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Shippin' Out 8/14-18: Dirge of Cerberus, Ninety-Nine Nights

By Patrick Caldwell

Final Fantasy spin-off and Ninety-Nine Nights cut through the fog of a front-loaded games week; DS gets triple dose of new releases.

Though Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays are taking a hiatus this week, retail publishers still have a few key titles they hope will ameliorate the summer doldrums.

Square Enix's action-heavy spin-off to the 1997 role-playing classic Final Fantasy VII--a recent inductee into GameSpot's Greatest Games of All Time--will hit US stores tomorrow. Starring the elusive Vincent Valentine--a pistol-wielding character whom players may never have even seen in FFVII--combines first-person shooting with other action adventure elements for a title not focused on traditional Final Fantasy role-playing. For more on Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, check out GameSpot's impressions from the Japanese version of the game, which was released in January.

Though some of the early hype around the game has died down, Microsoft, Q Entertainment, and Phantagram still hope gamers are drawn to their Xbox 360 action game, which literally pits players against hundreds of onscreen enemies at once. The point-of-view-switching Ninety-Nine Nights plays similarly to games in the Dynasty Warriors and Kingdom Under Fire franchises, the latter also by Phantagram. For more on Ninety-Nine Nights, read GameSpot's review.

Nintendo's DS handheld is receiving a trio of games in distinctly separate genres. The first is Freedom Wings, a flight sim from Natsume and Taito, in which gamers don the role of a government pilot in the Air Patrol Association to rid the skies of pirates. Players can use the Nintendo DS stylus to maneuver their aircraft. Another, Konductra from O3 Entertainment and oeFun, is a puzzler in which players match colored tiles and can challenge other Konductra players either via a local or Internet wireless connection.

The last, Deep Labyrinth from Atlus and Interactive Brains, is a first-person role-playing game featuring both hack-and-slash dungeon-crawling and a memory-tangled backstory. Deep Labyrinth also has developmental ties to a few Square Enix RPGs--Chrono Trigger's and Final Fantasy XI's Masato Katou is working on Deep Labyrinth's scenarios, while acclaimed virtuoso Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Cross, Xenosaga) is composing its musical score. For more on Deep Labyrinth, check out GameSpot's most recent preview.

AUGUST 14
Civil Air Patrol Pilot Search and Rescue (PC)
DarkStar One (PC)
World Racing 2 (PC)

AUGUST 15
Backyard Baseball 2007 (PC)
D1 Grand Prix (PS2)
Deep Labyrinth (DS)
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (PS2)
Freedom Wings (DS)
Games Explosion! (GBA)
Konductra (DS)
Ninety-Nine Nights (Xbox 360)
Payout Poker and Casino (PSP)
Pirates: Legend of the Black Buccaneer (PS2)
Super Monkey Ball Adventure (PSP)
World Racing 2 (Xbox)
Xyanide (Xbox)

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Versus_XIII 5 pts

I can't wait for FFIII on the DS

Fiku42 5 pts

??.... Theres nothing good Left on Gba The Only thing thats left thats worth getting on it is FInal Fantasy V and FFVI thats about it.

lvlUNE3B 5 pts

It won't be a good week for gba

madroxide87 5 pts

I'm gonna have to agree with several of the other posters on this one. That game looked kinda dumb and felt worse....clumsy controls....bad angles...all the things that cause you to die and throw things at your TV.

Roxas_27 5 pts

Dirge of Cerberus' developers said themselves that DoC is not a spin-off or a sequel.

Radai32671 5 pts

Who sells World Racing 2, so i can purchase it?

smbius 5 pts

The N3 demo was really fun.... ...for about two mintes

King_Dodongo 5 pts

Deep Labyrinth, Freedom Wings and Konductra! Nice trio!

Digital-Devil 5 pts

N3 needed online or two player...simple as that

terrabreak13 5 pts

I enjoyed the demo for N3. It's hard to believe that somehow the final game is worst than the demo. I guess it's just a matter of taste.

The_Answer_1 5 pts

I knew this game would be bad I like the idea of trying something new but from the gamplay videos i knew it was coming home with me i expect gamespot to give a 7 maybe a 6 no more

Fatality4u 5 pts

Niney-Nine Nights was the only thing that seemed to make a good deal for this week and now that it stinks...

SavoyPrime 26 pts

I was hoping N3 was going to be a good title. Maybe an two-player XBL co-op mode would have helped it out some.

Flamingpostman 7 pts

N3 has got such bad reviews It needed atleast 2 player mode or something Online play...

shizwill03 5 pts

N3 bored me when I watch my nephew hack up the demo, and DOC did not get anything good as well. I was not intending to buy the games anyway.

Dante200X 5 pts

sieg6529 wrote: $50 for DoC? I'll just wait until I can snag it at $20. Personally, I haven't seen a game in years that was worth $50. guess you never saw MGS3 (or Subsistence), RE4, DMC3, God of War, Dragon Quest VIII, KH2, ext.

Digital-Devil 5 pts

N3 has got such bad reviews It needed atleast 2 player mode or something Online play...

Zoard 5 pts

mknee2002 learn proper english foo! Nothing to new here... I guess the drought of games continues...

Digital-Devil 5 pts

DOC will be nothing next to FF-VII, i've heard no good reviews on it, and even in Japan it isn't doing well

LinkErdrich 5 pts

The hype between these two games is congesting. Somehow I doubt either one can live up to it. I doubt N3 will help the flagging 360 to gain any ground across the pond, and I wish Square would quit milking the ffvii cash cow. That things been dry for too long.

juansoziah 5 pts

gamer_10001, You're calling mknee2002 an idiots, I barely post your understood. I still don't know what some of your supposed to be sentences were.

FallenAngel 5 pts

mknee2002....wha wha whaaaa??? Learn English foo...

gamer_10001 5 pts

mknee2002: You're calling Gamespot and IGN idiots, I barely understood your post. I still don't know what some of your sentences were supposed to be. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing for me this week.

nintendorocks 5 pts

Dirge of Cerberus is almost here! Please not another summer flop...

mknee2002 5 pts

I am so piss-off at Gamespot and Ign.com have revilew of Ninety-nine Nights is very low but I am so disappionted and I think they not done play then very great review. So I will buy Ninety-nine nights game then I will play later and Later the game will high to 8.5 or 9.0 better, Forget about Gamespot and ign.com. They are idiot.

vashvsgoku 5 pts

hope dirge is good. i'll probably like it alot even if its just average, because of the graphics, and story tie-ins with ff7. oh, and N3 is boring as hell

WolfSkill5544 5 pts

The most outstanding one for this week is FF VII, I was having high hopes for N3, but after the full review on the game, I have my doubts.

Jebril 26 pts

I can't believe gamespot gave N3 a 5.9 oh man..I think this game definetly deserves more than that I mean they gave Most Wanted (a Xbox game basically ported the 360) an 8 for graphics and 8.4 overall and they gave N3 ( a totally orginal title) a 7 for graphics and 5.9 overall. I know it's mindless hacking but it sure as hell is fun.

blackIceJoe 5 pts

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII looks to be a good game. I though N3 looked good but after hearing so many bad things about it I guess it is not as good as I thought it would be.

Orasion_Seiz 5 pts

this is DoC day. ive been waiting for the NA version for months now.

Writeous 5 pts

Wow, that is a pretty weak list of games. N3 = a Definant Rent.

meimnobody 5 pts

There are two quests in deep labyrinth or rather two different games. Odds are the reviewers of that one review just played the noob quest. It's a hack and slash rpg like oblivion. Read the preview impressions and look for the .pdf of the manual.

korn18m 5 pts

faridmon i hope deep labyrnith might get good scores, i am all for that game. _____________________________________________________________

faridmon 5 pts

i hope deep labyrnith might get good scores, i am all for that game.

sieg6529 82 pts

$50 for DoC? I'll just wait until I can snag it at $20. Personally, I haven't seen a game in years that was worth $50.

ConManWithGun 5 pts

i might rent N3 to up my gamerscore

korn18m 5 pts

Tenafly Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII only got a 7.0 at IGN. Spider_man_1991 i'll rent dirge of ceberus because the story looks intresting. it doesnt look like a 50$ game. square should of released it at 40$ or 30$ _____________________________________________________________ :(

Mkeegs79 5 pts

N3 for me. Im ready for some mindless button bashing mayhem!

BLACKFIRE2142 5 pts

Dierge of Cerberus is gonna be awesome... and Nintey Nine Nights would be cool if i had a 360.

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