At E3 2006 Square Enix stated at its press conference that the company was exploiting its franchises. It's good to be honest, and as long as the games are good, the consumers won't care. However, when the most recent product in the Final Fantasy VII line of games, Dirge of Cerberus, was released in Japan earlier this year, the feedback was fairly negative. The game simply didn't play very well and certainly wasn't the fast-paced action-shooter that FFVII fans had been hoping for.

Luckily Square Enix realized that the title was underwhelming and has made some significant changes to the game for its upcoming domestic release. We had the chance to play the title over the weekend and the game definitely plays better than its Japanese counterpart, but it's still too early to determine if the additions and changes have propelled the title to the status fans originally expected.

If you're unfamiliar with Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, the game picks up approximately one year after the events of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Vincent Valentine takes up the lead role for this third person and first shooter action-shooter. Throughout the game, Vincent will have access to special abilities, including Limit Breakers, which will give him even greater powers than he had in Final Fantasy VII.

The first and biggest change from the Japanese version to the US version has been made to the camera. In the Japanese version of the game, the camera was one of the biggest issues we had with the game. It was oftentimes difficult to target the enemy and even see the enemy in many cases. In the US version, the camera movement is faster and more responsive, and the auto-targeting system has been improved to make it much easier to lock-on to the desired foe.

Limit Breakers have also been refined and now have a much larger impact on the game. In the Japanese version, it was generally more beneficial to sell off your Limit Breakers as a decent way to earn gil (the in-game currency). However, in the domestic release Limit Breakers have been tweaked to be more powerful and usable throughout the game. In addition, the number of Limit Breakers Vincent can have at one time has been reduced, making them much more valuable to hold onto.

In addition to these technical changes, the game plays much faster overall. The Japanese version featured a roll maneuver for Vincent that was useful, but executed slower than many would have liked. It worked out okay simply because the game as a whole was not as fast-paced. However, in the US release the game has been sped up and the roll maneuver has been replaced with a faster dashing technique.

Unfortunately, the online multiplayer modes using the PlayOnline system Square Enix employs for all of its online titles will not make it into the US version of the game. In its place Square has added a hefty number of bonus missions that will be available after completing the game. We didn't get the chance to try out any of these bonus missions, but it's hard to believe they could make up for a lack of online multiplayer.

We're still awaiting our final build of Dirge of Cerberus from Square Enix, but from what we played over the weekend, the game is definitely looking better than its Japanese counterpart. However, after our brief play time the game still doesn't rank up there with most of the other Final Fantasy VII products Square has released since the original hit the PlayStation so may years ago. We'll have more on Dirge of Cerberus in the coming weeks as Square prepares for its August release date.