Devil May Cry

With a dry genre, Devil may Cry breathes a dark, evil breath into it, and creates itself anew. Basically, that's perfect.

Well, where should I begin? Devil May Cry is Shinji Mikami's entry into into the videogame hall of fame. Devil May Cry, starting as a Resident Evil title (4, to be exact), was morphed into one of the most enjoyable games ever. Now for the review... 

STORY: Storyline in Devil May Cry is basically a back-burner victim, the fact of the matter is who really cares about the story? I'll go into shallow waters with the storyline, as it's the least important aspect of the game. You are Dante, the son of the legendary Sparda. Sparda defeated the emperor of the underworld, Mundus a long time ago; Mundus is planning to make a comeback, you must stop him again, as your father once did. There, that's your storyline. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it's really not too thrilling or rewarding, either. Bottom line, if you want a gripping, thrilling, and twisting storyline, then go play Silent Hill 2.

GAMEPLAY: This is where Devil May Cry's muscle lies, the gameplay is amazing. The game controls like butter, whatever you want to do, you can do (Within the game's limits, of course) because the control is so spot on. It's amazing how good these controls are, it really is. One of Devil May Cry's main gameplay factors is that you are basically controlling an action movie, this works wonders thanks to the precise controls. Dante can do a number of maneuvers to evade and destroy his demonic enemies. He can roll out of the way of a Fetish's fire counter, he can backflip out from under the huge Spider/Scorpion hybrid named Phantom just as he's about to land on top of him. 

If you want to do something, do it, the game will let you. In Devil May Cry you'll never have to take a couple of hits because the game restricts your movement like in Resident Evil. If you sense danger then get the hell outta there! Because of the controls, you also have the power to amaze yourself with the things that you can do. An enemy can be right in front of you, he then attacks, you narrowly backflip away from his attack. You'll do things like this many times throughout the game...and you'll love it every single time it happens. This is the only game that I can actually impress myself with.

Now onto other aspects of the gameplay. The game's premise is not to survive and conserve ammo, like in the Resident Evil series, no, no, no, it's much different. Instead of avoiding enemies at all cost, Devil May Cry actually encourages that you duke it out with the enemies. And you've got plenty of ammunition to do just that, why? Because your ammo is unlimited! Yes, you can fire those beautiful .45s for hours, you can also fire that precious side-by-side, double-barreled shotgun to your heart's content. Oh yeah, you've got a few swords to dice up the bad guys with, and let's not forget the fire-lit gauntlets, which let Dante use a little martial arts skill. The gameplay is where Devil May Cry's meat is, just learning how to use the magnificent controls, and trying new and varied combos to humiliate the enemies is worth it's price.

GRAPHICS: Here is another pretty big part of Devil May Cry's meat. The graphics are simply stunning, from the water, the trees, the castle, to the enemies, everything in Devil May Cry shines. Dante is detailed, in every way that you could think of, the enemies all have a distinct look, and the environments are absolutely marvelous. You can really tell that Capcom went to Hell and back (Heh, heh..) to make the architecture true to real-life. You really have to see these visuals to appreciate them, they're that good.

SOUND: This is also another sweet part of the game. The music, for the most part, is trying to be scary, but this game just too stylish to be scary. It's got the orgen tunes, the piano tunes, you know, the standard ''we're gonna scare ya!'' stuff. Sorry Capcom, this game's not scary. The gothic flavor of music isn't the only kind that Devil May Cry serves up, though, oh no, we've got some Matrix-esque stuff here, too. Yep, to add to the immense level of action that's going on on your TV, Capcom's decided to match it with some strong, heart-pumping techno-rock music. At many points in Devil May Cry, you'll feel like you're watching 'the lobby scene' of The Matrix all over over again. If only they could have gotten The Propeller Heads' song ''Spybreak'' in there.

The sounds effects are top notch for the most part, everything's, clear, loud, and crisp. The enemies tell-tale signs that they're in the room are also well done. The only problem that I could find with Devil May Cry's sound effects department is that they've recycled some EXACT sounds from the Resident Evil games. Many doors sound like Resident Evil, as do quite a few enemies. It's not a big problem, but it's certainly not welcome.

OVERALL: Devil May Cry is a marvel of a videogame, this is what action gaming is all about. With stellar graphics, great sound, and the best gameplay that I've ever seen, Capcom's built themselves a winning game (series) that deserves every sequel that they'll eventually grant it. Devil May Cry rocks, baby.

NAME: DEVIL MAY CRY
SYSTEM: Play Station 2, Play Station 3, XBOX 360