Game:

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (2006)

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Dirge of Cerberus for PlayStation 2, by SquareEnix. (*think final fantasy meets Devil May Cry 3) What do you think? This is a mini game of shooting gallery.

Full review & more videos @GameSpot:
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/dirgeofcerberusfinalfantasyvii/index.html

It's difficult not to have high expectations of a game that carries the title of one of the most popular and beloved video games ever made, so right from the start the odds are stacked against Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. It also doesn't help that the game eschews its role-playing roots in favor of a generic third-person shooter design. If you're looking for another character-driven epic that lives up to the Final Fantasy VII name, you'll be disappointed with Dirge of Cerberus. If you could care less about all that and are just looking for a mindless action game to blast through in a weekend or two, you can find some moderate enjoyment in Dirge of Cerberus. But in a market that is filled to bursting with great action games, it takes more than some mediocre gunplay and Final Fantasy window dressing to make a game worth your time and money.

The gunplay in Dirge of Cerberus is functional, but it isn't especially satisfying. The enemies you face are mostly generic soldiers and dogs, with a few mechs and flying creatures thrown in from time to time. More often than not the soldiers will leap from behind some boxes as you enter a room, but sometimes they'll try to snipe you from the top of a building. All of the enemy behavior in the story missions is scripted, so you'll always see the same enemies in the same places, and their behavior quickly becomes predictable. You can usually take down an enemy with a single shot, or perhaps three shots at the very most. That means that even if the enemy artificial intelligence were halfway decent, you'd never know it, because the enemies don't stick around long enough to do anything but die. There are several boss battles in the game, but most of these battles play out like any other gun fight, except they last longer because the bosses tend to have thousands of hit points rather than hundreds.

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII presents a difficult choice to Final Fantasy fans. On one hand, it's a generic shooter that simply doesn't measure up to the high standards for action games on the PlayStation 2. On the other hand, it's a new entry in the beloved Final Fantasy VII universe, so if you're a fan of that game you might feel almost obligated to play this one, even though the story contains very little of what made the original game so great. The end result is a game that does have a few interesting and even entertaining moments, but will ultimately leave action game fans and Final Fantasy fans feeling unfulfilled.
To Heck with GameSpot, this game is excellent. I'm not a final fantasy fanboy, rent it first. You'll like it.

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