Retro|Spective 197: Devil May Cry

[Neon Ignition]

History in Games:
2001 - Devil May Cry
2003 - Devil May Cry 2
2005 - Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening
2008 - Devil May Cry 4
2013 - DmC: Devil May Cry
2019 - Devil May Cry 5

Overview:
Turning 20 years old this year, this series is another side arm of Capcom's experiments into developing Resident Evil titles and took a much more action driven route. With the main numerical entries back in play it means that the Ninja Theory developed attempted reboot is the real notable standout in terms of direction the series tried to re-route itself to.






Where do you stand in evaluating the series peaks and lows?

[wheelaa]

Wow. Silence.

1 and 3 are my preferred entries.

(Much prefer Bayonetta (just the first game, the big N can suck my big Bs.))

[Neon Ignition]

I'm all over the place on this franchise:

DMC1 - Enjoyed
DMC2 - Didn't enjoy
DMC3 - Tried repeatedly but never got into it
DMC4 - Was okay
DmC - Enjoyed
DMC5 - Enjoyed but it's overrated

[Dogg Thang]

I have only ever played the third one and I didn't have much patience for it. I thought it was really good, a well made game and some of the moves were fantastic. The play system of the combat seemed great. But it was so punishing that I got frustrated and, often, when I beat a boss or group of enemies, I came away feeling it was more luck than anything else - not because of any fault in the game system, just because I wasn't all that good at it.

So I stuck with it and finished it but I wasn't all that tempted to dive into the others. I found myself leaning much more towards God of War which is way easier for a move spammer like me who just hasn't got the time to dedicate to a complex combat system.

[wakka]

The first game totally blew me away when it came out. I hadn't really ever played anything quite like it, and the graphics were amazing. I remember thinking that the fire (e.g. on flaming torches in the environment) looked totally realistic, that they'd nailed fire in games at this point.

It was a lot of fun, too. I don't remember too many of the specifics now, to be honest, but I remember enjoying the varied bosses and the upgraded weapons and so on that you could get.

I never really played any of the other entries, for whatever reason. I suspect this would feel quite dated to play today, too - it's probably been vastly superseded by stuff like Bayonetta and its own later entries like DMC5.

[ZipZap]

I think the first one was one of those early-ish PS2 games that made me want the console after initially being a slightly unimpressed Dreamcast fanboy.

I thought it was good, thought not outstanding. It had a rubbish PAL release as well, which really shouldn't have been an issue by that stage. I remember being amused by the fact that Dante's sassy leather-clad gun-wielding demon side-kick was called "Trish", which sounded like someone my mum would be friends with.

I skipped DMC2 because everybody said it was poor, but I do remember enjoying DMC3 a lot. I also re-played the HD version on the PS3 a few years later.

I haven't played anything since, but I keep thinking I need to give DMC5 a try.