Devil May Cry
Remarkably, this game started life as Resident Evil 4. Quickly it became apparent that it was a dark horse, and had strayed far away from the stable in which it was conceived. Whilst in development it mutated to such a degree that it was not even recognisable as an episode of the renowned survival horror franchise. It was a bastard son, disowned and left to evolve in a place where its sick genius could breed in an ever more warped fashion. Devil May Cry was born.
First, the plot. You take on the role of Dante, a very tough guy who never seems to lose his cool. He is the son of legendary demon hunter Sparda, a man who banished the devil back to hell many years ago. The devil is understandably annoyed, and is out for revenge, which means you have to kill everything the big man can throw at you.
The gameplay is fast and furious, featuring colossal battles with demonic creatures, which you have to despatch with amazing gun/blade combos and gravity-defying acrobatics. It is incredibly stylish, fusing hip characters and weapons with a stunning medieval setting. Combine this with a scorching soundtrack that speeds up and slows down according to the pace of the action, and you’ll be caught up in Dante’s world straight away.
Wiping out your enemies reveals orbs, that are handy for purchasing new attacks, extra items and continues, which you’ll need to get to the end of the game. A great twist is that the more stylishly you vanquish your foes; the more orbs are left behind when they are dead. Your efforts are judged by the game with each kill, starting with ’Dull’ for a regular blow, rising through ’Cool’, ’Bravo’ and ’Absolute’ to ’Stylish.’ To get those higher ratings, you’ll have to pull off some pretty nifty combos. Switching between swords and guns is fortunately both intuitive and fluid, with no break in-between.
The relentless action is prevented from ever getting tiresome, by being carefully broken up with more thought provoking play. It would probably be bad for your health if it were not. Hidden amongst the slashing and shooting combat-led action you’ll find both platform and puzzle challenges, which, whilst not too taxing, serve nicely to vary the pace.
Although early demos of DMC ran continuously, like it’s zombie-horror based relatives, the finished article is comprised of a series of missions. Each mission starts where the last left off, so in essence the mission boundaries function as well spaced save points. At the end of each mission you are presented with all kinds of stats, time bonuses and an overall rating based on performance. Trying to get top ratings adds a certain amount of replay value to the game.
The game starts easy enough, with strange marionettes for you to vanquish, but before long you’ll come up against some of the impressive boss like entities, such as giant scorpion tailed tarantulas and shadowy sabre toothed cats. The action in the game conjures memories of older games like Castlevania, particularly in the boss battles. This is good old-fashioned gameplay, with pattern attacks to overcome and Achilles heels to be exposed. Although unlike most of the older titles that Capcom have tried to evoke, there is no one simple set of moves that will achieve victory, and the action takes place in often vast three-dimensional arenas.
This is in no sense of the word an easy game, but its main strength is being a decent challenge without being unfair. If you play well, you’ll be rewarded by victory. If you don’t, then you’ll die. This makes winning an extremely satisfying experience.
The most striking thing about this game is the stunning visuals, which has begun to hint at what the PS2 is truly capable of. The backgrounds and scenery are a wonder to behold, full use is made of the 3D locations, and there are no Onimusha style pre-rendered backgrounds here. Some of the enemies will make your jaw drop with their sheer amount of detail. When people refer to the beautiful game, they mean this.
As for flaws, well there is one, as there always has to be. Occasionally, and I mean occasionally, the camera loses sight of its main priorities, so you’ll end up seeing great shots of Dante taking all manner of damage from some unseen opponent out of camera shot. When it happens, this is mildly irritating, but as 99% of the time the camera does a perfect job, it’s only a very minor problem.
In a nutshell, this game is spectacular. Old school, hardcore, gaming action has been brought bang up to date in beautiful fashion. If you own a PS2, then you need to get this game. You’ll only be cheating yourself if you don’t.
Written by Chris Morgan
Comments
Do you have any comments to add to this article? Do you agree with what's been said? Have you experienced the same issue? Have you got any advice you'd like to pass on to other eefo.net users? If so, then please click below... Your comment will be added to the bottom of this article.
Rate this article
Services
Enter your keywords and choose either a specific area or leave as 'all regions'
Newsletter Signup
EEFO goes Mobile! You can now search and read content from this website on your web enabled mobile phones. Visit this site - www.eefo.net.