Putting "Dirge" to rest, GOWII rocks.

ugh, for being so "tech savvy" I couldn't find where I was supposed to update this thing. I'm stupid.

Anyway. Couple things:

Like I mentioned last time, I picked up Dirge of Cerberus and played through real fast, probably 10 or 12 hours tops. The reviews were pretty miserable, but it being from Square and related to one of my favorite FFVII characters, Vincent, I was hopeful. And hey, Advent Children was filled with beautiful, action-packed, fanservice delightfulness, so...it could be good, right?

Well, not so much. Besides the instant gratification of the simple aim-and-shoot gameplay (which gets old fast), the pretty FMV cutscenes, and ...um...can't think of anything else. Yeah. It's not all that good. Oh, I thought of one more thing: Fanservice! If you're a big FFVII lover (and btw, FFVII is today's featured article on Wikipedia.com!), you owe it to yourself to play this, simply to squeal when you see Cloud riding his motorcycle and slashing people with a sword bigger than he is, or delight in watching Cid light a cig and take a slow drag. But let's address the gameplay issues here:
--absolutely mind-numblingly stupid story. It was just an excuse to make up another game, and adds nothing to the FFVII mythos. Yeah, it's plausible in this world, but it's not good either.
--The new characters and character design. Tetsuya Nomura, you should be absolutely ashamed of yourself, especially after seeing Akihiko Yoshida's incredible work in Final Fantasy XII. All of them were bland anime character stereotypes with bad fake accents, uninteresting to embarassingly terrible dialog, and even worse "stories". Yawn.
--the gameplay is just bland. The enemies come in 3 or 4 different varieties the whole game and show a distinct lack of a brain, the level design is dull and uninspired, and the weapon and magic management is ok but not great...nothing compared to the materia system, that's for sure.
--graphically it was underwhelming as well. Yes, this game is about a year old now, but in the face of next-gen systems, FFXII, and the just released God of War II, it looks like shit.
--they gave my favorite FFVII character, Red XIII, about 4 seconds of face time. Screw you too, Square.

So yeah. If you like FFVII and have some free time on your hands, go for it...you should be able to find it in the bargin bin section of your local Gamestop, EB, or Software Etc. in a few months. You could beat it in a rental too, so that's another solid option. Otherwise, save your time and money.

After that, I meant to start up my FFXII game again, but God of War II beckoned. By now I'm sure you've seen the ads for the sequel to the legendary PS2 blockbuster and critical darling, God of War. Set in mythical ancient Greece, it follows the exploits of the tortured and malicious Kratos, the former pawn of Ares, the (again, former) god of war. In the first game (**SPOILERSZZ!!1), you end up fighting back against the deceitful Ares and ask the gods to erase the horrible memories of your past (Kratos kind of killed his wife and child in a bloodlust. Whoops) Instead of curing Kratos of his nightmares, they offer him the chance to replace the slain Ares as the God of War, and Kratos is happy to oblige. Well, GOWII picks up where the first left off. I don't want to spoil anything, but Kratos is (still) unhappy and (again) wants to fight some gods.

But it's not about story...the gameplay is sublime. The art design, enemy variety, combat mechanics, interesting puzzles, alternate weapons, platforming elements, voice acting...this game has it all in spades. It even tells a pretty engaging story.

So anyway, I'm only a few minutes into GOWII, but even that first bit gave me a couple of great "whoa" moments, more than I can say for the whole 12 hours of Dirge. I suppose it's not even fair to compare, but when you're fighting against one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World (namely this one) instead of generic soldier #314, it's pretty nice.

So, for people with PS2s...do yourself and favor and pick it up. If you haven't played the first one, shame on you, go play it now.

Last thought: the upcoming Spring Break is a godsend for the average gamer. I'm probably going to be working on GOWII, FFXII, and trying to finish up FFIII on my DS. What are you playing over the break?

this one was too long again. I'll try to make it shorter next time. =|