Art by ME! Yeah, and I didn't even use a reference for that crappy Dante.
So I bought all of the Devil May Cry games (except for 5 because I ran out of money), and I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed. I thought that they were all going to be the same gameplay with little changes to combat, but there was a steady evolution where each game got increasingly better for the most part. And apparently the game was one of the many prototypes for Resident Evil 4, so I guess DMC has shared blood with my second favorite franchise. So turn on your metal playlist, 'cause we're diving into the silly, pizza-eatin', wacky world of Devil May Cry.
(I know this is asking a lot, but please read the whole review. I worked really hard on beating all 5 of these below games and then wrote and edited this whole thing. Just to give a quick peek on how much time it takes to finish one of these, DMC 3 took me 13 hours. I mean I enjoyed a lot of it, but I never gave up, so please read this thing. Thank you for your support!)
DEVIL MAY CRY HD
The first entry in the titular series stars Dante, who meets a client of his shop, Devil May Cry, who is named Trish and bears a resemblance to his mother who was murdered by demons when he was little. Dante and Trish go to an Island for Dante to fight a heck ton of demonic enemies.
The DMC hack-and-slash, super stylish combat is at its most raw in this game, and it is most apparent with its really bad Style Rank System (The thing that goes from D to SSS and says, like, Apocalyptic! or SSStylish! from getting sick combos.) because if you aren't attacking an enemy with a melee attack it just goes away and you have to start back over at D rank. It's not essential to just beating the game, but it's one of the core parts of Devil May Cry and just makes the game a more tense experience. Devil May Cry combat is a tightrope act of swapping out weapons after combos or in them, and using like 4 different guns one after another. Occasionally you'll need to activate your Devil Trigger when the DT gauge is full enough, which allows you to recover lost health and boosts Dante's speed. All the while trying to mix up your moves to increase your stylish rank, which grants more red orbs the higher the ranking is.
The story is nothing special, but introduces us to the half devil, half human, all badass Dante. He loves pizza, girls, and leather. The story might not be the most clear or the best, but voice acting is ridiculously terrible. Not robotic terrible, just.... hilariously horrible. I mean, this one quote in one of the end cutscenes says it all, "I'll fill your dark soul with *sharp pitch increase* liiiiiiggght!!!" It is hilarious. This game is just a classic, and a lot of good fun under a lot of weird design choices. I give the first DMC game a 3 Munduses out of 5.
DEVIL MAY CRY 2 HD
The sequel to the classic action game is a very different story. DMC 2 tries to be super edgy, and has a lot of harsher looking baddies that, sadly, don't live up to the hype. The good things about this one are... very few. It is the start of being able to have more than one Vital Star, which is good in a pinch if you need healing, and DMC 2 also improves upon the item screen and being able to switch guns with the press of a button. That's pretty much it, the rest of the game is abysmal. I mean, the music is also decent, but not outstanding.
The biggest problem the game suffers from is being BORING AS HELL. If you enjoy pressing 2 buttons over and over again, occasionally a third, then this is the experience for you. EVERY. SINGLE. BOSS boils down to spamming either your guns or your sword. The progression of acquiring new combo moves for the swords that you learn as you go is gone, and instead replaced with crap damage upgrades. Speaking of swords, there is only 3 of them. And they are all basically the same. What really pisses me off about this is that there's no demonstration or build up to being able to use the weapon. You just pick it up and put it away. It is a huge slap in the face to Ifrit and Alastor from the first game. Anyway the story is still just ok, just very generic. The Lucia gameplay is pretty uninspired for having a few different bosses, and just isn't worth playing. Trish may be a cool little easter egg, but not rewarding to play as. This big ol number two gets 1 big dump out of 5. Suck a fart, DMC 2.
DEVIL MAY CRY 3: DANTE'S AWAKENING: Special Edition
After that absurd title, one would probably expect a lackluster continuation of the 2nd game or something uninspired. THANKFULLY, DMC 3 is probably the best game in the series. It takes everything it learned from the first two games and makes a stunning prequel that shows off the iconic rivalry between Dante and his twin brother, Vergil.
First let's talk about the story. The story is great, and introduces the incredibly cool Lady with her arsenal of projectile weapons, including a rocket launcher you can use later. As I mentioned, DMC 3 takes place at the start of the timeline as a prequel to the first game where Dante first awakens to his Devil Trigger ability. From what I could find on the interwebs, most of the promotion for Devil May Cry 3 was the crazy variety of bosses and the climactic fights between the iconic sons of the Devil King Sparda, Dante and Vergil. Those crazy bosses, once defeated, bestow their souls to Dante in the form of ridiculous Devil Arms. These 5 different "Swords" range from triple nunchucks to an electric guitar that summons bats, and each of them have different movesets and abilities to unlock not only from spending red orbs, but also leveling up the Swordmaster style.
Speaking of the style system, one of the greatest additions to the combat tightrope is the four main "styles" such as Gunslinger style or Royal Guard style. At a divinity statue where red orbs are spent or the start of a mission, the player can choose between 4 main styles, later 6, that change what the circle/B button does in the game. For some styles like Gunslinger and Swordmaster, the weapons equipped even then matter for what the style button does. For example, with Ebony & Ivory equipped in Gunslinger style in the air, one press of the style button, unleashes a hailstorm of bullets towards whatever pour soul lays below. Each weapon has a unique and awesome attack with their style, and using the styles increases their EXP. When enough EXP is acquired, the style levels up, allowing even more moves for the style button when paired with something else. In short, the style system is amazing.
I cannot speak enough praise for Devil May Cry 3, and once unlocked, the Vergil gameplay is pretty cool. Mostly just a nice break from Dante's crazy arrange of weapons. DMC 3 also has a phenomenal soundtrack with angelic choruses mixed with heavy metal/rock. All in all, Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening: Special Edition earns a 5 Devil Arms out of 5. Way to go, Dante!
DEVIL MAY CRY 4: Special Edition
This is the one I bought immediately after beating DMC 5, and according to the developers, they went over budget and had to re-use like almost half of the levels in Dante's section. Although that does take away from the experience quite a bit, the new protagonist certainly doesn't! Big Hand Boi Nero is introduced to the series, probably to spice up things a lot. Oh yeah, also there's 5 total playable characters.
Let's slow down and talk about the initial campaign. DMC 4 has a good story, but it mostly serves as an introduction to Nero and what power he's capable of. All three of the Devil May Cry staff (Dante, Trish, and Lady) show up to the party, too, with most of them bringing something to the potluck. Vergil's appearance is only for gameplay, though. The story starts strong with Nero, currently enrolled in The Order or something and having his devil arm act up when Dante comes out of nowhere and murders a pastor. The next part involves a fight against Dante that serves as a tutorial for Nero gameplay.
Nero has a sword that can be powered up like a motorcycle, a revolver he made that shoots two bullets at once, and a literal Devil arm he uses for finishing-type moves. A big de-escalation from Dante's many weapons, but it also serves as a good entry point for the series. After around 11 or 12 missions, the player switches from Nero to Dante, and he has to traverse back through the levels in reverse order. This uses essentially the same combat as DMC 3, but the styles can now be switched by using the D-pad, which is a huge improvement and adds a lot more space to maneuver on the Devil May Cry Combat tightrope. The weapons Dante gets in this one are, quite frankly, insane. There's a gun that is a suitcase which changes from a gatling gun to a laser cannon to a big sphere of missile launchers, and a sword that makes infinite swords that stick to things, which you can make explode at any time.
Dante and Nero aren't the only playable characters, however, because Trish, Vergil, and Lady all have their own modes. No story changes at all, just combat. probably the most fun out of the three other characters to play is Trish, who has mostly attacks that juggle enemies, keeping them stunned and locked in place with Sparda (Dante's dad's sword) and lightning kicks. Lady has a lot of guns to use that have satisfying charge attacks, and Vergil has a samurai sword among other weapons to weirdly cut the air, sending projectiles at opposing demons.
That about wraps up Devil May Cry 4. Fun game, and really pushes DMC 5 to be better with Nero, which it is. I give Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition 4 suitcase guns out of 5 for being great with Dante.
DmC DEVIL MAY CRY: DEFINITIVE EDITION
Remarkably known as the edgiest entry in the DMC series and the last game I'll be covering today, DmC is made by Ninja Theory, which is a different team than the previous Devil May Cry titles. This attempted reboot takes almost everything away from the last few games and focuses on Dante and Vergil vs Mundus in a modern city rather than a castle.
The biggest complaint with just about everyone who played this is the fact that Dante has the worst, edgiest, most emo character design and, well, that's also the whole world of DmC. Sarcasm, excessive cursing, and death metal invade every corner of this weird game. Also, Dante has black short hair instead of his usual Leon-esque white hair. The story is alright for a standalone game, but it just does not fit for Devil May Cry. I mean, rebelling against a powerful demon with propaganda posters and terrorism? Really? Come on, DmC. At least the combat is super good, but no styles....
As I literally just said, the combat is super good. Instead of having one weapon at a time and switching between them, you have 3: A demon weapon with 1 alternative to switch to, an angel weapon with 1 alternative, and Dante's classic weapon, the basic Rebellion. To use demon or angel attacks you hold down R2/RT or L2/LT respectively and press triangle/Y for melee, or circle/B for special melee, square/X for pulling either the enemy towards you or you to the enemy (Depends on which mode is on) Sounds simple, but stringing together awesome combos with a big axe and scythe to get that sweet, sweet SSS Style Rank feels incredible. That would be the only reason someone would play this one, to be honest.
The Definitive Edition of DmC includes the 6-mission Vergil's Downfall DLC, and playing as Vergil is the most rewarding in this one, probably because of the actual story included, which is an epilogue to the main game. With the story comes the power progression, too, so that is another reason why I like this Vergil's gameplay so much more than the other ones. Pretty great, but there just wasn't enough here to be called a whole game, because it's only 6 missions.
Overall, DmC Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition is in my opinion the most underrated DMC game, even though the emo Dante sucks.The intense combat mostly makes up for it. 3 Nephilim out of 5.
OVERALL THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BEAUTIFUL MESS
Hey, if you're reading this, you made it to the end! These here are my overall thoughts on the Devil May Cry Series, and I should also probably mention that in the later games like 4,5, and DmC, there are like 8 different difficulties for you to master the game. SO. Devil May Cry is officially my 4th favorite series, just under the FromSoftware games, aka Dark Souls, Bloodborne... My favorite aspect of the DMC games has got to be the breakneck pace of the combat and pulling off memorized combo strings to get SSS rankings. Which is the point. My least favorite DMC game at the moment is DMC 2 if that wasn't obvious enough, and 3 is my favorite, just next to DMC 5. Overall, Devil May Cry as a series gets a 4 and a half Devil Triggers out of 5, because even though it has some smash hits, the first two games hold the series back from getting a 5 out of me. Mostly DMC 2's fault.