Dirge of Cerberus Materia

Since the beginning of Final Fantasy, there has been magic of some type or another. The Dirge of Cerberus finds us with Materia once more.
In the Dirge of Cerberus, you have three types of Materia. There is Fire, Ice, and Thunder Materia. These Materia can be attached to Vincents weapons, to fire powerful Materia shots at enemies. You can also gain up to two other levels of magic power with the right accessories attached. The Materia Booster allows the level of the Materia to increase by 1. The Materia Floater will increase the Materia level by 2. It is definitely wise to find these early on, so you can make good use of magic in the beginning of the game.
Below is a description of each Materia type, and their range and damage.

Fire Materia

Level	MP Cost	Force	Distance	DMG Radius	DMG/1 MP
1	14	200	150 Meters	2.65 Meters	14.3
2	17	300	150 Meters	4.03 Meters	17.7
3	20	400	150 Meters	6.33 Meters	20.0

Fire Materia causes a spherical blast radius (Similar to Ultima in Final Fantasy VI), And is quite powerful. If you shoot a round of Fire, it will move in a straight line, until it contacts someone. It will then branch onto a wall of fire.
This Materia is most effective in groups of enemies.

Ice Materia

Level	MP Cost	Force	Distance	DMG Radius	DMG/1 MP
1	17	450	150 Meters	0.64 Meters	28.1
2	20	600	150 Meters	0.64 Meters	30.0
3	23	750	150 Meters	0.64 Meters	32.6

The Blizzard Materia is a bit better than fire. It actually zeros in on the target. This Materia also has the ability to stop any intruders. This will temporarily render the enemy frozen. Better in a 1-1 fight, and is also effective.

Thunder Materia

Level	MP Cost	Force	Distance	DMG Radius	DMG/1 MP
1	17	250	12 Meters	2.0 Meters	14.7
2	25	600	14.5 Meters	2.3 Meters	24.0
3	33	999	17 Meters	2.6 Meters	30.3

With the Thunder Materia, you are able to electrocute your enemies from a far. After the initial target is hit, the bolt will spread to other, near-by enemies. It might also be powerful enough to knock enemies to the ground.
The one draw back to the Thunder Materia, is the amount of MP it consumes.