Devil May Cry is currently one of the hottest PS2 games period, and it’s well worth your time. Before I babble about the intense gameplay and the psychotic graphics, here’s a quick synopsis for those in need:

Synopsis

You play as Dante in this action-scroller game, a grown shotgun-toting victim of society filled with murderous rage. He’s a grown man suffering from an unusual amount of teen angst and operates as a hired demon-slayer in a store called “Devil May Cry”. In the beginning of the game you sit around twiddling your thumbs and lounging about until all of a sudden, for no apparent reason a woman smashes through the front doors of your office with a motorcycle. She proceeds to make an attempt on your life, grabbing a sword from the wall and stabbing you with it. Then for no particular reason she picks up her nice motorcycle and hurls it at you. What the heck is going on? The woman, Trish is apparently on a mission to tell you about a sudden demon uprising returning to destroy the world. She decides to make an attempt on your life to make sure you truly are the son of the dark knight, Spartus. Well, no surprise, you are. You wrench the sword out of your innards, proceed to slash the motorcycle in two, and stand victoriously.

The “Cool Factor”

Did that just sound like a whole load of senseless violence coupled with minimal plot? Absolutely Right! Devil May Cry may have invented a new genre in itself of completely senseless “cool” violence cutscenes in a Castlevania-like game.

Besides the motorcycle hurling stunt in the beginning, which would seem impossible for a woman her size, we have the infamous “Alastor scene” which makes me laugh and wince at the same time. What happens is, Dante stands before a statue with a big sword in it, and without any good reason whatsoever, the sword jumps out and stabs him straight through the chest pinning him into the ground. Pretty gross huh? Well the game proceeds to add to that, because rather than pulling the sword out of his chest and getting up, Dante decides to get up the hard way, which is pushing outward through the swords blade (and it’s a bloody long one), and then through the hilt in a strange Matrix-like fashion. Then he spins around in a “cool” manner and grabs the sword, swings it around victoriously, somehow smashing the windows above, and straps it on his back. The questions posed now are:

Why the hell did he keep the cursed sword if it just tried to kill him?

Why didn’t he just pull it out of his chest, why the gruesome scene?

And, how the heck does a sword have such a big handle, and how did he run his body through it?

If you rationalize the scene it becomes excruciatingly humorous. If you just watch it in silent awe, you may think wow it’s pretty darned cool. Either way, it’s one of the most entertaining things I have ever seen in a videogame.

More Monster/Zombie-Hacking

Hot of the heels of Onimusha, Capcom decided to stick to the zombie/monster hacking that has dominated so many of its action-scrolling games. However rather than provide the gamer with the incredibly linear and simplified one-button hacking of Onimusha, Devil May Cry extends that whole bit to a variety of attacks and combinations, allowing for cool combos.

With the heavy rock-like music pumping in the background, Dante proceeds to throw his sword in an arc, cutting up the horde, then jumps up and mystically accelerates himself downward with his sword out, hacking up one zombie. He begins a combo with a series of slashes, pulls of an uppercut maneuver with his sword, sending the enemy reeling upwards, and whips out two guns in lighting fashion, blasting away at the monster as it falls down, which somehow slows gravity down.

All of which is done with incredibly fluid controls that don’t make the game overly complicated but do add a bit of a learning curve. The cool factor of it all? Perfection. You can perform long-winded combos through a giant mess of enemies, with guns blazing to clear up the rubble if you feel overwhelmed. The complication doesn’t burden the game but actually opens up a lot of variety and keeps the gameplay fresh unlike, Onimusha where zombie-hacking turned into a button mashing chore with the occasional side-stepping.

Killer Bosses, However Wacky

Although I feel the bosses of Devil May Cry weren’t quite as haunting as they could have been, they were still darned cool and had their own personal flavor to each one. Standard of most action flicks the bad guy never dies the first time around, and you’ll find that to be true in Devil May Cry especially. The big spider-like monster you encounter as the first boss, you blow away only to find out the boss returns for at least three more cameos, in addition to a few miniaturized rock-throwing versions of him. The giant three-headed eagle-like lighting shooting bird makes a few appearances as well before you completely slay the creature, and the dark mysterious knight Sparda also pulls of several appearances.

Not really a big deal since they are cool haunting bosses, but one wishes for something entirely new and out of the blue sometimes. The strategy for all of them is a similar run and gun technique, but is slightly varied to keep the gameplay somewhat intriguing.

Angry, Angry Man

Just being Dante is perhaps the best part of this whole game. Nothing is better than playing an incredibly angry, tough, determined psycho who talks to his guns. Dante will add toughness where you think it isn’t necessary. He openly insults his opponents regardless of what, and occasionally talks to his weapons as if he’s possessed. Dante is cool, regardless of what a total psycho he would be in reality. If I met a man with a red coat and a four foot sword strapped to his back, I would deem him a psycho and hence Dante is titled quite so.

How Long Will This Fantastic Adventure Last?

Ten to twelve hours unless you decide to explore a lot. The game with its mission-based gameplay is actually a bit disappointing. It sounds cool initially, explore the castle and solve missions, but in truth is nowhere as good as just letting the gamer explore the castle by himself and discover how to unlock doors and get from one place to the next. If it were so, it’d be more like Super Metroid, and feel less linear. Because the missions basically tell you exactly what to do, there isn’t that much exploration, and the game can be finished in under six hours with determination.

Concerned Moms- Should I Let My Twelve-Year-Old Play This Game????

The answer quite bluntly is No, No and NO! Devil May Cry is not appropriate for young gamers, and in fact this is a warning for parents who feel that video gaming is the innocent pastime it was years ago. The face of gaming is changing drastically and if Devil May Cry were a movie it would likely have an R rating for that Alastor scene. The game is rated MA by the gaming code folks and should be taken seriously. This game is filled with violence, one sort of scantily dressed woman, a bunch of creepy monsters, and a ton of trash talking by Dante. Sounds somewhat like the WWF doesn’t it? And I suppose you can’t stop your kid from watching that really. But if you do care, I would say let them play MA games around 14+ age. Because while they don’t actually represent reality and are nowhere as violent as movies and so forth, video games have an impact on children, especially 7-12 years old, and should be restricted.

(For the twelve year-olds reading this review, I'm screwing you over aren't I? Sorry!)

Bottom Line!

Devil May Cry is the perfect action game. Intense, thrilling, and filled with cool scenes that aren’t burdened with heavy plot or deep philosophical messages (cough, cough metal gear solid 2), Devil May Cry provides one of the greatest gaming experiences today. The game is simply light-hearted monster slashing, with connective tissue in between to link one boss to the next. The final battle is especially a pretty cool bit, and the game shows off some amazing graphics in the last cutscenes.

I highly, highly recommend this game for anyone looking for that adventure/action game that the PS2 has been greatly lacking. This is the game you’re looking for.


Recommended: Yes