Bruce Campbell meets Deadpool in this slick, stylish, and hilariously cheesy B-class Japanese horror flick...
First of all, this review is about the original Devil May Cry (I was just reminiscing over my first exposure to the Capcom character Dante, which I still think is the coolest demon slayer name ever!) Secondly, I want to state that "Devil May Cry" is the coolest video game title you could every possible invent next to "Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo." You can't kill Satan, but you can sure as hell make him cry. That's just as rad! Third, I was never able to play any of the Devil May Cry franchise until recently, because I grew up on GameCube and PC. And finally, even though it was the box art of Devil May Cry 3 that first attracted my attention, I decided to start with the original for this franchise mostly because it was the highest rated on Gamespot (that's how much I trust you guys).
I remember reading a Game Informer article that contained a poll listing the greatest video game characters to be introduced in the last 10 years (2000-2010). Most of the list consisted of the expected Rockstar characters such as John Marston and Niko Bellic, but at the bottom of the list contained a small sub-article attributed to "the lamest" video game characters of the last decade. Perplexingly, Dante was on the list. This really ignited my curiousity; and coincidentally, my girlfriend had just bought me the original Devil May Cry for Christmas (along with the player's guide with a giant poster of Dante). After both playing and finishing the game for the first time, I'm left with the conclusion that either Game Informer doesn't have a sense of humor or they never grew up in the late 80's, early 90's. Not only is Dante one of the most memorable characters in gaming history, he's wicked cool and a perfect icon for Capcom!
If you are not a fan of culture icons like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or cult classics like Army of Darkness then Dante isn't going to make you crack a smile. The story is mere fluff, which is typical for any action-oriented medium. However, if you have a penchant for cheesy one-liners or insanely over-the-top action then Dante will easily become your new best friend. Even in the moments that would make critics like Roger Ebert cringe, I would die laughing. Dante is just awesome.
However, goofy dialogue and soap opera cutscenes are not the key ingredient to what makes Devil May Cry so wonderful. This is a fun game! The difficulty of the game largely depends on what you as a player are trying to get out of it. The entire game is broken down into 23 mission with 12 addition secret missions hidden throughout the game. Each mission completed is ranked according to how well you preformed with "C" being your lowest and "B","A", and "S" being your highest. While you gain points for performing stylish combos and completing tasks as quickly as possible, you loose points for things like taking damage or using items. With the exception of the final boss, I tried to beat the game without using a single item, and I still got "C's" and "B's" with maybe a few "A's" and only one "S". If, as a gamer, you're only interested in the story, and not so much the perfect score, then Devil May Cry may come across as being a little easy. However, if you are OCD and want to be distinguished as the "King of Hell" then getting an S-Rank on every mission will be one of the greatest challenges you will ever face in gaming.
Standing alone, there may not seem to be anything impressive about the control scheme of Devil May Cry when compared to other action adventure games of the same time period. But when comparing Devil May Cry to what it was originally intended to be (a sequel to the Resident Evil saga), Devil May Cry excels in leaps and bounds. I didn't fully appreciate this until recently I discovered the steering mechanics of the the original Resident Evil games. Not that there's anything particularly wrong with the tank-like mechanics of the Resident Evil games (it actually compliments the intensity of those games), but instead the Resident Evil creators from Capcom brought something completely new to the table with Devil May Cry. The controls are incredibly well polished and thoughtfully forgiving. For example, the camera angles are constantly changing as Dante moves about the screen; however, the controls adjust accordingly to whatever angle or position of Dante you are currently facing. But it goes even deeper than that... Not only do the controls readjust accordlingly, but they don't readjust until you readjust them yourself. I think this incredible ingenuity and computer programming. Let me try to explain: Say you begin with Dante facing you. If you've played a lot of 3-D adventure games (other than Resident Evil) then naturally you would pull the analog stick towards you to make Dante move towards you. Now, as Dante moves closer towards you let's say the camera changes from you facing Dante to suddenly being behind Dante. Naturally, you would have to move the analog stick forward to make Dante move forward; however, this doesn't have to be the case. Yes, you want to move the analog stick forward to keep things less confusing, but nothing changes unless you make it change. You can keep the analog stick pulled towards you, and Dante will continue to walk in the same intended direction until you decide to change it. Another words the game waits for your brain to make the transition, before it re-acts to the new camera angles. It's absolutely ingenius and can be easily taken for granted unless you've played games without it (ex. Metal Gear Solid).
By now it's old news, but for those of you who didn't know Devil May Cry was originally a prototype for Resident Evil 4. Instead of trashing the prototype, the development team at Capcom decided to start Resident Evil 4 all over from scratch and saved the prototype for another project. That project became Devil May Cry; and (luckily for us) 4 years later Capcom signed, sealed, and delivered the modern masterpiece Resident Evil 4 as we know it today. This is one of the greatest examples I can think of "of having your cake and eating it, too." Capcom gave gamers the best of both worlds, and in the end they profitted from it. Being an avid fan of Resident Evil 4, I could not help but notice all the similarities between the two games from the background music to the set designs. Despite those similarities, the two games are completely unique and original in their own way and testify to the genius minds of the Capcom development team.
I know I end every review this way but there's just so much else left to discuss and so little time to do it. I praise you, if you've even made it this far into the review (Shonna, you're amazing!). The boss fights are each incredibly fun, and the final boss... well... lets just say if you've been privileged enough to play Lords of Thunder on the TurboGrafx-16 you're in for a real treat. Yes, this game has its share of problems from difficult, even downright frustrating, platforming to incredibly cheese-smeared dialogue. But it can all be easily forgiven with a little patience and a good sense of humor. After all, How can you not love someone whose first words are, "Let's rock... ... ... baby!"