Devil May Cry is one of Capcom’s most legendary franchises of all time, deemed as the best action series by many and set the foundation for action games to come. The first game on the PS2 was regarded as a classic, though nowadays many people critique it for it’s outdated design, and as more and more people got into the series, some just skipped right over this game and into DMC 3 or even 5. As a person who wanted to get into the series as well for the longest time, I wanted to see the roots of the series and the 3D action genre as a whole so I decided to start by playing the first game, ultimately I want to answer this question: Should people still play DMC 1?
Positives:
If there’s one thing I think Devil May Cry nails and still does really well on, it is the Action: Though Dante doesn’t have a lot of move variety, the small pool of moves he does have allows him to combo enemies in a very coherent and satisfying way. Every attack that Dante does feels super weighty and packs quite the punch, and launching enemies in the air by pulling the left stick back and launching Dante forward by pushing the left stick forward, skewering multiple enemies at once will never not be satisfying. There are also multiple weapons for Dante to wield: Alastor, an electric sword, Ifrit, a pair of fire gauntlets, and Force Edge, a mostly dull sword until the end-game, as well multiple gun types like Ebony & Ivory, a pair of pistols, a Shotgun and a Grenadegun. These weapons have different attacks and properties to make combat much more varied and engaging, choosing which weapon would be most suitable in Dante’s current situation, for example enemies with ice attacks can be absolutely eviscerated with Ifrit instead of Alastor. The bosses in this game are also really good, they are very challenging as they have a variety of powerful moves and attack patterns, most with an extremely wide hitbox like with Griffon’s lightning attacks, dodging these attacks can be quite tricky but once you learn their attack patterns, learn how to dodge them and finally defeat them, man do you feel so cool.
The main gameplay loop of the game revolves around your ability to combo the enemies: The game ranks how Stylish your combo is using Stylish Ranks, the longer and more continuous the combo is, the higher the Stylish Rank, and the current Stylish Rank that Dante has when he kills an enemy determines how many Red Orbs he can obtain upon their defeat which can be used to purchase items and new moves, one important note about this mechanic is that performing the same attacks would cause the rank to increase at a much slower pace. This single mechanic helps this game become way more engaging and fun, challenging the player to experiment and use different moves together to maintain a longer combo in order to get more Red Orbs and unlock more cool moves.
Another key mechanic in this game is Devil Trigger, by attacking enemies, runes below your life gauge get filled up, and if 3 or more of these runes are filled up, with the press of a button, Dante can turn into a demon, changing some of his attacks, healing himself a little (does not apply on hard mode) and most importantly: Increasing his speed and strength. One thing to keep in mind is that Devil Trigger slowly drains away as you keep using it, so the more runes you have filled up, the longer Devil Trigger lasts for. Using Devil Trigger allows you to close the distance between you and the enemy much quicker and makes comboing much easier, because of these advantages, when you are in a pinch, often times activating Devil Trigger can really help turn the tides of battle, making a notoriously difficult game much more manageable. There is also the fact that Devil Trigger can be cancelled at any time after it’s activation, giving it a bit of a risk-reward system, you could unleash Devil Trigger fully through its entire duration or you could cancel it midway through, making the act of filling up the runes again much easier and allowing you to unleash Devil Trigger a second time faster.
What makes DMC 1 stand out:
All of this is great already, but what I think makes Devil May Cry 1 stand out from its many sequels is the atmosphere, setting and story. The atmosphere is incredibly gothic and creepy, you feel isolated in this huge castle where everything is trying to kill you, which makes Dante’s nonchalant attitude towards all of this all the more charming and makes conquering the challenges in the castle more badass. Sure it can be a bit jarring considering this is a bombastic Action game with a protagonist that is constantly spitting out one-liners, but it’s nothing short of unique. The setting is also really great, every location within the castle is not only foreboding but also very structured, you can see how one location links to another and it makes traversing through them really engaging as you wonder what other locations this castle might have in store, it also makes for some pretty cool environmental storytelling with the lore in this castle. The cherry-on-top of all of this for me, is the story: Admittedly, it is a very simple story of Dante wanting to get revenge on the person who killed his family, but it is entirely covered with a thick layer of cheese, coupled with the extremely corny dialogue and performances from the voice actors, it makes the whole thing really goofy and charming, this game does not take itself seriously at all, and that’s perfectly fine.
Negatives:
With all this said though, it would be remiss of me if I didn’t talk about some of the negatives of this game. One major problem most people, including myself, have with this game is the Camera. The camera is fixed, meaning you could also see things that the camera allows you to see, it being at a fixed angle does make crowd control pretty tricky as you might not be able to see certain enemies from a distance which can be frustrating, but it is still pretty manageable using the tools given to you, what I am more frustrated with is when the camera shifts while moving, constantly needing me to rearrange how I’m moving the left stick so Dante wouldn’t go the opposite direction, this is especially annoying when the games makes you do some platforming and you just barely missed the platform you were supposed to jump on because of how jarring the camera shift is (I’m looking at you Mission 17), it isn’t really a deal-breaker because you can get used to it pretty quickly, but it’s still a bit annoying. One thing to mention is that in this game, there are a few missions that require you to go underwater, putting you in a first-person perspective, I actually enjoyed these sections quite a bit because of how atmospheric and claustrophobic these sections feel, plus they are very short, though I can easily see why many people are not a big fan of them, especially with the inverted controls when looking up and down with the left stick.
The other problem I have with this game is the Auto-Target: Because you can’t switch which enemy you want to lock on, Dante would just lock onto whichever enemy is closest to him, which sounds fine on paper but in practise it can become very frustrating very quickly, for example in the boss fight with Nightmare, you need to activate a rune wheel on the side of the walls in the arena in order to expose it’s weakness, however because of the auto-target, when trying to hit the rune wheel, Dante would often turn to attack in the opposite direction because Nightmare is right next to him, despite the fact that Dante was already facing the rune wheel prior, not making Nightmare expose it’s weakness, turning an already infamously difficult fight even more difficult and frustrating.
There are also a few other nitpicks I have with the game, such as the fact that you are unable to switch weapons on the fly, making the process of switching weapons a bit clunky (though you do get these pretty sick animations of the weapons when switching between them), and the lack of enemy variety, especially with the bosses as they are only 5 major bosses in the whole game, most recycled in multiple missions, making combat a little repetitive.
Conclusion:
Whew, that was a long review, but here’s the bottom line: Should people still play DMC 1?
Yes, absolutely.
Yes this game can be quite janky with the camera and the auto-target, and it might feel quite slow compared to its contemporaries nowadays, especially with its much more beloved sequels, but with it’s amazing action gameplay, mixed with a unique atmosphere and setting, as well as a cheesy story to boot, Devil May Cry is still to this day, a one of a kind game that people should still play, even if they have finished DMC 3 and 5, and especially if they’re like me who are just getting into the series. There is still a lot to love about this Capcom classic.
Positives:
If there’s one thing I think Devil May Cry nails and still does really well on, it is the Action: Though Dante doesn’t have a lot of move variety, the small pool of moves he does have allows him to combo enemies in a very coherent and satisfying way. Every attack that Dante does feels super weighty and packs quite the punch, and launching enemies in the air by pulling the left stick back and launching Dante forward by pushing the left stick forward, skewering multiple enemies at once will never not be satisfying. There are also multiple weapons for Dante to wield: Alastor, an electric sword, Ifrit, a pair of fire gauntlets, and Force Edge, a mostly dull sword until the end-game, as well multiple gun types like Ebony & Ivory, a pair of pistols, a Shotgun and a Grenadegun. These weapons have different attacks and properties to make combat much more varied and engaging, choosing which weapon would be most suitable in Dante’s current situation, for example enemies with ice attacks can be absolutely eviscerated with Ifrit instead of Alastor. The bosses in this game are also really good, they are very challenging as they have a variety of powerful moves and attack patterns, most with an extremely wide hitbox like with Griffon’s lightning attacks, dodging these attacks can be quite tricky but once you learn their attack patterns, learn how to dodge them and finally defeat them, man do you feel so cool.
The main gameplay loop of the game revolves around your ability to combo the enemies: The game ranks how Stylish your combo is using Stylish Ranks, the longer and more continuous the combo is, the higher the Stylish Rank, and the current Stylish Rank that Dante has when he kills an enemy determines how many Red Orbs he can obtain upon their defeat which can be used to purchase items and new moves, one important note about this mechanic is that performing the same attacks would cause the rank to increase at a much slower pace. This single mechanic helps this game become way more engaging and fun, challenging the player to experiment and use different moves together to maintain a longer combo in order to get more Red Orbs and unlock more cool moves.
Another key mechanic in this game is Devil Trigger, by attacking enemies, runes below your life gauge get filled up, and if 3 or more of these runes are filled up, with the press of a button, Dante can turn into a demon, changing some of his attacks, healing himself a little (does not apply on hard mode) and most importantly: Increasing his speed and strength. One thing to keep in mind is that Devil Trigger slowly drains away as you keep using it, so the more runes you have filled up, the longer Devil Trigger lasts for. Using Devil Trigger allows you to close the distance between you and the enemy much quicker and makes comboing much easier, because of these advantages, when you are in a pinch, often times activating Devil Trigger can really help turn the tides of battle, making a notoriously difficult game much more manageable. There is also the fact that Devil Trigger can be cancelled at any time after it’s activation, giving it a bit of a risk-reward system, you could unleash Devil Trigger fully through its entire duration or you could cancel it midway through, making the act of filling up the runes again much easier and allowing you to unleash Devil Trigger a second time faster.
What makes DMC 1 stand out:
All of this is great already, but what I think makes Devil May Cry 1 stand out from its many sequels is the atmosphere, setting and story. The atmosphere is incredibly gothic and creepy, you feel isolated in this huge castle where everything is trying to kill you, which makes Dante’s nonchalant attitude towards all of this all the more charming and makes conquering the challenges in the castle more badass. Sure it can be a bit jarring considering this is a bombastic Action game with a protagonist that is constantly spitting out one-liners, but it’s nothing short of unique. The setting is also really great, every location within the castle is not only foreboding but also very structured, you can see how one location links to another and it makes traversing through them really engaging as you wonder what other locations this castle might have in store, it also makes for some pretty cool environmental storytelling with the lore in this castle. The cherry-on-top of all of this for me, is the story: Admittedly, it is a very simple story of Dante wanting to get revenge on the person who killed his family, but it is entirely covered with a thick layer of cheese, coupled with the extremely corny dialogue and performances from the voice actors, it makes the whole thing really goofy and charming, this game does not take itself seriously at all, and that’s perfectly fine.
Negatives:
With all this said though, it would be remiss of me if I didn’t talk about some of the negatives of this game. One major problem most people, including myself, have with this game is the Camera. The camera is fixed, meaning you could also see things that the camera allows you to see, it being at a fixed angle does make crowd control pretty tricky as you might not be able to see certain enemies from a distance which can be frustrating, but it is still pretty manageable using the tools given to you, what I am more frustrated with is when the camera shifts while moving, constantly needing me to rearrange how I’m moving the left stick so Dante wouldn’t go the opposite direction, this is especially annoying when the games makes you do some platforming and you just barely missed the platform you were supposed to jump on because of how jarring the camera shift is (I’m looking at you Mission 17), it isn’t really a deal-breaker because you can get used to it pretty quickly, but it’s still a bit annoying. One thing to mention is that in this game, there are a few missions that require you to go underwater, putting you in a first-person perspective, I actually enjoyed these sections quite a bit because of how atmospheric and claustrophobic these sections feel, plus they are very short, though I can easily see why many people are not a big fan of them, especially with the inverted controls when looking up and down with the left stick.
The other problem I have with this game is the Auto-Target: Because you can’t switch which enemy you want to lock on, Dante would just lock onto whichever enemy is closest to him, which sounds fine on paper but in practise it can become very frustrating very quickly, for example in the boss fight with Nightmare, you need to activate a rune wheel on the side of the walls in the arena in order to expose it’s weakness, however because of the auto-target, when trying to hit the rune wheel, Dante would often turn to attack in the opposite direction because Nightmare is right next to him, despite the fact that Dante was already facing the rune wheel prior, not making Nightmare expose it’s weakness, turning an already infamously difficult fight even more difficult and frustrating.
There are also a few other nitpicks I have with the game, such as the fact that you are unable to switch weapons on the fly, making the process of switching weapons a bit clunky (though you do get these pretty sick animations of the weapons when switching between them), and the lack of enemy variety, especially with the bosses as they are only 5 major bosses in the whole game, most recycled in multiple missions, making combat a little repetitive.
Conclusion:
Whew, that was a long review, but here’s the bottom line: Should people still play DMC 1?
Yes, absolutely.
Yes this game can be quite janky with the camera and the auto-target, and it might feel quite slow compared to its contemporaries nowadays, especially with its much more beloved sequels, but with it’s amazing action gameplay, mixed with a unique atmosphere and setting, as well as a cheesy story to boot, Devil May Cry is still to this day, a one of a kind game that people should still play, even if they have finished DMC 3 and 5, and especially if they’re like me who are just getting into the series. There is still a lot to love about this Capcom classic.