Dirge of Cerberus Hands-On: Square Enix Party 2005

MAKUHARI MESSE--One of the most stylish booths on the show floor at Square Enix's inaugural Square Enix Party 2005 is the red-swathed area that houses Dirge of Cerberus, the upcoming action game starring Vincent Valentine of Final Fantasy VII fame. The game has been the subject of much rumor and speculation since its announcement, as no one really knew what kind of game it was going to be. E3 added fuel to the fire with a few short clips of video and the confirmation from developer Yoshinori Kitase that the game was, in fact, a shooter. How does one of the premier RPG developers go about making a shooter? More importantly, how is it turning out?

A quick run over to the booth and one brief wait later, we found ourselves in front of a flat-panel monitor at a mode select screen. Though we saw more options besides single-player, namely multiplayer (which begged to be tried--see our story), the work-in-progress versions of the game on display only offered a single player experience. The third-person action game sends you through the streets of a city under siege by mostly unpleasant individuals in sleek combat armor. The bulk of our experience revolved around killing these evildoers in a number of ways. At the moment, Dirge plays like most any third-person shooter, but with a few twists, the least of which isn't the Final Fantasy VII name.

Though the demo we played didn't shed a ton of light on the game's story, the combination of playing the game and checking out a new trailer for the game at the show helped us piece together some new information. As has been stated before, the game takes place three years after FFVII, which is technically one year after the events in Advent Children. The combat-armor wearers are warriors who have been buried underground since FFVII's catastrophic meteo incident. Unfortunately, rather than be happy to be aboveground again, the group names itself the Deep Ground (or the DG if you want to street them up a little) and takes to raiding cities. It appears that Vincent has ties to this chain of events, but that connection is a mystery for the time being.

The new trailer adds plenty of mystery to the proceedings. It appears that the DG is, in fact, looking for Vincent. At one point in the trailer you see Yuffie, in her Advent Children costume, saying, "I found you lying like a dead corpse in Nibelheim's Shinra manor" to Vincent, who's lying on a bed. Then there's a sequence that shows an unlucky individual getting plugged with gunfire like a Corleon at a toll booth. The twist is that the bullet repository is none other than Reeve Twestie, the former Shinra employee that controlled Cait Sith the cat (who is known to have a cameo of some kind in the game). It seems that Reeve is the leader of an organization called WRO, which is focused on the restoration of the planet. While it also appeared that there will be cameos from a few other familiar faces such as Barret and Cid, the most intriguing cameo comes later in the trailer when Vincent is seen talking to the crystal-like remains(tombstone?) of Lucrecia, former Shinra scientist and birthmother of Sephiroth. Finally it also appears that there is a new female character in the story as well.

Now, as far as gameplay goes, Dirge doesn't seem to stray too far from the standard third-person-shooter formula. Based on how the demo was structured--and bear in mind we're not guaranteeing anything--it looks as though the game will be split into missions and objectives. The control is pretty basic, although it does take some getting used to. You'll move and aim with the left analog stick. Pressing R1 once will call up an aiming reticle that appears to have some limited autolock functions when you're close to an enemy who needs shooting. L1 will let Vincent use magic. The X button lets Vince get his melee on, which offers some variety as you go around capping the DG. The D pad is used pretty extensively for managing items. Pressing left on the D pad will let you set items for use, and pressing right will let you use that item. In addition, pressing up on the D pad will call up a map. When you get into the gun-toting thick, there are four functions you'll need to use: L2 switches guns; with R3 serves as a zoom enabler when you have a rifle; circle will let you check items, and the right analog stick will let you adjust your view. The big gun to the control scheme is holding down L1 and R1, which will trigger Vincent's other major abilty--a limit-break-style bonus that turns Vincent into a wolflike creature that has its own move set and advantages. All told, the game is already pretty fun to play, and we expect it'll continue to improve from what we've seen.

The visuals come across as pretty restrained at the moment. Given that most of the action we've seen so far is set within the narrow confines of city streets and alleys, it's hard to be incredibly impressed, though there are certainly some cool elements to call out. Vincent's character model looks good and features a flowing cape, although he could stand to use less starch when he has it laundered...it looks a little stiff. The assortment of enemies look good despite their uniformity. While we've seen differences among them, they all stick to the same basic color palette and armor structure, which suits their militaristic style. The city streets are serviceable right now but lack the open-ended feel and interactivity we'd like to see. There are a good amount of special effects used for gunfire and Vincent's transformation, which add some punch to the graphics. Overall we'd say the game looks very good for a work in progress.

The audio is still embryonic and doesn't necessarily have a proper personality just yet. You'll hear speech from Vincent and most of the characters you meet in the game, but it seems your paramilitary buddies aren't big on talk most of the time. The gunfire effects were sharp and generally satisfying.

This early playtest of Dirge of Cereberus has certainly left us intrigued to see more. We're very curious to see how all the single-player and online multiplayer pieces fall together. The bits we've played so far have been interesting and do a fine job of creating a serviceable shooter experience. We're just hoping for the "special" to be added to the mix in order for it to live up to the FF7 name and our own fanboy expectations. Dirge of Cereberus is currently slated to ship this fall for the PlayStation 2. Look for more about this one here on GameSpot in the coming months.