After a bit of a drought of new content released from Square Enix, specifically involving the Final Fantasy series, it seems things are about to change. Sure there has been the Final Fantasy Online game, but beyond that, there has not been that much action. Yes there has been the retro styled porting of the other games, but nothing specifically new. Well the drought seems to be over, and it looks like were are about to feel a flood of titles coming out. This will start with a sequel to the FFVII game, but it is more so an offshoot with one of their side characters. We'll start our tour of the new Final Fantasy titles with Final Fantasy VII: Dirge Of Cerberus..

Dirge Of Cerberus

Final Fantasy VII came out many years ago, and even today it is a cult hit. While I never really understood why people loved Sephiroth and Cloud so much, needless to say that the original game was just great. In this latest game Square Enix has taken an optional playable character from the original game have thrust him and his story into a brand new game. He is not your average character though, as even in that freaky messed up world he followed the beat of his own drum - even preferring to use guns and what not to attack his enemies. He also had a limit break to transform into a few classic movie monsters, further adding to his uniqueness. His name is Vincent Valentine, and in this game, he is your hero.

Playing as Vincent, you wage a battle against an army of foes, while using gun and special gun attacks, along with hand-to-hand melee combos. The point of the game is to find out the truth behind Vincent’s tragic past. The game takes place roughly three years after the meteor’s attack on the planet, and after stitching together their shattered lives, a new fleet of terror arrives in waves of soldiers, formed from Shinra’s secret projects. With the destruction of Midgar, Vincent now rises against the impending threat of these soldiers, with his trusty Cerberus in hand.

Now this is a little like Dues Ex, in the idea of a first person shooter RPG. You will walk around and you will shoot your gun, but there really seems to only be a set path for you to be on. There are things like headshots, which always ended up with an instant kill in the demo. There was also a small stealth feel to it, as you could sneak up on enemies in hallways when they had their backs to you to get the perfect shot on them. In the same vein, something that did not work was with soldiers on rooftops unable to find you even though you would be clearly visible. We suspect that this problem will be fixed before the final product though..

Another aspect with the gun was that you have limited shots. Of course you could find more ammunition, but in the demo I tried I felt very cautious about taking or wasting shots.. With these shots you literally drain the HP off of your enemies directly or indirectly by shooting at objects like barrels that explode. Likewise you also have your own health point bar, which decreases when you get shot or attacked. It is also numbered, adding to the feeling of it being very RPG flavored that keeps with the theme of a Final Fantasy series.

Guns can be upgraded and customized to your liking. Mainly it is a lot like the FFVII game in the sense that you can give your weapons a boost. You may customize things like firing rate, range, power, and a few other things. You will also be able to play through with different weapons like machine guns, and handguns. Using these weapons you can move from the standard third person view with a sight in the middle, to a first person view. This assists you in lining up the shots properly to ensure the very best shots.

For your melee attacks, they will differ from the ground and the air. These are best when you want to save that ammo, or just find that an enemy is moving too fast for you to get a lock on. The air combo does allow you to hover a bit in the air, keeping you off the ground. From the start you do have a three combo that you may pull off, just by tapping the button in secession, so that does feel slightly like a button mashing experience.

While this game offers a totally different Final Fantasy experience, it still needs a lot of work. The graphics look beautiful and even the enemies in their blue hues looks great. The cinematics also look great (Advent Children quality), which is a nice touch. This happens to be my favourite character of FFVII, and I am sure he is a favourite to a lot of other people out there, so it's good to see him finally get some much deserved recognition. Look for the game to invade North America on August 22.

Final Fantasy XII

The newest addition to the Final Fantasy world will be coming out way soon. Designed for the Playstation 2, it has all ready hit the shores of Japan. It introduces a few new things to the Final Fantasy line-up, and by all means it is a brand new way to play. The last real Final Fantasy game to grace the PS2 was FFX. This felt like an authentic telling of their story, which lead to the first sequel in FF history (FFX2), which I slightly ignored because of the odd characters.

After playing the game for a bit at E3, I can say it is quite interesting. Everything takes place in the third person perspective. You have three people to a team, which is somewhat standard from previous games, but this style is interesting. It is an active battle system, so after you attack you may then move around and co-ordinate the attacks. The controls are quite easy to get down, which is great, mainly because this is quite different from the previous RPGs that have been released in the series. It does not feel intimidating to play at all rather -- it even feels quite fresh and fun. You will not need to directly manage all of the characters at a time, as in the menu screen you can set up the specifics of what you want characters to do. This “Gambit” system works quite well, so you will not need to sweat bullets while trying to manage your team.