Well that was just pretty rad.

I can only imagine what it must have felt like being a young adult back when this game was released in the early PS2 days. Gothic goodness and awesome action aplenty, the perfect setting and ambience for a game structured like this. DMC wastes no time in throwing you straight into exactly what you came for.

The opening cutscene left a huge impression on me throughout my whole playthrough, Dante and Trish instantly became icons of “cool”, cheese and all. Their exchange had me pretty hyped for what was to come outside of the actual gameplay. Unfortunately, to my disappointment, we never really got close to that level throughout the rest of the game, even when faced against bosses, Dante didn’t really ever have too much to say and I was left a bit unfulfilled generally throughout, only because that intro set such a high bar.
It wasn’t until the end game where shit started to get a little bonkers again and really kind of reached that level again. Ahh yes, a final boss with great spectacle, return of cheesy dialogue, an unexpectedly interrupted metroid escape sequence, and for some reason, an ending with a plane that made me very reminiscent of Sonic… Quite the joyride of a finale I must say.

However, it’s not like this lack of what I wanted left a completely empty void, a compromise was certainly made. An island setting is a great way to give things a sense of eeriness, that things aren’t quite right, and the ambience made by the visuals and music accentuate this. It’s not scary per se, I mean in any normal circumstance it should be, but we’ve been put in the shoes of the legendary devil hunter, so when the devils come out to play, the rock kicks in and the tone shifts completely to let us know that we’re the ones in control. Dante came here to carry out his business and the devils eventually learn their place after an ass kicking or 3.

The whole map that encapsulates these fights makes for some rather neat level design as well. It’s maybe not quite to its full potential, but the rooms are pretty interconnected; you’ll often revisit the same areas but in a different order, with a different weapon, with different enemies waiting for you. It’s probably one of this game's biggest strengths that kept me compelled to play.

I will say though that the actual objectives of the missions, the main thing carrying me between each area, did not feel very compelling; take the ancient doohickey, infuse it with the sacred treasure, insert it into the magic thingamajig and you’ll be on your way. I promise it has actual significant meaning, kinda makes things feel a bit underwhelming.

OKAY I GUESS IT DOESN’T MATTER COS THE GAMEPLAY CARRIES ANYWAY. HELL YEA KILLING THINGS IS FUN AS FUCK IN THIS GAME. Whenever I play an action game I always ask myself why am I not playing more of them. This was what video games were originally made for, providing an exciting challenge, learning more as you play, and triumphing over what had absolutely destroyed you a couple attempts ago. Combat is simple on the surface, but moderately deep and challenging once things get moving. As indicated in the file section of the game, enemies have their strengths and weaknesses. I only played on normal mode, and I could pretty much use what I wanted for the most part, only having to check info / swap gear on a few enemies and bosses, although I imagine when you raise the difficulty you’ll have to make use of most of the information given to you. The bosses are also pretty AWESOME like that fucker griffon damn I found his last fight pretty tough. And the item and upgrades system is really fun! I’m kinda rambling here. Let's just move on by saying all in all the gameplay is <very good>!! and, as long as you are willing to engage with it, will stand the test of time.

Wait, that's basically everything I had to say.

Overall I would say DMC1 does feel a tad primitive and maybe is not the best game, or complete experience, but it certainly understands the essence of what a DMC game wants to be, and for that it was more than worth playing.

So I got to the Virgil fight, which is where all of the game's issues finally come to a head. The weird direction dependent dodging clashes with the fixed camera perspective (something I like in non-high action games) transforms the Virgil boss fight into a complete shitshow. The worst part is that it wouldn't even be worth shelving the game over if it wasn't for a twenty-minute item fetch-quest beforehand since the game only saves at the beginning of a level.

Shame, cause I would have loved to finish this, but I value my time too much to try again for now. Maybe one day, as I really do appreciate the gameplay and tone, which are sick as hell.