I received my copy o Final Fantasy VII- Dirge of Cerberus Tuesday, March 18, 2008. I thought, "Now I'll have an RPG with a dark side." I had bought it in the hope of adding another Final Fantasy game to my collection. Well, I was wrong. My definition of an RPG is a game with a storyline simple enough to understand, yet complex enough to make you want more. This game fulfilled that definition. I understood the story: After the damage of Meteorfall, it comes to Vincent Valentine torght the wrongs of Deepground. Also, I wanted more... MORE ROLE-PLAYING.

I felt that this game was more of an action-shooting game. Yeah, te guns shoot magic out of them, but that's not what makes the series great. What makes them great is the fact that the people have the ability to make out magic out of nothing, just casting a spell.

I like the character's back story. I thought it was more in depth than the stories of other characters in other Final Fantasy's (Vivi- FFIX, Lulu- FFX). I didn't feel a sense of teamwork either. Most RPGs have a team, or party, of characters fighting at the same time. This game has Vincent fighing with the WRO to kill every bad guy. The problem with that is you can't control anyone else. When I played, it seemed that wherever I was shooting, the soldiers just had to get in my way. I ended up killing everyone on the bad side, and some on the good side.

The cut scenes were wonderfully made. Everyone that was classed as human, looked human; and they all seemed to speak the language that the voices came from. What I mean is, their mouths weren't in Japanese, while the voices were English. I felt that some of the cut scenes were just too long. I was actually getting bored with it, and I didn't want to wait for the next chance to fight.

Battling was also not what I was expecting. I like how the world is the battlefield and how I didn't get transported to some place every time I encountered a monster. However, I didn't like the weapon choices. Guns are great, but why not have a variety like an occasional sword or stave.

Please note that this review was written before I knew that the characters in Final Fantasy VII have a set selection of weapons. Thank you.

The ending was okay for the most part. I liked how it made me question if I did everything righ. For instance, when Reeve said that "Omega is ascending, it could only mean that Omega is leaving for the 'sea of stars' and taking the planet with it. What I didn't like about the ending was the fact that it gos from cut scene to credits to cut scene. Why not just do the entire ending and then roll the credits and ten the "THE END" screen?

My favorite parts of the game were the connections between Lucrecia, Grimoire, and Vincent, and the energy and spunk of Yuffie. My least favorite parts were the long cut scenes and the lack of team playing. On a scale of 1-10, I give this game a 6; mainly because the storyline and very cool-looking characters.

Other Game Notes:
I finished my review playthrough in 10 hours, 54 minutes, and 18 seconds.