Devil May Cry - A Genre defining game
Surprised? Most likely not. For those of you who’ve never heard this story before, Resident Evil 4’s story is a lengthy and arduous tale filled with: discarded prototypes, change of both directions and people at the helm of the production. Its gestation period lasted for 6 whole years, the game was meant to open on the Playstation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube, but barely managed to come out before the generation ended.
But what’s the correlation between Resident Evil and Devil May Cry?
Kamiya’s idea for Resident Evil 4 was to put more focus on the action rather than the horror. Your main character, Tony, was going to fight his enemies with stylish action thanks to his enhancements with Biotechnology, in a much more gothic scenario rather than the urban streets of a post-apocalyptic city.If that description feels way out of place for a series like Resident Evil, well, Capcom had the same exact thought. Kamiya and his team were then pulled from the project so that they could continue working on their idea in complete independence, and that project would eventually become the very first Devil May Cry.
I can’t help but think that something similar happening in this day and age would result in a complete cancellation, and all the work that was done up to that point would be scrapped, and the whole team fired as a final insult. Thankfully, CAPCOM was able to see the bigger picture, allowing Kamiya to complete his own work. This attitude not only led to the creation of what I consider to be their more iconic saga of the Fifth Generation, but also at the creation of the Character Action genre.
But what would it be to go back to 24 years and play this game today for the first time? It’s a game that wears well his age, or its warts are more visible than its qualities? Let’s find out!
Devil May Cry
About the Plot
Two millennias ago, there was a great war between humans and demons, and among the demons there was a traitor, one that stood up to defend the humans and managed to fight back the demon hordes. That man was the Legendary Dark Knight, Sparda. Once the war ended, Sparda decided to stay in the human world until his death.
Sparda married a human woman, Eva, and had two children with her: Dante and Vergil. One day, his family was attacked by a demonic army led by King Mundus, and his son Dante was the only survivor and since then he dedicated his whole life to demon hunting.
It's a dark and boring night at Devil May Cry, Dante’s office, when a woman guiding a motorbike decides to burst inside the building and put this famous demon hunter to test. Satisfied by his combat prowess, the woman, called Trish, proposes a job to Dante. King Mundus is about to return, a portal is opening at Mallet Island, and for Dante this is the perfect occasion to finally get his revenge.
Dante is initially hesitant about the job, but quickly changes his mind once he manages to get a good look at her face. That woman is identical to his dead mother, Eva. And so the two make their way towards Mallet Island.
For as good of a premise this story has, I’m sorry to say so early on, that in this game, is handled more like an excuse to bring a guy in a demon haunted castle.
From the very beginning we have lengthy text scrolls and dialogues between Trish and Dante, which are nothing but exposition to make you catch up on the world and current situation. Once you reach the castle the plot barely moves forward or develops on the concepts that it introduces.
Trish, for example, is intentionally modeled to look like Eva, so that her resemblance can work as a sort of manipulation on Dante. But once she fulfills her job to bring Dante on the Island she disappears from the game entirely until the second to last chapter, when she reveals herself as a demon.
Credit to the plot, this revelation does give a couple of really good scenes between them. When Dante finds out the truth he’s furious at her for deceiving him, but at the same time he cannot bring himself to kill the woman that, even if just by her looks, resembles her mother so much. Trish herself is moved by this gesture and by the end of the game she pays him back by helping him. These are legit very cool moments that I wanted to see built up during the course of the game, instead of having them just pop up at the end.
I really wanted to see her spending more time with Dante during the entire adventure, watch them fight together to build their relationship, to see Trish intentionally lead Dante into traps, and maybe have the revelation of her betrayal earlier so that Dante can be forced to face the fact that he might have to virtually kill his own mother.
Nelo Angelo has it even worse. He’s a recurring enemy that will follow us throughout Mallet island, and his battles are legit the most fun in the entire game, but in terms of character he’s nothing but a mute automaton whose only objective is to kill Dante. The implication of him actually being Vergil, Dante’s dead brother, is almost treated like a footnote that doesn’t even impact Dante on an emotional level. Which is very weird considering that, in this game at least, there was a good relationship between the two brothers, Dante himself admits that he loved him, so why isn’t he even a bit distressed watching him in that state?
In retrospect, maybe this vagueness is what allowed the writers to create that fantastic dynamic between Vergil and Dante that will become the centerpiece of the series in the future, so on that front it was a blessing in disguise. Judging it in a bubble though, it’s a completely wasted plot point in a story that is ultimately about a personal vendetta, which could’ve given us a lot of memorable scenes.
Just like with his mother, how Dante would’ve reacted to the idea of killing his brother? Was there a way to set him free so that the two could fight together? Was there still some sort of humanity in Vergil? Was it the real Vergil or just another construct created in his image? These and many other questions could’ve led to a fantastic story, but as I said previously, the story wasn’t really the point of this whole adventure.
Mundus is a villain that gave me nothing as a character. He barely appears in the game, and the few times that happens he’s just three eyes in the sky, so he doesn’t leave any impression. Not even a feeling of “I can’t wait to kick your ass!”.
He does his job fine enough as a final boss, but nothing more outside of the battle.
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| I can create all the mothers you want, |
What I was curious about the most was Dante’s characterization, especially when compared to what he would become in the future of the series. With not much of a surprise he looked like the usual Dante: the self confident, show off, with a loud mouth, ready to joke at the first occasion, but extremely serious when it came to hunting demons. I’ve always heard how he was a lot more contained and less exaggerated in this game, but honestly I feel this is only half true.
In the beginning Dante is very relaxed, I feel as a consequence of being a little skeptic about Trish. In the moment Mundus makes his appearance and he recognizes him as the one who exterminated his family, his constant cockyness disappears since he’s completely focused on his vengeance.
It would’ve also helped to have Mundus being a lot more manipulative, actively trying to break Dante mentally, so that he could be completely overtaken by his suffering and internal conflict. There was a lot of potential that for some reason was put to the side.
I’m aware that exists Devil May Cry novels that probably expand a lot more on the plot and the characters involved in the events, but unfortunately, I haven't read them, and to be honest, I want to judge the story of this game by what’s presented in the game itself instead on how it’s expanded on supplementary material.
The plot is still enjoyable even without those elements, I can’t help but notice all these parts in which the story is lacking and how the complete package could’ve been improved. It’s clear how Kamiya’s mind was more focused on delivering an experience where the player was going to have a ton of fun slicing up demons in the most stylish way possible… So how does Devil May Cry far on that aspect?
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| Jackpot! |
About the Gameplay
Our adventure is divided into various episodes in which we explore the castle of Mallet Island, the map is shared between them with some areas being accessible depending on the episode we’re currently playing. Dante starts with two weapons, his trusted guns Ebony & Ivory and his sword Force Edge.
During exploration we expand our arsenal with various weapons like a shotgun, a laser cannon, an electric sword called Alastor and some fire brass knuckles called Ifrit. Unfortunately we cannot rapidly switch weapons during battle, we're forced to pause the game and access the menu.
For each of the weapons we only have one attack button, and for melee weapons it’s extremely important the timing which we press it. Different timing and different directions will lead to different attacks that we have to chain together in long combos, this will be essential if we want to excel in the main mechanic of this series: Style.
Style is an evaluation of your battle skills, it varies dynamically from D up until S. Maintaining the ranking is the hardest part of the game. We have to pay attention to a lot of things, from constantly be on the offensive, to never repeat the same attacks, avoid getting hit, and mix in some provocations whenever possible. Spamming attacks or being too slow in pressuring enemies, will deplete our meter until it may potentially drop to zero.
Killing enemies while you have a high rank will improve the reward of red spheres you will receive from them. The total of red spheres combined with the time needed to complete the episode will determine your final rank, and the higher the rank is, the higher the final reward of red spheres.
Red Spheres are our main currency for the game, they can be used to purchase various items or to power up Dante’s weapons, unlocking new attacks for his moveset. The most important objects to purchase are Blue spheres which increase Dante’s health, Yellow Spheres which are extra lives and finally Purple Spheres which extend our most important weapon, Devil Trigger.
Devil Trigger is a mechanic that carried me through the entire game. It's a transformation which boosts your movement speed, attack power, heals your life and, depending on the weapon, gives special powers like flying. Sure it’s for a limited time, but it’s also extremely easy to charge, it does so just by attacking enemies. Keep in mind one thing, you can only go Devil Trigger once the bar is completely full, so the longer the transformation, the longer it takes to recharge it.
In this game Devil Trigger was a constant Life Saver to me. Devil May Cry is notorious for being a very tough series and this game is no exception! You have to learn your enemies, predict their movements and, whenever you have different types of enemies in the same room, understand which one to deal with first. Mistakes are never extremely punishing but it’s easy to lose track of your health in midst of the chaos. Having a transformation that not only made me stronger but also offered free healing, it was a great help for me to push forward.
This game is short but very intense, meant to be replayed at constantly escalating difficulties and I’ll admit, I’m not good enough to analyse the game at its harder difficulties, I’ve just beaten it on normal. I can say that it’s still a very enjoyable adventure, even if it does suffer the weight of his age. The hard mode is the true knowledge test of this game, not only makes us deal with more enemies but they’re also stronger and much more aggressive.
Since the very first mission we’re gonna deal with enemies that would normally appear only at the tail end of the adventure, this already offers a much higher variety and challenge. The higher the variety of enemies the harder you’re forced to think about your movement, which enemies prioritize, how to dodge and move between them in order to keep your rank high.
When everything clicks into place, and your brain reaches that sort of zen in which you’re perfectly in tune with the battle and can manage every single aspect, it’s incredibly satisfying. I’ll admit though, for me it was very oppressive, I hardly managed to keep calm, slowly but surely the cheap shots by the enemies built up and my death was fast approaching.
I realize that the challenge both in Devil May Cry and other games that share the same genre, becomes too much for me whenever I reach the harder difficulties, but that’s not a problem, because even on normal I manage to have a ton of fun.
Dante is still a bit green in terms of moveset, and his arsenal is limited: we have many swords, but the only one I really wanted to use for the whole game was Alastor, since it was the only sword that allowed me to go Devil Trigger. Ifrit, the brass knuckles, was a weapon I shelved almost instantly: I didn’t jive with the timing, the weapon was a lot slower, and the emphasis on charged attacks made me feel really sluggish with the movement.
The camera is also a problem at times, this chapter still has some of the Resident Evil DNA that it originated from, which brings us many zones with a fixed camera that can sometimes change angle during combat, sometimes making you lose track of the fight. A particular boss fight on a ship was the worst of them all in my opinion, not only was it against a flying enemy, which brought its own share of problems, it was on a very narrow field with a ton of platforms along the way. It was a stressful battle that I only managed to blast through by abusing Devil Trigger combined with the guns.
The most curious thing was seeing gimmicks that appeared in this game that will never show up in the series later, like the underwater exploration in first person, which thankfully is only present in a few episodes, and a couple of shooter sections similar to games like Space Harrier. Stuff like these is what I enjoy the most about discovering the origin of a long running series, seeing all the little experiments that they later, at times wisely, left behind.
The biggest issue of this game is the complete absence of a mission select, once you complete a stage the only way to replay an older stage is to reload an old save file. Speaking of, pay very close attention to saving at the end of each episode, otherwise the moment you die and run out of yellow spheres, you get sent back to the title screen, and if your last save was two episodes behind, you’ll be forced to replay that section again.
I can forgive this, since it’s only the first game, but it’s a weird oversight in a game like this, where perfecting every episode is the main point of the gameplay.
In Conclusion
In spite of its problems, the game it’s still extremely enjoyable, especially considering that it’s almost 25 years old and released during a time when action combat in three dimensions was still in a phase of experimentation. The biggest hurdle is going to be your adaptability, especially if you’re much more used to modern games in the series.
Dante is more sluggish in his movement, you have fewer weapons, there’s no mechanics like different combat styles and no other playable characters outside of Dante. The foundation of the game is set in stone, but depending on the player, it may be hard to go back.
For this reason, I feel inclined to recommend you the game only if you’re extremely curious about videogame history and want to discover the origin of one of your favourite series. The game is very easy to play thanks to the Devil May Cry HD Collection which includes all the first 3 games at a bargain price, especially at a discount.
The alternative is to buy the single game on Nintendo Switch, the price on that console is a bit higher, so unless you’re really enthusiastic about Devil May Cry on the go, I’ll refer to the HD Collection instead.
It was fun to make this trip back in time, I never played this game before now and I can totally understand why a character like Dante left such a mark in the videogame landscape. This feels like a game that was very ahead of its time and who knows, maybe the sequel has been able to smooth out the edges and offer a much more improved experience on all aspects.
I wonder how Devil May Cry 2 would fare when compared to its predecessor!
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| ..., Yes... Perfect. Where's this place? |
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