Devil May Cry

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Devil May Cry
Developer(s)	Capcom Production Studio 4[1]
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Designer(s)	Hideki Kamiya (director)[2] Shinji Mikami (executive producer)[2]
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Release date(s)	JPN August 23, 2001[3] NA October 17, 2001[3] EUR December 7, 2001[3]
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Mature (M)[4] ELSPA: 15+[5] PEGI: 15+ (Finland) / 16+[6] OFLC: MA15+[7]
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Media	1 DVD
Input	Dual Shock 2

Devil May Cry (frequently abbreviated as DMC) is an action game developed by Capcom Production Studio 4 and published by Capcom in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. The events in the game are second in the series storyline's chronological order, taking place after events in Devil May Cry 3 and before Devil May Cry 2. The game has received generally positive reviews, and has sold more than 4 million copies.^[8]

Set in modern times on the fictional Mallet Island, the story centers on the characters Dante and Trish and their quest to confront the demon lord Mundus. The story is told primarily through a mixture of cutscenes, which use the game's engine and several pre-rendered full motion videos.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Plot 3 Development 4 Reception 4.1 Legacy 5 References 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] Gameplay

The events in Devil May Cry take place in a ancient castle on a remote island. The gameplay consists of levels called "missions", where players must fight numerous demons, perform platforming tasks, and occasionally solve puzzles to progress through the story. The player's performance in each mission is graded from D (poor) to S (excellent). Grades are based on the time taken to complete the mission, the amount of "red orbs" gathered (the in-game currency obtained from defeated enemies), how "stylish" their combat was, item usage, and damage taken.^[9]

"Stylish" combat is defined as performing an unbroken series of attacks while avoiding damage, which is tracked by an on-screen style gauge. The longer the player attacks and evades enemies, the higher the gauge rises. The gauge starts at "Dull"; progresses to "Cool", "Bravo", and "Awesome"; and peaks at "Stylish". When the character receives damage, the style rating falls back to "Dull". Players can also boost their style grade by taunting enemies at close range.^[9] These combat mechanics are used until the final boss battle, when the gameplay switches to a shooter-type environment.

Dante can temporarily change into a more demonic form by activating the "Devil Trigger", which adds powers based on the current weapon, and changes the character's appearance. The transformations typically increase strength and defense, slowly restore health, and grant special attacks. It is governed by the Devil Trigger gauge, which depletes as the ability is used, and refills when the style gauge is raised while in Dante's normal form.^[9]

Devil May Cry contains puzzles and other challenges besides regular combat. The main storyline often requires the player to find key items to advance, in a manner similar to puzzles in the Resident Evil games. Other challenges are combat based, such as defeating a group of enemies in a specific manner or within a time limit. Most of the latter come in the form of "Secret Missions" located in hidden or out-of-the-way areas. Typical rewards are different types of "orbs", which offer bonuses such as boosting the character's total health, extending the Devil Trigger ability, and allowing the player to purchase power-ups. Caches of bonus orbs are scattered throughout the levels which require exploration or platforming skill to find.^[9]

[edit] Plot

See also: Characters in Devil May Cry

Devil May Cry begins with Dante being attacked in his office by a mysterious woman named Trish. He impresses her by easily brushing off her assault, and tells her that he hunts demons to accomplish his ultimate goal of slaying those who killed his mother and brother.^[10] She says the attack was a test, and that the demon emperor Mundus, who Dante holds responsible for the deaths of his family, is planning a return.^[11] The scene jumps to their arrival at an immense castle, whereupon Trish abruptly leaps and vanishes over a high wall.

Dante explores the castle and encounters the game's stock enemies, demonic marionettes. He also finds a new sword, and battles the first boss, a giant spider demon. Dante wins the battle, but in what becomes a recurring theme, the defeated boss monster reappears a short time later in a corridor, forcing the player to choose a narrow escape or to fight in the tight confines. After further exploration and combat, Dante battles a demon named Nelo Angelo, who impresses Dante with his confidence.^[12] The demon wins, but suddenly flees upon seeing the half-amulet he wears. The demon attacks twice more in later missions, and is eventually revealed to be Dante's brother, Vergil. After Vergil's final defeat, his amulet joins with his brother's half, and "Force Edge", the game's default sword which belonged to the twins' father, becomes the powerful Sparda sword.

When Dante next meets Trish, she betrays him and reveals that she too is working for Mundus. But when her life is endangered, Dante chooses to save her. Saying he only did so because of her resemblance to his mother, he warns her to stay away.^[13] Yet when he finally confronts Mundus, who is about to kill Trish, Dante again chooses to save her and is injured. Mundus tries to finish him off, but Trish takes the attack instead. This unleashes Dante's full power.^[14] Dante and Mundus then battle on another plane of existence.

Dante is victorious, and leaves the amulet and sword with Trish's unconscious body before departing.^[15] Mundus returns and corners Dante, who is now back to his regular strength, before he can flee the island; Trish also returns and lends Dante her power. Dante defeats Mundus, who vows to return and rule the human world.^[16] When Trish tries to apologize, she begins to cry; Dante tells her it means she has become a human, instead of just a devil, because "devils never cry".^[17] Dante and Trish escape on a plane as the island collapses. After the credits, it is revealed that Dante and Trish are working together as partners, and have renamed the shop "Devil Never Cry".

[edit] Development

Devil May Cry began its development life as a Resident Evil title for PS2, after the completion of Resident Evil 2, under the direction of Hideki Kamiya and "Team Little Devil".^[18] Early research and development work included a trip to Spain, to examine various castles as a basis for the game's environments. However, in prototype status, the game proved to be a radical departure from the established Resident Evil formula and the survival horror genre in general. Rather than abandon the project entirely, the premise was changed and the game eventually became Devil May Cry.^[19]

According to Kamiya, Devil May Cry was designed from the ground up around Dante's acrobatics and combat abilities.^[20] The decision was made late in the development process to change the game to a more mission-based advancement, instead of the more open-ended structure of the Resident Evil games.^[21] Devil May Cry's difficulty was intentional, according to Kamiya, who called it his "challenge to those who played light, casual games."^[22]

[edit] Reception

Devil May Cry received prominent coverage in the video game media, high overall scores from professional reviewers, and has sold more than four million copies.^[8] Reviews from video game news Web sites typically praised the title's gameplay innovations, action, visuals, camera control, and gothic ambience.^{[30][34][29][32][31][27][26]} The game also received positive reviews from video game print publications for similar reasons. Game Informer summarized their review by saying the game "makes Resident Evil look like a slow zombie".^[33] The average review score at Game Rankings, based on input from 72 publications, was 92.2 percent.^[23]

The game was also subject to negative criticism. Next Generation Magazine criticized the difficulty level, wondering if the challenge was added to prolong the gameplay.^[35] Electric Playground pointed to the unusual control scheme and lack of configuration options.^[26] GameSpy cited the camera's behavior, the learning curve for the controls, and graphical shortcomings such as flickering and jagginess.^[31] GameSpot criticized the game's conclusion for its dramatic change in gameplay to a shooter-like style at the story's climax, as well as a leveling-off of the difficulty.^[30] Lastly, Gamecritics felt that the story was overly short and the characters were underdeveloped.^[32]

[edit] Legacy

Devil May Cry has spawned a sequel (Devil May Cry 2) and a prequel (Devil May Cry 3); both of which have sold more than one million copies. A fourth game, Devil May Cry 4, is in development for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The game has likewise resulted in the release of two novels by Shinya Goikeda,^[36][37] and an anime series. On October 15, 2004, three years after the game's release, a soundtrack containing the game's music was released alongside the soundtrack to Devil May Cry 2.

Devil May Cry has been cited as the beginning of a sub-genre of action games called "Extreme Combat", which focus on powerful heroes fighting hordes of foes with a focus on stylish action.^[38] The game has also been described as being the first game that "successfully captured the twitch-based, relentlessly free-flowing gameplay style of so many classic 2D action games".^[30] The series has become the game against which other 3D action games are measured, with comparisons in reviews of games like God of War,^[39][40] Chaos Legion,^[41] Blood Will Tell,^[42] and other action games.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Dante Alighieri
• Resident Evil, a related Capcom series.
• Onimusha, a third-person action game series from Capcom with similarities to Devil May Cry.

[edit] External links

• Devil May Cry at Capcom Japan
• Devil May Cry at MobyGames

v • d • e Devil May Cry series

Devil May Cry • Devil May Cry 2 • Devil May Cry 3 • Devil May Cry 4 Characters • Soundtracks • Manga • Anime