2 years have passed since Advent Children, Vincent Valentine being the world's savior once again. "Thumbs UP"
------------------------Story / Plot------------------------
Dirge of Cerberus focuses around Vincent Valentine one of the heroes from the classic game. He used to be one of the Turks before an experiment and was left in a coffin back in the ShinRa Mansion. Later discovered by Cloud and joins your party as a secondary optional character.
The villians in this Final Fantasy shooter are from an underground organization known as DeepGround. It resides underneath the ShinRa building in Midgar. Unless I am mistaken, they were humans who went under experiments with Mako (Midgar's Energy) perhaps. There's an Elite Squad known as the Tsviets who plan bring Omega back to the Planet to destroy it and Vincent is the only hope to uncover the mystery of DeepGround and put an end to everything. The story is great right down to the exciting and unexpected ending...
For those who aren't too familiar with Vincent, the story is easy to pick up on in this game. The cutscenes are just as beautiful as the Advent Children movie, in-game graphics are not quite as good but still maintain that good value.
------------------------Gameplay------------------------
The game plays as a third person shooter but can also be changed to a first person perspective to see things better. A USB Keyboard and Mouse can also be used to feel like more of a PC shooter game. One things that GS critics looked at this game was as a shooter game. It should be looked upon as a Final Fantasy game which is fairly decent.
The Value of this game is terrific considering after the game is finished, 46 Extra Missions become unlocked which carry a pretty hard game difficulty after some time. Its sure to keep fans, especially Final Fantasy fans busy for hours after the game is completed.
Also you are able to customize Cerberus, Vincent's gun. And is able to switch quickly between 3 types of Cerberus which can be anything you set it to. For example, the first slot of Cerberus could be the regular handgun shots which takes handgun bullets of course. You can upgrade just that type of gun so it holds more bullets, loads faster, has a better firing rate, add a long barrel or short barrel onto it. BAM! :-P
And other Cerberus types of guns consist of a machine gun, sniper, and shotgun.
If you are able to beat the game once, Hard and Extra Hard mode become unlocked the next time you want to play the game again. And if you were to play it atleast on Extra Hard mode, there is No stopping to customize. Which can be very bad if your in the middle of battle.
Curing and other items are also returning from the series and helps Vincent along the quest to stop DeepGround. You have the option of switching between items on the HUD (Heads up Display) with the left directional pad, right directional pad - useing that item. There are Potions, Hi-Potions, Mega-Potions, Elixers, Phoenix Downs, etc. All from past Final Fantasy's. If you would select the pause menu though you can observe all your items and stop between battle to think of what to do. But as I mentioned, if you are on Extra Hard mode you cannot pause and use items. They must be used during gameplay. It can be paused and use items but gameplay is still going on. Not wise if your fighting.
Magic is also another option and can be equippied with Cerberus, the elements are Fire, Thunder, and Blizzard. Which can all be upgraded to Fira, Thundara, or Blizzara. There are plenty of customizing with Cerberus.
Manuevering is very well put together, Vincent can be quite fast and shoot fast when upgraded all the way. It can really fulfill your dreams of being Valentine for the first time fully. :-P One thing that is upsetting about this game is that there are alot of invisible walls. Your not able to jump on alot of things like barrels, boxes, even tables and can be quite difficult to move around some things in small rooms. Camera can only be a problem at some points in the game unless you play in first person. If turned too close to a wall you'll get a nice upclose shot of Vincent but I have never had the trouble with it because I am a good shot. Stuck with the Handgun most of the game. There are plenty of boss battles, Im thinking one each level. And the ending fight is quite satisfying lasting practically an hour long. With the beautiful CG you would not mind it at all. If you are a Final Fantasy fan, especially a FFVII fan, you must pick up this game at some point. The now told story of Vincent's past is unvealed and it's something to remember as part of this great series.
------------------------Inuyasha5262------------------------