Let's Rock, Baby! (A "Devil May Cry" Retrospective)

Introduction

When I look back at the first Devil May Cry, I remember its unrelenting action because the game just never let up, with its array of enemy types, bosses, the main character; and, visually was astonishing to look at. Plus, it was an unbelievable game and was one of the premier games in the early stages of the Playstation 2. There really was nothing like it back in 2001; and, having played some of the Resident Evil games before this one in 2003, the controls are somewhat similar, if refined to update toward the playstyle of this game. Devil May Cry beginnings were intended for a brand new Resident Evil game, back in 1998. After production of Resident Evil 2 was finished, preliminary work was being done for a new RE game under the direction of Hideki Kamiya, under the codename "Team Little Devil". Early Research and Development had the team take a trip to go to Spain to examine various castles for the environments in the game. Alas, in its infant stages, it was a vast departure from the series and they changed the concept and later titled it "Devil May Cry". In the game, you're Dante, the son of Sparda, who once turned against The Devil Prince, some 2,000 years ago, and trapped the prince in the demon world and leaving his tumultuous past behind him. What was once sealed eons ago was reopened when the Prince of the outerworld frees himself and his inhabitants, as he commences a takeover the world. A woman from Dante's past appears at his shop (Devil May Cry) to inform him of the event. He then accepts her offer; and, they travel to an island with a castle on top of it and the adventure begins. As plots goes, it's hokey. It tries to be stirring and competent and it's doesn't executes well. The voice actors are solid, for the most part. (save for some cringe-worthy performances) Though, don't expect top thesbian acting as the narrative is an underdeveloped component that sets itself apart from what really matters in a game like this: Gameplay.


Dante's Concept & Family Backstory


The concept behind the titular character comes from creator, Hideki Kamiya. His inspirational was a manga comic series called "Cobra" to supplant that character's persona to that of Dante's. He wanted a character that exudes "Stylish" and, quite frankly, one that was chauvinistic. As for the coat, the color is red, because in Japan, it is a traditional color for their examples of heroes; and, he embodies the perception of individuals you would like to have a beer with or have a discussion about favorite pizzas or babes he would date. Dante was the guy we could all be if we were infused with special abilities and were bestowed with these guns and swords. The arsenals bestowed for him are handguns Ebony and Ivory, swords, Rebellion and Force Edge, weapons his father used before him. He has supernatural powers, from his dad's side of the family and his job is that of a bounty hunter against some of the world's most malevolent demons and dedicates it to his murdered mother and twin brother, Vergil, who was corrupted by his father's rival, who was once done for, only to rise again. When he and his brother were eight years old, they were given an amulet called the Perfect Amulet. After Sparda turned rogue against the demon world, he used his own blood and a human priestess to seal off the two worlds. Centuries later, he gives the amulet to his eventual wife, Eva, who then gives it to the twins after his passing. The purpose of the jewel is for entrance to the demon world and it was a gift from Mundus to corrupted humans who wanted power. The sons of Sparda later received halves of the amulet from their mother when their father passed away. In his adult years, Vergil became an apprentice to Mundus and became the knight "Nelo Angelo", in his failed attempt towards defeating Mundus. He and his twin brother have a long history of fights against one another and are equals of one another. Dante is the more versatile, while Vergil is more strategic. Their various styles helped shaped one another and are even more dangerous when they're a tandem, due the various ways they can deal with their foes.


Gameplay and Enemy Types


Crazy doesn't even begin to describe the mechanics of DMC's gameplay. When in combat, on the right side of the screen is a meter called the "Style meter", which determines how well the player can maintain combos. You start off on "Dull", then, if consistent, can graduate to its highest ranking of Stylish. The combat is frantic and you must maintain that pace for every encounter that isn't just to use to roam around the environment. When you finish the mission of each level, there's a result for how the player did, it's ranks the lowest class of "D" to the highest of "S" for stylish; and, you’re graded on time, combat, item usage, damage and style. The game has some puzzle-solving, though, they're the least of your worries, because the game is so challenging, that really the puzzling part is taking down some of these beings, especially, on the highest difficulty, like "Dante Must Die, where you take enhanced enemies that take longer to kill. Another mechanic in the game is the ability to transform into your "Devil Trigger" form, which replenishes your vitality and gives you enhanced speed and power, for a limited time. Two of the elements used are electricity for the sword, Alastor; and, for hand-to-hand combat is Ifrit; which, uses fire as its element. As for the guns, handguns Ebony and Ivory (they're also the default weapons for Dante), a grenade gun, needle gun (for water use only) and the nightmare-β (a gun that fires lasers that ricochet). When Mundus released himself from the demon world, he unleashed some of the most terrifying monsters to contend against Dante; they range from Marionettes, Sins, Shadow, Beelzebubs, Kyklops, Blade, Sargasso, Nobody, Fetish, Frost, and Plasma. Bosses are the Phantom (A molten arachnid with a scorpion's tail), Griffon (big bird), Nightmare (an inorganic creature) and the last boss himself, Mundus (The Devil Prince).



Conclusion



My lasting impressions of the first installment are the same as they were when I bought the game and Capcom really changed the landscape when the game was a hit back in 2001. Now, visually, it's not as gorgeous as it once was a decade ago, though, many other games lacked its aesthetics and to it up against today's heavy hitters (for example Bayonetta, Kamiya's other action game) isn't fair. The series did stumble with its first sequel, because it lacked many of the things that made the first one an excellent game and the prequel (Dante's Awakening) went back to the drawing board with some new key additions (including a harsh difficulty) which gave the player four playstyles (block, evade, swords and guns); yet, Despite their intentions of besting the original, they had their moments, yet, they couldn't match the original's gameplay, environments, controls (even though the next two played extremely well) and well, it couldn't top the character's charm in the inaugural game.

The Boy and His Sacrilege Horns (An ICO retrospective)

As the next generation of consoles eclipsed the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube into obsecurity, in 2006, I wanted to include more titles for the PS2. It wasn't that I wanted to be a collector of gaming titles, I just felt that there were more games that I desperately needed before they were exonerated from the retail market completely. Enter ICO: An action-adventure game that was released in 2001, during the PS2's beginnings. It involves a young boy named Ico, who is considered to be a curse among the villagers, because of the horns attached to his head, (which to his native village is a form of a curse among the people). So they perform a ritual on Ico to lock him inside a castle where to them, won't be any harm toward any of the inhabitants in the village. ICO was created by Fumito Ueda, who was also behind its eventual successor, "Shadow of the Colossus", released in 2005 (which eventually was reissued in 2011, along with ICO as a two game package, re-released for the PlayStation 3 in High-Definition) wanted to create a game that was unconventional compared to other genres; and, create, perhaps an experience that was opposite to other video games, where your reflexes required just about every one of our five senses, but back in 2001, ICO was a rare breed. It perhaps led the way for games to be more innovative and less like its opposites; like, for example, its lack of an interface (or HUD) that gives indicators about a characters health, quantity of equipment, number of life bars, et cetera; to inform the individual playing the game on the well-being of the protagonist that's being controlled by the player. ICO doesn't rely on such functions and really didn't need one, because the enemy types are shadow creatures that are attempting to take your companion, Yorda (more on her in a moment) who is a crucial part of the game because if she's captured by these beings, the game ends. You don't have a lot, in regards, in physical action against them; though, using a 2 x 4 and just hitting your foes with it seem to do the trick. You could also use it as a way of evasion by adding an element of fire because these creatures are vulnerable to it. As for the character Yorda, just like the protagonist Ico, she's also in the castle, forgotten, like him, as well. She speaks a language foreign to the player and he luckily seems to understand. They eventually find a way out of the castle only for these shadow creatures (that appear to be the souls of other horned children) to come for Yorda back and take her back from once she came and without her Ico can't access certain passages, saves, or secrets to traverse through a colossal castle and, most importantly, isn't very agile; so, getting used to her is a process, albeit frustrating, at times. Fumito Ueda gave an interesting viewpoint on how he doesn't define ICO as a video game; and, didn't want to have people perceived it as something that it's not. "I thought that the games industry had a negative image for many people. If I called my work a video game, people would think, "Well, this is just a video game, so I don't want to play it." That was from a Wired article called "Behind the Shadow".  Fumito's goal was to create a game that was your typical "boy meets girl" narrative without many lines of dialogue (called minimalism) and for his many inspirations for his novel concept were "Lemmings" and Flashback for animation specifics; Outer World (called Another World in America) for its cinematic experience, including the emotional connection. The game was originally a PlayStation title, but given the limitations of that console (one of them being that it was a 32-bit console) the production was shifted to its eventual predecessor: The PlayStation 2 (which is a 128-bit console). The PlayStation 2 allowed for more leeway for the developers to work with; and, one of the processes that the development team did was "subtracting design". Basically, they purged elements that interfered with the game's stoic reality. They took out interface elements; so, the gameplay was confined to the castle and reduced all its enemy types to just one. What was improved is that the team used a lighting method called "bloom lighting"; (when an object has light behind it, the light will look more realistic and overlaps the front of an object.) it was the first of it kinds back then, when games didn't have such a technique. The animation was more key frame (hand drawned) than motion capture (recording of natural movement). The goal with the animation was to make the characters flow freely, but, due to time constraints, that was the process that the team was left with. Defining ICO as a renaissance for gaming is an understatement because, back in 2001, there weren't many games of its kind. It was surrounded by heavy hitters like Metal Gear Solid 2, Halo, Grand Theft Auto III, Super Smash Bros. Melee, among others. It was a hard market to promote a game like this, ten years ago; and, having played it in 2006 made me appreciate developers like one, Mr. Ueda for being so bold. ICO was a gorgeous looking game on the console, with its lighting, atmosphere and infrastructure. It controlled very well (despite Yorda not being responsive to some of my commands) and its minimalist story was surprisingly effective. It was a game that knew what it was and wasn't afraid to be different.

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