile phone and PSP respectively) that will be released at some point.  So, before the compilation of Final Fantasy VII draws to a close, Square-Enix decides, lets make a game based on the coolest character in FFVII: Vincent Valentine.  This results in an action oriented game that offers some fun thrills and an interesting story.



                            
                                             Vincent Valentine is back!

             Dirge of Cerberus takes place 1 year after the events of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (which takes place 2 years after the original game).  The World Regenesis Organization (WRO), led by Reeve Tuesti (aka Cait Sith), has enlisted the help of Vincent Valentine to fight Deepground: a secret organization of SOLDIER created by Shin-Ra.  While fighting Deepground, Vincent starts to discover his past, and finds a threat that may be even greater than Sephiroth.  With the help of Reeve, Yuffie, and other old friends, Vincent once again steps up and fights the survival of the planet.

             Dirge of Cerberus is more of a spin-off title, focusing mainly on Vincent, Reeve, Yuffie and some new characters.  While they do make an appearance, old favorites like Cloud, Barret and Tifa are more of supporting characters, so don't be disappointed if you don't see them that often.  That's part of what makes this title so interesting.  It focuses on a fan favorite character and explains his story.  The story of Vincent Valentine is somewhat tragic in everything that has happened to him.  While I won't give away any of the details, its an interesting story that is definitely going to entertain fans.

                      
                                     Old allies also make an appearance

               The presentation of the game is a mixed bag.  There is a lot of good, but more bad.  First of all, let me just say that the FMVs look amazing.  Its as if they were taken straight out of Advent Children.  It's sad that there weren't more of them in the game, because they rocked.  The voice acting was very good as well.  The biggest standout was of course Steve Blum (Spike Spiegel of Cowboy Bebop) as Vincent Valentine.  He gives Vincent a darker edge that he totally needed.  Most of the voice actors from Advent Children came back to provide the voices for their respectable character in the game, so if you liked the voice acting from the movie, then you should like it in the game as well.  Also, I even though it wasn't composed by the legendary Nobuo Uematsu, I really enjoyed the music.  There were also two songs performed by J-Rock band Gackt.  Pretty much, all of the songs added to the mood of the game, whether it was the quiet ambience of Shinra Mansion, or the infiltration of Deepground's base.  Unfortunately, the presentation needs more than voice actors, music and FMVs to be good.  The in-game graphics themselves aren't really anything to be in awe about.  To be fair, I did like the character models, but everything else doesn't really stand out.  And I guess the graphical glitches at points and slowdown were noticeable too.  The game is also told out during cut scenes.  While I have nothing against these cut scenes, I felt that there were too many of them during the game. Yes, story is necessary in the game, but there has to be another way to do it without sacrificing the game play.  Another factor that kills this was the load times.  UGH, totally annoying. 
            Another interesting factor of Dirge of Cerberus is the fact that it's an action shooter.   Ok, so its not Halo or Half-Life 2, but it's unique in its own way.  It blends elements of an RPG (with experience, items, HP and MP) and gives it a nice hybrid twist.  Basically, you go through levels and shoot your enemies, and once you get to the end of the level, you fight a boss.  On occasion you have to perform missions like saving citizens, or destroy x amount of a certain enemy to give the game variety.  I did have a lot of fun throughout the game, but it did get kind of boring fighting the same types of enemies over and over again.  Another factor that brought down the enjoyment was the bad camera angles and weird controls that took a while to get used to.  There was also an option to use keyboard and mouse, but I didn't get a chance to check this out since I don't have either of the two for my PS2.

                    
                   Deepground has no chance against the awesomeness of Vincent

             Adding more to RPG element of the game, you can buy upgrades to customize your gun, and even new models.  Some of the things you could customize your gun with was different barrel size, and even buying Materia for your gun.   I really liked this feature, but I wish there were more choices for customization rather than just a pistol, rifle and machine gun.  Having items was a nice touch to the game.  Basically you can get potions and Ethers to restore HP and MP, and Limit Breaks to transform into Galian Beast.  It gave the game more of a FFVII feel to it and helped me from throwing my controller across the room (Phoenix Downs do come in handy).
                                        
             The game itself is relatively short (it took me roughly 13 hours to finish the game...on hard difficulty).  After you finish the game, you do get some extras like a ton of extra missions, character profiles, and even the Extra Hard difficulty mode.  This gives the game some replay value, but I'd still recommend it for a rental or two.
                        
                               Cait Sith...I mean Reeve returns to help out the Planet.

              In the end, Dirge of Cerberus is a mixed bag that's probably going to please to hardcore FFVII fans.  But what about the mainstream gamer?  Well, on one hand, you have a very enjoyable presentation of story, audio, and shooting with RPG elements thrown in.  On the other hand, you have a game with a bunch of technical problems that are very noticeable.  It's not perfect, but its still fun.  Go ahead and give it a rent, cause you just might enjoy it a bit.

7/10