Lots of great games come and go. They get sequels or they get franchises and sometimes they get a fan base that screams for more to no avail. All these good games have something in common: One game that started it all.
The hack and slash
In 2001 I played a demo for a game called Devil May Cry that came with my copy of Resident Evil: Code Veronica. I was blown away by this game. The near flawless controls, the smooth combat and tight controls and amazing visuals for it's time. Switching between melee combat and long range attacks instantaneously to create awesome combos was something new for this gamer. Never before had I played a game that stylized combat so sensationally. I could not praise this title enough.
Brief synopsis:
Devil May Cry is a game about Dante (antagonist) seeking revenge for his dead mother and ruined (assumed) childhood. One night a woman that looks like his mom shows up, tells him where the demon (Mundus) that killed his mother is located, and kicks off the story. She takes him to an unknown, almost Spanish style castle on a small island. There you fight through hordes of demons to stop Mundus from returning to Earth. During the game you find out Dante's twin brother Vergil is there and that comes to a head later on in the game. Dante is betrayed and he has a final confrontation with the demon and you win. There's even a mandatory, CAPCOM escape before time runs out, sequence. This game is not about story it's about the game play.
The game play style has been emulated in many other titles such as God of War, Dante's Inferno, Van Helsing and I could go on and on. I think what made this work was the intuitive combo move inputs. Holding down the lock on button set you up for just another two button presses ending in a flashy move. Whether you were launching an enemy in the air to subsequently juggle with guns or impaling a demon over and over the button combos were easily achieved.
And I suppose, honestly, the controls were great for combat because it was like playing a fighter. It was like they pulled the button combos from Street Fighter. How awesome is that! This did not daunt the button mash crowd though, they remembered us as well. I'll admit my gaming style is MASH MASH MASH until that health bar is gone. Pulling off these combos help tremendously in the game but were not required as long as you did a bit of dodging while mashing.
But the greatest part (and dmc fans let me get a "Big Ups") was once you mastered the controls is was BEAUTIFUL. Flipping all over the screen shooting stuff and hacking the dark minions to pieces was a thing to be enjoyed. This game said "Come play me, The game play is king here!"
Moving on. Special note: This game was originally developed to be Resident Evil 4. Was shot down. Was bad A enough to get it's own release under a new name. THANK YOU CAPCOM!!!! Also DMC was the first game to spawn the Stylish Crazy Action Genre.
Seriously moving on. There are many other things to say about this that don't include game play. Dante is now a cultural Phenomenon, spanning comics, Anime, cosplay and medium I haven't found yet. The rivalry of brother against brother, twins might I add. With this said, the best thing about this as a video game is what it offers while the controller is hot in your hands: Great controls and fun combat!
When Devil May Cry came out it was received well enough and definitely changed the video game landscape and I already said is was mimicked many times and is referred to all the time when reviewers talk about the hack and slash genre. But the game changer here is the tight controls and the over all flow of game play. Here's to Devil May Cry and it's sequels, thanks for being a game changer.
Looking to this new generation I am giddy with the chance to see new titles change the way games are designed and played.
Happy gaming my friends!
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