Dirge of Cerberus (henceforth called Dirge) delivers what it promises: a connecting tale that reveals more details about the storyline in Final Fantasy VII. But for gamers who have never delved into the Final Fantasy role-playing games, Dirge offers competent third-person (or first-person if that's your thing) shooter action with some gun customization and some light role-playing game character building. For Final Fantasy VII fans looking for another role-playing experience similar to that juggernaut RPG, all you need do is read the game box to figure out that the gameplay therein isn't even remotely like that.
Dirge lets you take control of Vincent, the mysterious character in Final Fantasy VII that Cloud and company find in a coffin in Final Fantasy VII. Dirge opens with Vincent reluctantly joining the WRO (World Regenesis Organization) to combat the Deepground army and a group of super beings called the Tsviets (to which his own mysterious past is somehow tied to). Dirge tells Vincent's past and present story in intricate detail and peppers the plot with plenty of familiar faces that Final Fantasy VII players will certainly appreciate. Anyone that has seen Advent Children will be in a better position to understand what's going on in this game and with these cameo characters that jump in and out of the plot to lend some authenticity to Vincent's latest adventure. There's no denying that Vincent is a compelling character, though he remains the enigma that he was in his previous role - quiet and deadly, dark and sometimes brooding, but ultimately good and caring at his core.
Vincent is proficient in the art of gunplay, and so in this game you'll spend 99.9 percent of your time shooting things. Vincent's gun, Cerebus, is highly customizable, allowing you to create four different types of guns - a regular pistol , an automatic weapon (machinegun style), a shotgun, and a long range sniper weapon. You can also alter other things about your weapon(s) by adding a long, normal or a short barrel to increase accuracy and damage, a scope for stealthy sniping action, and a number of items that enhance everything from defense to damage. Finally you can add some powerful Materia based attacks - ice, fire, lightening etcetera - to create a powerful attack that does massive amounts of damage to one target or a crowd . Customizing your gun is a pretty important aspect of gameplay because as you push forward into each stage the challenge will ramp up and you'll need a weapon to match the situation.
There's also some light character building that affects how well you shoot, how much health you have, etcetera. One of the interesting role-playing bits in the game is met at the end of each level when your performance is rated. At the end of each stage your score is tallied and you are given an experience reward that you can use to do one of two things: spend the experience in the traditional way on your base stats - or covert that experience to Gil (money in the world of Final Fantasy) to buy upgrades to your weapon. The trick with this part of the game is knowing when to use this form of currency. If you focus too much on one or the other you'll have a character that is slightly imbalanced. This part of the game proves to be interesting, because it is completely within your control. For those that do spend that experience in the traditional way - don't worry - there are plenty of stores within each stage to spend your Gil on and get those upgrades and add-ons for your gun.
The one element that is intricately balanced is inventory management. You can only carry a certain number of each item in the game and some items are more expensive to procure than others. The developers did a grand job of making players choose when and what to use by doing this. Use too many and you might find yourself at the end of the level with scant amounts of healing potions or a much needed phoenix down (resurrection potion for those non FF fans). The way Phoenix Downs are used in this game are interesting as well. These potions are taken prior to dying so that when the time comes you are instantly brought back to life. But since you can only have one active at a time and you can only carry one in your inventory, it is important to always have one active at all times so that you have room for one in your inventory - which basically allows you to resurrect Vincent twice. This is how a lot of your inventory works. You have a limited supply of everything and you'll want to use it sparingly. The same applies to limit breaks, because you can only carry so many and they can be pretty pricey in the stores. These wonderful powers are now items -- unlike other regional versions of the game - and can prove to be a saving grace in the many boss battles and tough fights you might find yourself in. Luckily having a limited supply can be offset by finding some of these items in crates or from the enemies you kill, but care is still needed in deciding when to quaff that health potion or use that limit break.
These aforementioned game elements help shape your character's strengths (and in some cases weaknesses) but the true meat and potatoes of Dirge is the gunplay - and there's plenty of it to go around. You'll be shooting and shooting and shooting some more: you'll snipe some bad guys up on the rooftops, gun down crowds of baddies with your machine gun, and blow people away at close range with your sawed off shotgun as you make it through each area hitting each check point until inevitably you'll hit some kind of boss battle. Some of these battles are a little too easy, while some are protracted death matches where you struggle to stay alive using a combination of agility, your cache of weapons and your inventory to stay in the fight. The gunplay in Dirge is sometimes repetitive, but it manages to hold interest in between hunting for keys, finding the right routes, boss battles and the flurry of cutscenes that explain the storyline.
Dirge really does excel at telling Vincent's past and present situation, with wonderful voice acting and CGI cutscenes that are almost as good as Final Fantasy Advent Children's story-telling. The story isn't quite as epic as Advent Children, but it is compelling and does drop a few of the puzzle pieces in the Final Fantasy mythos that fans will truly appreciate.
Dirge isn't for everyone though. Shooter fans may feel that the challenges are way too light and Final Fantasy fans may only be interested in the story and not the gameplay - which is far removed from any previous Final Fantasy title.
Graphically Dirge looks okay. Character design is strong and the many enemies you'll face are intricately designed and implemented in the game. Likewise the CGI animation is top shelf. Where Dirge really falls short is its level design, which isn't as grand as you'd expect from a Final Fantasy branded title. Many of the areas in the game are dull or look similar - whether you're in an open area, in a ruined city or jumping from rooftop to rooftop hunting baddies. The game could have used more variety -- and in many areas - more colorful environments. Still the level design gets the job done, and there's at least enough changes in the scenery to keep you engaged.
There are a lot of extras in the game that will extend the gameplay a bit if you don't get bored with the run-and-gun action of the main single player game. Beyond the extra art and movies you can unlock, there are a ton of free-form missions you can take on. These are unlocked after meeting certain requirements in the single player game. Sadly no multiplayer is available - these freeform missions are simply a rework of the Japanese version's multiplayer levels which apparently didn't appeal to gamers over there. This omission isn't necessarily a bad thing, because it was a feature that wasn't well received in the first place by fans – but some sort of multiplayer could have been fun.
