Let me introduce you to Dante: by far, the sexxxiest gun-toting, sword-wielding, boot-stomping demonic slayer ever to grace a video game. Along with a hot bod, chic clothes, lustrous white hair and an uncanny ability to wield dual weapons, he has a ridiculously cool job as a private investigator of the supernatural realm. One night while he is sitting pretty in his agency, this hot blonde on a motorcycle crashes into the office and tries to kill him for no apparent reason. Of course, she's so hot that he must defy death to look at her with that lingering stare... well, no, not really. The reason why he managed to survive a sword stuck through his guts (that would normally rip us humans a new butthole or two) and a motorcycle hurled at his head is because of his super genes - inherited from his demon father, the legendary Dark Knight Sparda, who, during some 2000 years ago saved humanity from the pits of hell. Of course, were it not for his human mother, he would be full-fledged demon and we can't have that. So after all that drama, the hot babe, now officially called Trish, explains that she wanted to test his skillz and make certain that he is who she thinks he is. As it goes, the evil megalomaniac whom Sparda vanquished millenniums ago has once again risen to threaten our mortal universe and she needs your help.
It all sounds so very cliché and it is. Devil May Cry consists of 23 missions stringing the story together and you'll need complete the first before moving on to the next. After the intro scene, you take control of Dante and find yourself in a grand castle in the gateway of the demon world. There, you'll slay some demons, fight the occasional boss, and solve a few puzzles, finding clues within the castle walls where our villain plots his shady schemes. The storyline is pretty much the reason why you must explore every niche of the castle and decapitate its evil residents (ha) - so you can weed out the antagonist and kick his ass once and for all. Because what point is there to all this if you're not gonna save the world? We all know Dante is fated to succeed because it's predictable. Trish will remain a mystery for half of the game, but that's about the only thing veiled. The plot is transparent and simple without any heavy dialogue or story development to burden the gameplay. Obviously, Capcom intended Devil May Cry to be action-oriented, so there isn't much to be said for the story since it's not an element heavily focused on. Despite all that, it works well enough as the foundation on which DMC's haunted halls and gothic landscapes are built.
Dante in play
To put it lightly, Dante is a force to be reckoned with from the start. He is initially equipped with a sword and two guns he calls Ebony and Ivory. (I love a man who names his guns... ;) With these on hand and rock music in the background, he will effectively use them to beat the enemies into submission, may they be homicidal marionettes, mutant spiders or cold-hearted soldiers. With each different sword obtained, you can acquire new attacks (i.e. Alastor will give you lightning and aerial attacks) and unleash some devastating combo moves against the swarm of foul monsters. The success and severity of your attacks are rated with little messages like, "Awesome!" "Stylish!" or my personal favorite, "Dull." If these aren't doing a quick enough job, you can activate the Devil Trigger, allowing Dante to run in super speeds and execute stronger attacks against the enemy. After successfully defeating them, you'll be able to collect red orbs left behind and use them to purchase new moves for your weapons, or
items such as purple orbs to increase the Devil Trigger gauge. Occasionally, an enemy will drop a green orb, used to partially refill your vitality gauge so you don't have to fear being beaten by numbers.
The controls are quick and easy to figure out - wanna do a jump attack? Use the jump + attack controls [Triangle + Circle]. The more complicated combos will need a bit of getting used to. The way I see it, the battle system is both simple and complex - the basic moves are there, now figure out what you can do with them. You'll have the freedom to fight and strategize anyway you please and you better have some idea of how you'll kick butt because the bosses are as tough as nails. (Nightmare, anyone?) While the action fast-paced and gives off a nice adrenaline rush, it's also easy to get tired of constantly battling the same round of enemies in the same area. For example, when I'm a room trying to find pieces of a puzzle, an army of marionettes will inevitably rise and surround me. Naturally, I will beat them to a pulp and look cool doing it, but once I'm done, I'll move on to another area to find the next piece of the puzzle. Finding no such luck, I'll return to the previous room and once again, the killer marionettes surface to deal damage - and they'll keep on coming at the reproduction rate of 10,000 per minute. (I'm kidding.) You can opt to ignore them and escape, but not without a few scratches. This is frustrating for a number of reasons:
1) The puzzles are incredibly obscure and some items needed to complete a mission can be hard to find. Therefore, they'll be a lot of running back and forth.
2) While running around back and forth, you will encounter enemies you've defeated moments ago, therefore eliminating the element of surprise. When you're no longer expecting the unexpected, fighting becomes tedious.
3) After fighting the same batch of 20 monsters, some of which are very powerful, you'll take more time to complete the mission, thus negatively affecting your rank. Then, you'll want to throw down your controller.
4) A ranking of "D" and a broken controller may lead to a very depressed gamer.
I guess I'm taking it too far, but it really is a tad annoying. But if you're addicted to action, there's no love lost there for Devil May Cry.
You have the option of playing Devil May Cry in 3 modes: Easy Auto Mode, Normal and Hard (or was it Difficult? Ah, whatever, I prefer it Hard. ..Oops. ;) Use Easy Auto if you would like to take it easy and allow the game to generate attacks for you. Normal and Hard mode doesn't really need explaining, (though you'll need to beat Normal to unlock Hard) but if you're able to beat the game in Hard mode, this will unlock secret characters and allow you to choose the elusive Dante Must Die mode, which, if my geeky sources are correct, is unbelievably tough. It's up to you to decide whether it's worth going through all the modes just to get another beatdown.
Aesthetic, ecstatic
To view the macabre settings and tricked-out effects of Devil May Cry will cause a few tears of joy for those who can appreciate the magnificent design and substantial detail on display. The castle is by no means eccentric, but it's large and creepy, emanating the ever-lingering aura of death. Dante moves fluidly and with grace not possessed by most game characters. When walking down the hollowed halls, you get the feeling you're not completely alone. Once inside the dungeon's grounds, you can almost sense how chilly the air is. Even though you're not really there, being able to sense the environment strictly through visual perception is impressive and this particular aspect is where DMC excels. In areas outside the castle, the color palette brightens somewhat, yet retains a feeling of gloom.
The lighting is never harsh or misplaced - in fact, nothing is out of place. Dante's shadow glides across the floor and walls, his coat flaps gently as he runs, the water ripples in the most natural way and mirrors capture your image as you pass. During the battles, your eyes can easily follow as he performs his moves with skilled precision and the pace of it all never falls into a messy blur. His weapons are unique and unlike some games, you can easily discern it onscreen rather than have to look at an obscure cluster of pixels meant to be the character's equipped weapon. The graphics are great, whether it's a boss or patch of grass and are beautifully enhanced with rich tones and wonderful depth of color. Sometimes, it's tempting to just stop and take a look around.
Echoes in the halls
Music, always an important element of games, is used here to clue in the player of impending battles. Before you actually engage in the action, you'll notice that some rhythmic riff will introduce the hordes of demons out to get you. After that, it'll intensify and begin the process of looping itself as you continue to do battle. I hate that. For the first few fights, it was cool because the fast beats were in sync (ugh! N'Sync!) with the furiousness of the attacks, but after that it was quite a bore. The guitar riffs weren't even original, for god's sake. But since this is just used to hype the fight, I'll simply tell you it could've been better. The rest of the game music, as far as I can recall, is rather muted and often less hyperactive, although it suits the gothic theme of the game very well and does not detract attention from gameplay.
The sounds here are rendered nicely, from the click of Dante's boots against the floor to the ping of the last bullet ejected from the gun. They are particularly effective in battles when the crackling of lightning from Alastor was made to thrill you and the dry clacking of the marionette's wooden anatomy was meant to scare you. Effects are used with consideration and all this favorably attribute to the overall environment of the game.
Last words
Dante is hot and Trish, though having considerably less screen time, is almost as hot. Those two reasons alone are why you should get this game...
...Okay, maybe not. But I did like the cover art (*drool*) and the DMC logo was just cool. So I picked up this game on impulse and it became more that just seeing a hot guy with guns and a big sword. It rates well in fun factor, even if it can get repetitive sometimes, but that's when you know you need to take a break. The bosses are to die for (no pun intended) and the graphics alone are outstanding. It has good replay value if you're dedicated. The real fun lies in being Dante and suddenly having all this power to kick butt and finding new ways to do it.
