Review By

Mike Bracken

Theres no denying that the game is often breathtaking to look at. Its rich and expansive environments are quite impressive and go a long way toward making the gaming experience an immersive one. Couple that with a battle system thats both simple enough so you can pick up the controller and begin playing immediately—but still deep enough that youll be working on perfecting combos hours after youve started—and youll see why this games generated the hype and early praise that it did.

Unfortunately, though, aside from those elements, there are several problems that mar the overall experience.

As Mike points out in his critique, the battle system allows the player to master a multitude of moves and combos. While this is certainly a good thing (and brings in elements of numerous fighting games), the fact that you can essentially run through the game without using the majority of the moves makes learning most of them seem pointless. The game would have been far more interesting had it required the gamer to master all the moves instead of just re-using the same few combos over and over. Further compounding that problem is the combo rating system. Killing enemies in the most stylish way possible earns you more of the red orbs that function as the games currency—and once you master one impressive combo, the game doesnt give you many reasons to deviate from it throughout the rest of the adventure. This can make the games combat quite repetitive.

Several of the other problems stem from Shinji Mikamis involvement with the Resident Evil series. While the control scheme is much more natural than Resident Evil's, the camera is just as annoying. The problem is that the camera cant be adjusted—it adjusts automatically, making it really easy to get spun around in rooms or hallways, and making combat occasionally more difficult than it has to be because you cant see whom youre fighting.

The other problem is less bothersome, but still a negative. The game features numerous puzzles that are so simple and generic (again, like Resident Evil) that calling them puzzles is probably giving them too much credit. The game sends you on a variety of fetch quests in order to acquire items that you need to advance to the next area. Disappointingly, the game eliminates the need to use your brain entirely—whenever you go up to something that needs an item to be put into it, the game asks if you want to place the specific item in the slot. Theres not even any need for trial and error since the game spells it all out for you. Granted, most gamers probably werent expecting a bunch of brainteasers, but why include it at all if its going to be relegated to such a minor role?

Im sure it probably sounds like I was unhappy with Devil May Cry, but thats not really the case. Mike did such a great job of pointing out the things that the game does well (and mentioning some of the problems that Ive tried to expand upon here) that I figured it was better to spend some time pointing out the flaws instead of just writing yeah, what he said and being done with it. While the game certainly does have some kinks in terms of the combat system, the camera, and the puzzles, theres no denying that its a good game overall. Honestly, this is what Konamis attempts at a 3-D Castlevania game for the Nintendo 64 should have looked like. While Devil May Cry's atmosphere, graphics, and button-crunching gameplay more than make up for the majority of the titles shortcomings, its flaws should not be overlooked. One can only hope that Capcom will tweak the formula a bit for the inevitable sequel.

Review By

Brad Gallaway

Despite having the necessary elements for "coolness" such as tons of gunplay, big swords, martial arts, hordes of demons, a gothic castle, an attractive leading lady, and so on, this game just flat-out sucks. (And since this is not an official review, I can use the word "sucks" here.)

The story is laughable, Dante seems like he was created by committee, the script is so cheesy it came out of a box marked "Kraft," and the adventure is a string of nonsensical staged action sequences. In fact, the bulk of Devil May Cry can be summed up as "find Item X, kill enemies, repeat." Throw in some atrocious camera angles and bizarre things like underwater first-person shooter stages and a space shooter level, and you'll wonder (like I did) what kind of bad drugs the developers were smoking when cobbling this mess together.

The only thing more incomprehensible is that the game actually managed to become a success. Still, if McDonald's can sell a billion pieces of tasteless cardboard void of nutritional value, I guess it makes sense that Capcom could do the same with a videogame.

Belshy says...
Unlike the wholly inconsistent DMC 2, the original Devil May Cry has such a sense of unity to its styling that the atmosphere set up by its visuals, music, and sound effects gets hold of you and never lets go, in the 12 odd hours it takes to finish on normal mode. The cut scenes all help to keep the perfunctory yet undoubtably fun story flying along at the same heady pace as the uber cool combat.

Combat is as shallow or as deep as you want it to be with the underling classes, but unforgivingly hardcore with the bosses. Capcom give you a huge depth of moves, the most exquisite arsenal, and it is up to you to master this great interface in your pursuit of savage style. The bestiary is typical Capcom sick brilliance, and each major boss battle has a complexity that competes with most games' scripted narrative. Even the noble Castlevania loses out to DMC in the immediacy of its boss encounters.

Exploration of this gothic world is a joy, and the addition of fps mode in the water sections an inspired change of pace. Minor camera niggles aside, this game is nigh on perfect as an example of the genre which left me elated at its end. With rumours that DMC 3 is in the offing, I can only pray that Mr Mikami is back, and that it rocks as hard as 1.

RATING: 9.0
Published:July 7, 2004

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