2020-05-01_Official_PlayStation_Magazine_-_UK_Edition

038

T

hePS1gamemighthavereleasedin1998,

but could anyone be more 2006 than our

goth king Vincent Valentine? What better

way for Square Enix to give fans what

they want out of PS2 than with a strange action

RPG third-person shooter? This was the first time

the devs tackled shooter territory, and if we’re

honest, you can tell.

Taking place after Final Fantasy VII, the game

focuses on our vampiric party member, who has

to stop Omega being awoken by the mysterious

Deepground organisation. Some other recognisable

faces also return. Things get pretty convoluted and

go a little off the rails, and it doesn’t really add much

of substance to the FFVII story in a satisfying way –

it just adds more flannel.

There’s something quite indulgent about Dirge Of

Cerberus, which thankfully has aged pretty well. It’s

an oddity, and one that on reflection, is pretty easy

to take glee in. Only available on PS2 hardware, it’s

worth tracking down a copy just to have some fun

blasting away as Vincent Valentine.

DDDDDDIIIIIIRRRRRRGGGGGGGEEEEEE OOOOOOOFFFFFF

CCCEEERRRBBBEEERRRUUUSSS

Valentine’s day massacre

LALASTST OORDRDR ERERR::

FIFIFINANANALLL FAFAFANTNTNTASASASYYY VIVIVIIII

T

his 25-minute anime movie fleshes out some

of the flashback sequences from the PS1

game, as told from the perspective of the

Turks’ leader, Tseng. It cuts between two events:

Cloud and his fellow SOLDIER Zack as they

originally escape Shinra; and Sephiroth’s visit to

Cloud and Tifa’s hometown Nibelheim. These were

both covered in the game, but this nice little anime

gives a different perspective, and is a fun watch.

EHEHEHEHRGRGRGRGEIEIEIEIZZ:Z:Z: GGGGODODODOD BBBBLELELELESSSSSSSS

THTHTHEEE RIRIRINGNGNG

T

his DreamFactory-developed wrestling-esque

3D arena fighter featured Cloud and Tifa as

guest characters when it was released in

Japanese arcades. But when it came to PlayStation

(published by Square), the dev capitalised on FFVII’s

popularity, adding Sephiroth, Yuffie Kisaragi, Vincent

Valentine, Red XIII and Zack Fair. Ostensibly the

game also features original characters, but it’s not

clear as nobody has ever played as them. This is one

Final Fantasy fighting game we’d love to play again.