Devil May Cry re-review

[Demon-Mask]

January 2, 2010, I reviewed Devil May Cry, this was my first review. Well, nearly a year later, I've decided it's time to do it right.

First, I'd like to state something: I really doubt I had finished the game, seeing as I couldn't have had it for more than a week.

Story:
You aren't playing a hack n' slash for its story, so I'm going to leave this one off.
Think similar to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night if it helps you:
A seemingly young, enigmatic, white-haired, not quite human runs into a very large castle to destroy evil and find out more about himself. His father is the most powerful being ever, and his mother is a now-deceased human.
Yup, that's about the story, best as I can tell it without ruining anything.
Dante also has serious attitude problems.

Gameplay: 5
This is probably one of the first hack n' slash action games, and it certainly made it's mark, inspiring a number of games that would come later: God of War, Bayonetta and Dante's Inferno come to mind.
The action is very stylistic, and it is focused on making sure you keep it that way. You get bonus points for long combos with your sword, but not so much for using your guns.

In the start, you find out that Dante is good with swords and guns. His default weapon is a sword and dual handguns.

The guns don't need to reload, and you never once come across an ammo box.

Now, Dante does come across a pretty cool arsenal of weapons, but none are quite the same as the dual handguns/sword combo.

He comes across a pair of gloves known as Ifrit, which he wears to enhance his hand-to-hand combat skills. Most of his melee weapons are swords.
The guns are more varied, there are the dual hanguns, a shotgun and a grenade launcher, among others.

When using any melee weapon aside from his starting sword, Dante is able to enter "Devil Trigger" mode, where he moves faster and hits harder.

Bosses are the best part of the game, each one requiring some sort of thought, you can't just stand back and shot, you have to rush in and attack with your sword from time to time. Each boss is bigger and more difficult than the last.

Graphics: 4
The graphics are pretty nice, creating a creepy atmosphere similar to another Capcom game, Resident Evil. Of course, it also has one of Resident Evil's flaws: A bad camera. You can't control it, and it occasionally gives you a horrible view, who wants to fight enemies that are just off screen? Not me, not you, no one wants to.
The enemies have interesting designs, and the game runs smoothly ninety-nine percent of the time.
The areas outside of the castle type area you start in are probably the most interesting.

Sound: 4
When no enemies are present, you get some chilling music, often played on the organ. But then, out come the enemies, and the music gets going, it shifts to heavy metal, which fits the over-the-top combat just fine.

The voice acting is hilariously bad, B-movie grade bad, Resident Evil bad. This is to say, it is charming for how bad it is.

Replay value: 5
Beat the game once, you unlock another difficulty
Beat the game on that, you unlock "Super Dante" mode, where you are given infinite Devil Trigger
Beat it again to unlock "Legendary Black Knight" mode, where you play as Sparda
This is not all, you start only able to access the normal difficulty, then you unlock the option to switch to easy when you fail enough early on.
The difficulty modes go from Normal, Easy-Automatic, Hard to Dante Must Die.
Each more difficult than the last, it's worth playing through a few times.

Challenge: 4
It isn't easy on normal mode, and it gets harder. Sometimes it feels to difficult for it's own good, but you adjust to it.

Overall:
A good game, definitely worth playing.