#21 Devil May Cry



Game Info               

Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Platform:  PS2               
Genre(s): Action               
Players: 1               
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)               
Release Date: October 17, 2001

Intro:
Figures of flame move against a solid dark background, sometimes brandishing a sword, and sometimes, dual pistols.  As the story begins, a mysterious woman jumps down from a building top.  She looks down the street to a neon sign that says “Devil May Cry” in stylish lettering.  The scene shifts to Dante sitting at his desk when the mysterious woman breaks down the wall using a red motorcycle.  The opening effectively sets the scene for the story, but leaves a lot of unanswered questions.  One assumes they’ll be answered by the time the game is completed, so it effectively draws you into play.

Getting Going:
Right away, grammatical errors in the subtitle text takes you out of the experience.  Even though I’m a writer, I don’t usually feel the need to nitpick the writing of others, but in a polished game, errors like these stand out.  Beyond this small faux pas, however, the game gets going fairly quickly.  Dante finds himself on a path with only one way to go and the fighting is underway.

Fun:
For the purposes of the Challenge, fun is entertainment and engagement.  Devil May Cry is both engaging and entertaining.  The mechanics were fairly innovative for it’s time.  Dante has the ability to launch his enemies into the air and then do air raid attacks, slice them up while airborne, or shoot them from below.  He has Devil Trigger attacks which are specialty moves.  In short, the player has been given a multitude of options and has decisions to make.  This is most definitely not a simple button-mashing game.

Visuals:
Black outlines around characters make them look pasted onto the background.  Beyond that, however, some of the enemies are absolutely stunning.  The environments are creatively designed and wonderfully textured.  Fight scenes contain dazzling and explosive visuals and enemies have been honored with pleasing death scenes.  Treasures are well-lit and easy to spot.

Sound:  
There is not a whole lot of voice-acting in Devil May Cry.  One of the first things the player will notice, then, is that enemy sounds often continue after the fight song is over and all enemies are dead.  This can be troublesome if the player finds himself looking around for leftover enemies.  The music is haunting and adds wonderful pacing to the game, especially during fights.  Enemies all have a unique “voice” whether it’s maniacal laughter or the sound of the clattering wood limbs of puppet enemies.  The Alastor makes a satisfying crackle sound as would be expected of any lightning-enchanted sword.  Dante’s dual pistols produce a loud and gratifying report.  Dante’s footsteps sound against the stone walkways as he travels the halls.  Dante, himself, delivers expected grunts and groans during fight scenes, demonstrating effort and drawing players into the character.

Intelligence:
Enemies, such as Nelo,  wait for Dante and even bait him.  But, most enemy attacks, while not particularly easy, are at least a bit predictable.  Enemies respawn, which indicate that they know Dante has left and come back, but also offer opportunities for Dante to level up a great deal on easier enemies.  Enemies can’t really be avoided, but, except in the case of bosses and mini-bosses, they tend to be mindless hordes for Dante to pass through.

Immersion:
Devil May Cry is a well-paced game that draws the player through the various levels with story-driven tasks to complete.  Occasionally, it is annoying.  Dante doesn’t always jump in the way you’d like him to and timing can be an issue.  As a matter of fact, timing is absolutely the issue to complete some challenges.  The map is a little hard to understand, making it difficult at times to find the right exit.  When timing is also involved, the stress can push the player out of an immersive state quite easily.  In other words, while Devil May Cry is fun to play, it’s difficult to forget that you are, in fact, playing a game with all of the required skills.  

Rewards and Punishments:
Enemies drop red orbs and, sometimes green orbs.  Green orbs are used instantly as health.  Red orbs are the currency of Devil May Cry.  The more Dante earns, the faster he can buy more skills.  Some items can be broken and release blue orb fragments.  They are usually a quarter of a blue orb.  Once all four fragments are found, Dante’s vitality increases.  If Dante dies in battle, yellow orbs can be used to revitalize him, allowing Dante to try again.  Once all yellow orbs are utilized, however, Dante remains dead and the game is over.  Play will restart at the last save, which should be the beginning of the mission, so players will simply have to replay the mission.  

Cameras:
The cameras are the one place where Devil May Cry fails miserably.  Players have no control over the camera which is sometimes behind Dante, sometimes to the side of him, and sometimes in front of him.  One second, the player is pushing the joystick forward to encourage forward motion, and the next it is switched because the camera angle has changed.  Sometimes it is unclear where Dante is going because the camera is in front of him, blocking the view.  Occasionally, though, it would just be nice to be able to look around for treasure or to run directly where you intended to.  At times, the changing angle of the camera also makes it difficult to get your bearings.

Controls:
Because of the difficulty with the cameras, mentioned above, Devil May Cry is not always easy to control.  This occurs mostly during regular gameplay, not during fight scenes, however.  Fight scenes are well-orchestrated and the mechanics flow smoothly.  Button-mashing is actually discouraged by a fight grading system which grades the player’s choices from Dull to Stylish!  For the most part, Dante jumps when and where you want him to jump, shoots when you call for it, and performs the attacks you wish him to.  He is easily steered through obstacles smoothly.

Ideas:
Devil May Cry does an excellent job of telling a story without long cut scenes.  Players are drawn through the story and gameplay by completing missions that involve discovery and very light puzzle-solving.  There is very little decision-making involved in exploration, but this is made up for during battles which offer a variety of combo options and resulting play mechanics.  Some of those mechanics remain completely ingenious to this day .  

Memory:
While I can see why Devil May Cry makes the grade, the timing and occasional frustration level involved in play eventually made me quit.  There is also one fight early on with the Phantom which can be impossible to win without the right power-ups.  The player is never made aware of how tough it is to win, especially given the fact that they’d just defeated this opponent.  Players should not have to seek a walkthrough for this kind of information as it takes them out of gameplay.  All information should be at their fingertips.  Indeed, players should have the ability either through menus or found items to see enemy stats.  This gives the player more feedback than progress in the current fight.  A failed fight might demonstrate improved progress during the retry.  A win feels more victorious when progress is clearly shown, especially if the battle was a difficult one.