Hello again. It's been nine years since the first Devil May Cry game was released for the PS2, and as avid a gamer as I was then for some reason I never played it. There really isn't really all that much of an explanation for it either. the only thing that I could think of is that Silent Hill 2 was released somewhere around the same time, and when it came time for the money burning a hole in my pocket to get spent... it went to Konami. I didn't have a lot of friends with the same taste in games as me growing up. Most of them were totally immersed in sports games, and unless we're talking mutant league football than I'm not really interested. So, it just never really came up.

However, about in 2005, I think it was, I found myself in a store, and staring at Devil May Cry 2 on the shelf. I had always heard great things, and I knew little to nothing about the gameplay, storyline, etc. However, when I got home and popped it in I felt fairly disappointed almost immediately. I just didn't get the appeal I mean.



I think most of us are pretty excited about this nonsense coming out in January.

About a week ago I was in a local game crazy with my friend Mike, who doesn't play videogames, and I trying to explain what Bayonetta is to him. It's a lot harder describing these kinds of things to someone who has no point of comparison than I expected, but I blurted out how excited I was for the game to be released in January. His response of course was, " January... that's still a long ways off." A difference I think most of us can understand is video game blog reading time vs. those who don't play or read about video games time. However, it occurred to me that January, in reality, is indeed a long ways off. It's no secret that Hideki Kamiya was the mind behind Devil May Cry, as well as the upcoming Bayonetta, and so while I was thinking about it I decided to pick up the fourth installment for PS3. Devil May Cry 2 had left such a weak impression on me I forgot I ever even owned it. Although, I know Kamiya had nothing to do with it, but either way people change as do their tastes. I hated onions when I was five, but now I rarely eat anything that doesn't have them in it.

Devil May Cry 4 had an entirely different effect on me than DMC2. I was hooked by the cornball humor, the horrible soundtrack (imho, but i found it hilarious), and the non stop hack and slash fest. Something about the mixture of these elements that is DMC make it something of a extremely pleasing guilty pleasure. I was trying to explain the feeling to a friend of mine who knows I'm the kind of guy who sits around with The Smiths on repeat, like I'm doing right now actually. Anyway, I was explaining that somehow the mixture of bad music, bad dialogue, but truly challenging and immersive gameplay becomes something entirely different than if you were to focus on any one of these things independently. Actually, The Smiths are a perfect example of the same thing in a musical form. You can hear about it, you can even give it a try, and in fact at first it might really rub you the wrong way. However, given enough time eventually something clicks, and by then they have you glued to your television, or stereo, for hours. Something else about the series that really resonates with me is their use of religious imagery, especially themes usually used for good/heaven/godliness, being used to depict ultimate forms of treachery and, as silly as it sounds, evil. that's something that grabbed my attention. It felt sort of like the developers were saying that for all the cornball zaniness going on there's also some serious themes we're trying to deal with as well. that alone really made me sympathize with the DMC universe, and that isn't something I normally find myself doing with any game. I'm not really going to go into any great detail about my religious views, but recently I was asked on facebook to join the group, "American for Sarah Pailin." Unfortunately my curiosity was already peaked, and some of the trash I was reading seemed to come from a truly delusional religious state of hysteria. One of my favorite authors put it this way, " Never put all your faith wholeheartedly in your own belief system, or never believe to much of your own B.S."

After finishing DMC4 it was a given that I had to track down the other games in the series. It just so happened that DMC3 happened to be the first.



I was disappointed I couldn't track down a copy of the first installment, but as DMC3 acts much like MGS3 is a prequel to the events of the first installment of that series. Skills I had already developed playing DMC4 really helped out a lot when playing DMC3. I had already read to expect extreme difficulty in DMC3, and I definitely found myself feeling a lot more frustrated in places than I did in DMC4. However, a couple of days rolled by, and DMC3 was finished and shelved, for the moment, with the other guys over there.

It was one full day before I found myself ravaging game shops here in austin looking for the first DMC. I came to find it in press play in the highland mall here in austin, who I might add also have sealed new copies of the original Katamari Damacy on sale for $22 FYI. (to hold us over for two days) sidenote: my entire game collection was stolen about three years ago, but that is a blog post in itself for a later date.



I thought NES Ninja Gaiden was hard.

I can't even imagine what my experience with this game would have been if I had in fact bought it in 2001. It's difficult to speculate how hard I would have been throwing my controller, but this mother is easily the most difficult of the series, imo, on first playthrough. I had heard DMC3 was the truly bad one, and so I thought the worst of it was over already, and even felt a bit like a badass, it being a cakewalk really. However, Kamiya-san put the breaks on all that shit, and gave me the whole humble pie. There were points where I was literally mouth agape at the "you are dead" screen. I think the completion of playing the first DMC has to be a benchmark experience in any serious gamer's history. It just so happens mine happened nine years too late and earlier this morning. There is a certain genius to the creation of a game like DMC that juxtaposes cheesiness/serious themes/extreme difficulties/"bad" music, which upon completion says alright you made it through the first time now it's time for the real deal. The level design in particular shines in the first installment.


oh, and let's not forget the ladies.

Now, I truly cannot wait for Bayonetta to make her debut in January, but it's a good thing Katamari Forever comes out in two days.