First of all this is the first Devil May Cry game that I have played. I was away from playstation gaming around the time they came out and more into pc, work was also crazy around those times. Anyway excuses out of the way. I am apologising for not knowing the story or the moves. If I was familiar and had played through the previous games in the series I may have seen the game in a different light.
The story is told through several cut scenes at the beginning and end of each level though none of them are much more than five minutes long. The scene is set with Nero going to a church service. He seems bored and only there to be with Kyrie who seems to be his friend soon to become more than friends. During the service Dante bursts in shoots the church leader Sanctus mid service. Kyrie's brother Credo tasks you will hunting down Dante. As you leave the church demons enter the city and begin tearing it apart. Nero sends Kyrie off to safety. As the story progresses there are many twists and turns and things are not what they seem at the start of the game.
It has to be said though that the storytelling is cryptic and more concerned with flashy action in the cutscenes that telling a coherent story. At the start of the game you are intended to be in the dark about the events, it's just that unless you pay close attention you might never be entirely sure of the ins and outs. There are too many revelations that are not foreshadowed. This ensures the player is left wondering what on earth is going on for far too long. Eventually the story becomes clear, but you have to work at it. There is a story there, it's just buried by a desire to be cryptic. For example I am still not sure if Dante's levels occur in a time period after Nero's or before them and we are playing a flashback.
For me characters were introduced as if they should be known, no introduction at all. I didn't know the history and it was never explained. Though you can go into an extra on the options to read about the history of the game. unfortunately some of this is only accessible as an unlock after completing most of the game. It would have been good to have a primer for new players, especially since this is the first time Xbox360 only players have had a chance to play the series. A "previously in Devil May Cry," video would have helped a lot.
Japanese storytelling is very quirky. Style is everything, Nero and Dante are achingly cool in an emo/goth sort of way and their dialogue is of the one liner or corny variety. I am never sure if this is a translation or a cultural issue with japanese originated dialogue. There is a difference in flow and beats of language that just never seems quite right on a subliminal level with translated dialogue. However the story does have a beginning middle and end and could be construed as a political stab at the Bush administration and the crazy conspiracy theories around The Twin towers terrorist incident. Governments bringing down attacks on their people and then stepping up to save the day for furthering of their own agenda.
Expect overblown histrionics, anatomy defying wounds and lots of confusion.
These games are all about the combat. combinations of fast, slow, jumping and pushing and pulling with the devil bringer hand to chain hits together for long combinations bring style points which increase your overall score at the end of each level. The moves are varied and satisfying, you feel the pain that Nero inflicts, a necessity for a good combat game. You have to wince and say ouch for the monsters at some point or it just isn't doing it's job. For the uninitiated moves pop up with a quick button press tutorial as they are introduced so that you are not overwhelmed, and while there are lots of moves there are not countless similar and therefore redundant ones.
You can use pistols and swords and collecting orbs from enemies and broken furniture allows you to power up in an rpg like fashion depending on which weapons you like best. If you don't want to decide the game will spend your points in what one would hope to be a wise fashion for you.
What else is there in the game besides waves and waves of monsters to practice chaining stylish moves together on?
Progression through levels is simply a matter of finding your way, with some simple puzzles. There are buttons to press to unlock doors. In some areas you use big spinning tops with blades on to open the way and kill enemies.
There are moving and disappearing platform areas. trampoline type rune platforms, big whirling blades that need you to slow time to achieve jumps. In some levels you have floating lights which seem to attract the devil bringer and hoist you towards them, you can chain some spectacular pinball style leaps with these.
There are some old chestnuts that take me back, for example, having small areas with four exits, with only one being the right one, the others loop you back to the same area. At first you wander aimlessly until you realize there is a method for deciding which direction is the right one.
There also some innovative levels. For example in one area you play a kind of board game. When you enter the room a chess piece of yourself appears on the board and the exit only opens when you get your piece to the final square. You whack a dice and move the designated amount of steps. each square has either a bonus or a hoard of monsters spawning into the room.
This is great the first time round, then later on in the game it is reprised in an almost game breaking fashion. the dice is semi random, if you hit it when the number you want is on top it will land on that number, but you have to have excellent reflexes. In this later section the squares on the board form a loop and progress through four game boards depends on landing on one spot. This sees the player spending ages reprising boss battles, and fighting almost as many enemies as they have fought throughout the entire game so far trying to get through. It is the penultimate level of the game and as such meant to be hard, as it is it's screamingly frustrating. Way to turn a nice idea into a torture Capcom.
Twice in the game you are expected to win a boss battle only for the cut scene afterwards to show you losing, which story wise just really jarred.
For the first 11 missions you control Nero, and for the remaining 9 or so you play as Dante. His control scheme is similar but different and his move set ramps up quickly to a dizzying array of weaponry and tricks. Again, for previous players this must feel like slipping on a comfortable item of clothing, relaxing and really enjoying the game. For new players it's like being handed a new game halfway through and being expected to know how to fight as Dante.
There is quite an array of different monsters, and some move in interesting fashions, not simply coming ambling towards you, the shark fin like creatures and the floating ghost like things come to mind. The enemy design is interesting with possessed clothing, suits of armor and even ice being animated for the demon will.
Boss fights are very traditional and very spectacular and fast paced. It's all about learning the patterns of attack and exploiting a weakness once you find it. There are three huge animal demon hybrid bosses and four human/demon hybrid ones/ They have loads of variety and I am sure that fans of boss battles with be happy here.
The most impressive levels occur in and around the Saviour which is a 200 foot tall animated statue, you climb up it in one level and fly around it in another, the graphics are really impressive here.
One thing that has to be said about the game is the repetitiveness. Basically you go through several themed areas as Nero. City, ice/castle, underground lab, forest, church/headquarters. Then you go back through them as Dante, with levels in and around the saviour. If you count the missions there are around 20, though there are only six locations in which they take place. The game is long enough, though there is a bit of padding here to make it feel bigger.
Graphics
The graphics are excellent, the frame rate seems fairly stable at more than 30 frames per second for the most part. Without a frame rate counter it's hard to tell, but the game moves slickly for the most part. Perhaps for the fanboys all games should come with a toggle-able frame rate counter.
In small areas the camera is fixed and at others the player can control it. There are some issues when moving between static camera angles. I lost count of the amount of times i inadvertently walked into a new camera angle and was pushing in a direction with the controller which suddenly changed and i went back the way I had came. Though for the most part the camera does it's job well.
The game looks wonderful. Lush forest, old italian style city scape, huge gothic architecture, and the saviour is breathtaking. The characters are stylish and very well drawn. Females are here only to titillate with little clothes and jiggling breasts and bottoms, with one exceptions the hero's perfectly innocent love interest. Everything drips hardcore gamer cool. Think of that statement in relation to your own tastes and decide if it's a good thing. The amount of enemies is kept to a manageable amount, you fight a few and then more teleport in.
Music is thrashy hardcore metal type stuff, and seems to be pattering away in the background annoyingly with the drums mixed high and the guitars lows. Sound effects are inoffensive. Voice acting does well with the corny dialogue.
Checkpoints are scattered fairly. There is no multiplayer whatsoever. Co-op might have been a nice option, but I don't think there are any games in this genre with co-op so we will not hold that against it.
The menu's are fairly bland and bad fonts with garish colors don't help, though there are some nice character bios and history lessons which help the uninitiated.
With respect to achievements I played through the game on normal. I only acquired 100 points, which i feel was quite stingy. The game seems to have a lot of small achievements Possibly these are for the little bonus rooms which pop up and ask you to perform tasks against the clock, or kill so many enemies in a certain style. Not a game for easy achievement hunters, hardcore only need apply, and I would imagine anyone having 1000 points in this game would have clocked up many many hours on it and it's earlier incarnations.
A great game for fans of the genre. If you are at all skeptical of this genre then steer clear. It's a hardcore gamers game from a hardcore gamers company. Old school in many respects. Spectacular graphically, but is that enough. Frustration is waiting here for the uninitiated, joys for those who know what to expect from the son of Sparda.
I was tempted to give this game a score for fans and a score for new players. I suppose all games in franchises have to be measured up against their past and others in the genre. I will hold up my hands and say I am really too much of a novice in the genre to really say what true fans will score this game. As a newbie i give it my score. Be aware that I would agree with long time hardcore fans that it might score a high 7 in their eyes. I doubt much more as this is really a new polish on an old genre.
Scoring
Graphics 9
Gameplay 7
Story 6
Level Design 5
A.i. 5
Total 6.4
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