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I bought Resident Evil: Code Veronica X for the demo of this game. Not even joking! Not to poo all over Code Veronica, but Devil May Cry really is something special. Third person shooting and hack & slash combined with some role playing elements. Yes please.



My next door neighbor had a friend and his wife over. Their both big survival horror fans and they had Code Veronica X. I was intrigued more by a demo disc within the case. I asked if I could try it out. I instantly fell in love. You've got the hacking from Onimusha with the shooting from Resident Evil combined in an action/survival horror/hack slash that was unparalleled in terms of quality at that point in time. If I recall correctly, I asked if I could purchase the demo disk from him and was told no. The game wasn't due out for months, so my only option was to buy my own copy of Code Veronica. Not that I don't like Code Veronica, this demo disc was just too good too pass up. Like the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo that came with Zone of Enders, I had the money to throw around at the time, so why not go for it? My favorite feature of new consoles is the ability to download a demo for free for a reason.



Devil May Cry for Playstation 2 is one of those games that exemplifies that which I want a video game to be. It was different. It was new. It was exciting. And it had a B-movie action plot that no one can decipher, with lots of one liners. Seriously, I've played this game quite a bit and can't figure out what the heck is going on. A chick hires your half-devil character (Dante) to go fight other devils or something like that. Then you fight your brother or something. Then you're on a boat level for some reason. I can't follow it at all. I don't think I actually beat it, but even just getting to the last boss battle was enough for me. It was too cheap a battle for me to win at the time, but I tried. I liked the game enough to impulse buy the Strategy Guide for it, if that's any indication of how much I like the first Devil May Cry.



As I said, the gameplay is what brings me to the game. You've a lot of options for combat in this game. You start with a basic sword and two pistols, but by the end of the game you've got rocket launchers, fire gauntlets, and some kind of evil shooting ectoplasm gun. You also have a "devil gauge" that lets you transform into a demonic form and unleash hells fury upon your enemies. That's where the RPG stuff comes in. You collect red orbs from fallen enemies, then between missions or from certain areas, you can power up your abilities or buy new ones. What's really cool about the gameplay is how you can combine the different weapons together to string enemies along. For a good example, you can pop an enemy in the air with your sword then shoot them to slow them down as they fall. It's so satisfying to do that that Devil May Cry is years old, and if I'm bored and want a good time, I can do that and feel like I'm this cool bad ass character.

[size=9]You can buy useful items using the red orbs.[/b]


Last time I played Devil May Cry was many months ago. Someone brought over a PS2 and they weren't big gamers, so I brought out Contra: Shattered Soldier at first, like I always do with a PS2, but then I broke out Devil May Cry. Something about this game just makes people interested. I think I got up to the first big boss in the chapel. You know the one I'm talking about if you played the game. Would hate to spoil it for anyone that hasn't seen it or played it. I put a screenshot of him in the gallery if you want to see what this ugly sucker looks like. You can't miss him down there. You really should pick this one up if you somehow missed it.



As for sequels, for for the third one first. It is rather difficult I must warn you. It has lots of extra features and options that I barely scratched the surface of in my time with it. I only briefly mentioned the difficulty of the first one, but it has some of that adaptive difficulty that makes it easier if you die a lot or tougher if you breeze through it. The third game seems to have no difficulty curve at all. Level four (or whatever you want to call it) was far as I got in my few days with the game. By the time it came out my PS2 was on its last legs. Get the second one if you really want or need more devil may cry. I liked it, but didn't love it. It has some good additions, made much better in the third. Like the ability to swap guns without going into your start menu, that's really useful. Seemed like I finished it and liked it, but like I said, something about it just makes it the black sheep of the series. I would say the setting would be the big change. Instead of the cool castle and interesting areas from the first game, you're put in vague gray future city streets and industrial areas like subway tunnels. I've yet to pick up 4, but I liked the demo quite a bit. I'm just waiting for the price to lower down quite a bit. Which it probably has done so now that I think about it. Next trip to the game stores, I'm looking for Devil May Cry four.



How about you guys, do you like the first Devil May Cry?