Graphically, Devil May Cry simply reaches the top. Graphics-wise, this surely is one of the best Ps2 games. Both characters and environments are built to leave a deep impression on the player. Character expressions and clothes are very good, especially enemies look so great and detailed that you may fall in love with them, even if they are horrific monsters.
You will be amazed by the quality of environments and special effects. Environments are so marvellously developed to make you think they are all pre-rendered backgrounds. No way! Everything is rendered in real time by the game engine. Devil May Cry clearly shows the potentialities of the console. Sometimes you'll be distracted by all those details and textures and probably you'll discover with surprise that your mouth is wide-opened...
Lighting effects provide a strong atmosphere of gloom and mystery, which is truly effective during some parts of the game. Overall, Devil May Cry delivers awesome visuals. There are really few games that can show your eyes such beautiful, rich graphics.
Well, you must be in love with this type of music to say that DMC has a great soundtrack... It's nothing particularly extraordinary: it's a mix of hard rock (especially boring guitar riffs) and techno sound during battles alternated with ambient effects. Nothing if compared with Silent Hill 2 scary and involving noises and strongly emotional soundtrack.
The dialogue is average, but (oh my my my...) sometimes it's so plain and corny that gives me shivers only to think about it. It’s somewhat hilarious, but the problem is that hilarious and ironic are not the same thing.
Dumb sentences all around the game, false coolness and a lot of banality everywhere.
The game is divided into several missions (20 more or less, plus some special hidden missions). The length of each mission is variable (there are some missions not longer than some minutes). Devil May Cry is not a brief game, in fact it takes 10-15 hours to complete it, according to the ability of the player and also on the level you choose at the beginning.
Once you completed the game, which is, as I said before, nearly pure action (excluding some parts for explorations, finding items and watching some cutscenes) probably you won't be so attracted by the idea of re-playing the game a second time or several other times.
Anyway, I repeat: Devil May Cry is a quite long game, and while playing you won't be annoyed as it happens sometimes with your average action title.
Overall Score ( not an average ) :
8.5
Devil May Cry is a cool game, and the main problem about it is probably that it has been created just to be too much cool. Cool characters, cool weapons, cool atmosphere... too much coolness.
There's nothing particularly original in it: it's a pastiche of the coolest aspects that made other games/movies/anime famous. There's an intense sense of kitsch in this game that just doesn't fit anywhere.
I must say that it's a highly enjoyable game, especially for the ones who love action games. On one hand Devil May Cry has some superb aspects, first of all the amazing graphics and the hectic gameplay, on the other its worst fault is pretending to mix too many clichés together.
If you're only interested in a very good, fast paced game go out and get your copy of DMC, now. If you're looking for originality it's better for you to wait for something else.
- Panuru (1 Nov, 2001)
