CoolROM.com's game information and ROM (ISO) download page for Dirge of Cerberus - Final Fantasy VII (Sony Playstation 2).
. Summary: The time has come to cleanse this world. Hunt down the unworthy.and show them no mercy. Three years have passed since the events of FINAL FANTASY VII. Buried alive following the Meteor disaster, a mysterious group known as the DG (Deepground) Soldiers emerges and begins raiding the city. The time has come to cleanse this world. Hunt down the unworthy.and show them no mercy.
Three years have passed since the events of FINAL FANTASY VII. Buried alive following the Meteor disaster, a mysterious group known as the DG (Deepground) Soldiers emerges and begins raiding the city. The enigmatic Vincent Valentine is somehow connected to these attacks, and he may be the only one who can save this shattered world. When the world is engulfed in darkness, his gun will toll a dreadful dirge. Other characters from FINAL FANTASY VII join Vincent on his journey, and as the story unfolds, you will bear witness to shocking truths never revealed in the original game. As far as I can see this was just a very brave experiment, this would've been much better if it kept the original FFVII style of play. A As far as I can see this was just a very brave experiment, this would've been much better if it kept the original FFVII style of play.
A few huge problems knock it down though; aside from Vincent (played by Steve Blum) the voice acting is terrible, especially Cait Sith (man am I glad I have the japanese version of FFVII: AC). As a musician and a composer I have to slate Masashi Hamauzu, I mean why the hell did they get rid of Nobuo Uematsu in the first place? The soundtrack is very blocky and boring and some of it even sounds like Uematsu's work re-hashed.
The FMVs are absolutely fantastic, however those kinds of animation graphics are becoming easy to create these days so they aren't anything special. The in-game graphics however are a far cry from the FMVs, they're pretty dull, blocky and boring, not to mention the amount of blocky edges, they definitely should've developed this on the FFXII engine since that looks so much better. The gameplay appears as though Square Enix couldn't be bothered and to be honest i was used to this company giving 100% on their games, even FFIX didn't totally suck. In short I would recommend DoC to people wanting a complete FF collection and FF nerds like myself, Vincent Valentine fans may be sorely disappointed with this game though. Casual gamers may enjoy this but it's not one for the hardcore gamers like myself. A decent attempt but it would've been so much better in an RPG system. An OK spin-off title that is altogether completely forgettable.
If it wasn't for the FF 7 affiliation I doubt this game would have seen any An OK spin-off title that is altogether completely forgettable. If it wasn't for the FF 7 affiliation I doubt this game would have seen any sales. At it's core it is a generic third person action shooter. The combat is bland, the gameplay is bland, the story is uninteresting.
Overall: It isn't a bad game as it technically delivers a functioning game. But it is so unbelievably bland I get sleepy just thinking about it. But, at the very least, Vincent is still cool and it's always a pleasure to see him on screen. Perhaps the single worst example of cutscence and gameplay segregation in history. Vincent in cutscenes can jump six stories and take down an Perhaps the single worst example of cutscence and gameplay segregation in history. Vincent in cutscenes can jump six stories and take down an attack helicopter without needing to reload.
![Dirge of cerberus walkthrough Dirge of cerberus walkthrough](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125616065/196312113.jpg)
Vincent in game plinks away at footsoldiers and needs keycards to bypass a tall fence. Playing through it, you'll encounter more boring cliches than you can shake a stick at: waves and waves of enemies, shamelessly-recycled boss fights, exploding barrels, moronic AI, forced turret sections, forced stealth sections, the works. It's slow, boring, and not worth your time.
How about that story, then? Well, it's hardly better. It's heavily connected to the plot of Final Fantasy VII, but at the same time, it has very little to do with it. Hojo's alive now, there's a whole bunch of stuff about Deepground and the Tsvets that was never even implied in the original, and while most of the cast shows up at some point, they're generally just there for fanservice. The ones who get focus, primarily, are Vincent, Yuffie, Cait Sith, and Cid. Cid is generally okay, but Yuffie and Cait Sith were terrible in the first game, and have only gotten more annoying with time. Vincent himself.
![Dirge of cerberus sequel Dirge of cerberus sequel](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/aug/ff7.jpg/RPSS/resize/760x-1/format/jpg/quality/70)
Well, you know how people claim to hate Cloud because 'all he does is mope,' but it's not true because the guy actually did go through some pretty meaty development in the original game? Vincent really does do nothing but mope. He has no goals, no agency, no likes or dislikes, most of his dialogue is ellipses. At times, he has flickers of a romance, but he approaches it with the same monotone dullardry that he approaches everything else. He's basically a brick that shoots things. You could replace him with a gun turret on wheels and keep most of the plot intact. Well, you'd lose the bits where he turns into hilarious-looking monsters, but that's not a bug, it's a feature.
About the nicest thing I can say about this game is that the FMV cutscenes look very good, and the soundtrack is quite nice. Watch them on YouTube if that piques your interest. If you must own every single appearance by the FFVII characters and have Vincent Valentine tattooed on your chest, then I'd say you might be able to enjoy yourself.