devil may cry

The first game of the series developed a strong fan-base and, although not the only one, it became an important killer app in early years of the PlayStation 2. This led to disappointment when the second installment failed to be as innovative as the first title. The third was billed as a return to the formula of the original and has been well received.

Japanese network; WOWOW has also taken up the offer to produce an anime based on the long running Devil May Cry series. The anime will be done by studio Madhouse and will go on air in Spring 2007. [1]

History

In 1998, after the completion of Resident Evil 3, preliminary work on Resident Evil 4 began under the supervision of Hideki Kamiya. However, Capcom continued producing and publishing other titles in the series, both internally and externally (Resident Evil Code: Veronica was developed by Nextech Corporation under Capcom's supervision). Early R&D work included a trip to Spain to examine various castles as a basis for the game's environments. However, in prototype status, it proved to be too different from the Resident Evil series and the survival horror genre in general. Rather than abandon the project entirely, the premise was changed and it eventually became Devil May Cry. Although the characters in the Resident Evil 4 prototype were all new, some of the monsters bore resemblance to previous Resident Evil creatures. For instance the armored reptilian creature "Blade" is similar to a Hunter. The Marionettes were zombies constructed from various body parts. The Kyklops creatures are similar to the large mutated spiders from Resident Evil.

Devil May Cry became a popular hit with players because the game represented a return to the gameplay of frantic 2D action games of the late 1980s and early 1990s, arguably the first game of its generation to reach this level of intensity. Since these game elements were now represented in 3D with some innovation, a storyline and a terrific soundtrack, Devil May Cry became a game in its own class.

Storyline

The game revolves around P.I. (Private Investigator) Dante and his one-man devil hunting agency "Devil May Cry", which he runs in hopes of finding and killing the demons that killed his mother. Dante also has a twin brother named Vergil, whom we however learn little about during the course of this first game in the series. The story alludes to The Divine Comedy in the game's areas (roughly resembling and representing inferno, purgatorio, and paradiso) as well as in some of the character names; however it is purely an aesthetic similarity, and indeed the game borrows from a very wide range of sources for inspiration. After a less than proper introduction, a woman named Trish, who bears a striking resemblance to Dante's mother, convinces Dante to help her defeat Mundus, the Emperor of the Underworld, who is the leading antagonist of the game. The duo then sets off to Mallet Island, where Mundus's resurrection is about to take place, and where the majority of the game plays out.

Gameplay

Gameplay focuses primarily on fast and 'stylish' combat; gaining a high Style ranking (from worst to best, D, C, B, A, S, represented by words that start with the first letter of the class, like "Dull" for D and "Stylish!" for S) requires using Dante's firearms and Devil Arms in a combination together in long strings while avoiding damage. Game controls are relatively simple: one button makes Dante jump, another makes him take a swing with whichever sword he's equipped with, and the third makes him discharge his currently-equipped firearms (all firearms have infinite ammunition). Holding the R1 trigger and Up or Down on the joystick in conjunction with the weapon button results in one of a number of special attacks. The simple learning curve makes the game easy to pick up, but racking up stylish combos is another matter. Devil Arms are more often than not preferred when chaining to a high Style ranking.

The game also features some puzzle-solving and exploration elements retained from its survival-horror beginnings, but these are downplayed; Devil May Cry puts emphasis on action. The puzzles are rarely more complex than finding a key-like object and then carrying it to whatever door it opens. It also involves examining in order to find various items and orbs that will help in Dante's quest as well as some trivial information found throughout the island should the player wish to gain some background to some of the phenomena in the game.

The game's currency is represented by red orbs used to acquire new combat powers and abilities for Dante, as well as purchasing various items that will aid him in his quest. These Red Orbs are explained as being the "blood of demons", hence, everytime a demon is killed, its blood is used as currency.

The Devil Trigger ability enables Dante to transform into the elemental devil infused in his weapon, changing his appearance, increasing his strength and defense, slowly restoring health, and enabling him to use special attacks available only during his demonic alter-ego. The Devil Trigger state lasts as long as there is power in his Devil Trigger Gauge, which increases by attacking or taunting enemies in the normal state and decreases by attacking in the Devil Trigger state, using Devil Trigger-only attacks, and using the alternate "charging" mode on the Nightmare Beta.

Weapons

Devil Arms

Force Edge - Dante's initial equip at the start of the game. It is the basic form of the Sparda sword, which is created by merging the Force Edge with the Perfect amulet, a combination of Dante and Vergil's amulets. It becomes obsolete once Dante obtains the Alastor sword since it has no abilities of its own and cannot be upgraded.

Alastor - A sword with a lightning elemental attack. Dante gains this sword after being impaled by it. A lightning elemental weapon, Alastor's attributes focus more on speed rather than power. For all intents and purposes it handles just like the Force Edge, but with a wide variety of perks. First of all, it is more powerful, and swings notably faster and smoother. Second, its capabilities can be enhanced by purchasing numerous powerful upgrades from the God of Time statues using Red Orbs. Finally, it allows him to activate Devil Trigger Mode for the first time in the game. When Dante enters Devil Trigger Mode, Alastor will also grant him additional aerial capabilities such as Air raid, which allows Dante to transform to a flying demon and fling homing bolts of electricity at his enemies, and Vortex, which turns Dante into a spinning torpedo, crashing down on his enemies with great force. Dante also gains the power of lightning speed and limited controlled flight. Other abilities that Alastor can impart after upgrade include a double-jump, a long range stabbing attack, and a sword throwing technique.

Ifrit - Gauntlets that give Dante fire elemental attacks. Whereas Alastor grants Dante greater speed, Ifrit delivers much slower but more devastating blows. The Circle button can be held on each attack for a charge effect, causing each hit to do massive damage. Like Alastor, Ifrit can be upgraded. When in Devil trigger, Ifrit allows Dante to hurl balls of magma at his enemies, create a wave of flames by slamming the ground, and delivering a devastating pre-set combo. Other skills involve a rushing flaming kick and a flaming aura accompanying any directional jump. Dante's kicks and punches are radically more powerful and he delivers fast, devastating combos with incredible force in each blow.

Sparda - The legendary sword bearing the name of Dante's father created from the union of the Force Edge and the Perfect Amulet. The moves and combos are mostly identical to Alastor and the Force Edge, except that Dante cannot enter Devil Trigger when equipped with it until the final battle with Mundus. Sparda does, however, come in with a built in Round Trip technique, allowing Dante to throw it at his opponents. There are no upgrades to be purchased for Sparda. This sword is later given to Trish, who wields it in DMC 2 (after initial completion on the appropriate difficulty level).

Guns

Ebony & Ivory - Dante's hand made dual pistols have an impressive firing rate. One appeal to them is their anti-gravity aspect. They can keep Dante in the air for a short time or his enemies for as long as he can blast them. Ebony is for distance firing while Ivory is more suited to rapid-fire attacks and together, they are deadly. These guns bear the inscription "By .45 Art Warks -For Tony Redgrave." (Read the novel for more information.) Dante starts the game with these weapons. The others must be found.

Shotgun - A sawn-off shotgun with spreadfire and heavy damage at close range.

Needlegun - An automatic nailgun that can only be used underwater but is crucial to certain missions being that it is the only means of offense when submerged.

Grenade Gun - A grenade launcher that fires long range explosives with a slow firing rate and sluggish recovery.

Nightmare ß (beta) - A mysterious weapon that can be charged to create a multiple-projectile blast which ricochets off walls and ceilings causing massive damage. This weapon drains Dante's Devil Trigger. It is possible to use the weapon without Devil Trigger energy but it does less damage.

Difficulty

The game has four difficulty modes:

Normal

Initially players must play "Normal" mode, which is a balanced enough that it will still give a player a good challenge. Completion of a Normal difficulty will unlock Hard mode.

Easy Automatic

Easy Automatic mode can be unlocked by being killed three times during the first two missions. In Easy Automatic mode, the gameplay is simplified. Several enemies are never seen in EA, as they cannot be killed by slashing and shooting wildly. After completing Easy Automatic mode, the player can only begin another Easy Automatic game, and cannot carry over any items or skills into the harder difficulties. Some veterans of the game recommend strongly against playing in this mode, as they believe it ruins the DMC experience.

Hard

Initially, the player is thrown into Hard mode immediately after completing normal. Enemies and bosses are tougher, and they deal more damage. More difficult enemies appear earlier and more often. Consumable items increase in price drastically, encouraging the player to not rely on them. Dante also regains less vitality when in Devil Trigger. Completing Hard mode unlocks difficulty selection, the Legendary Dark Knight costume, and Dante Must Die! mode.

Dante Must Die!

"Dante Must Die!" mode is the game's hardest difficulty mode. Enemies retain their "Normal" vitality, Bosses have even more vitality (3x that of Normal), and both deal extreme damage. However, enemies will now execute a Devil Trigger of their own after about 10-15 seconds after appearing/awakening, the effects of which differ for each enemy. Some rooms have a "Do or Die!" timer. Dante cannot leave the room until all enemies are eliminated. Should the room not be free of all the enemies by the time the timer reaches 00:00, they will simultaneously enter Devil Trigger. Consumable items are prohibitively expensive, forcing the player to focus more on learning to avoid enemies' attacks. Dante also does not regain vitality with Devil Trigger. Completing DMD! mode unlocks the "Super Dante" costume, which has an unlimited Devil Trigger.

Ranking

At the end of each mission, the player's rank is calculated. The player's rank is based on five factors:

• Completion time
• Orbs collected
• Damage received
• Number of items used
• Secret Missions completed

The requirements are the same for each difficulty, though some missions in DMD! have a time extension. Completion time is the time it took you to complete the mission. Orbs gained tells you how many orbs you gathered throughout the mission. Damage factor calculates the amount of damage you received. Number of items used counts how many items you used. Different items incur varying ranking penalties. Completing Secret Missions give a bonus to your rank, giving the player an allowance for missing a requirement or using an item.

These requirements are based on a points system. Points are distributed as follows:

Time

• 500 -- Under limit
• 300 -- Over limit by up to 30 seconds
• 200 -- Over limit by up to 2 minutes
• 100 -- Over limit by up to 5 minutes
• 0 -- Over limit by more than 5 minutes

Orbs

• 500 -- Quota met
• 300 -- 80% or more of quota
• 200 -- 50% or more of quota
• 100 -- 30% or more of quota
• 0 -- Less than 30% of quota

Damage

• 500 -- No damage
• 300 -- Minor damage
• 200 -- Moderate damage
• 100 -- Heavy damage
• 0 -- Extreme damage

Item penalties

• -100 -- Holy Water
• -100 -- Devil Star
• -300 -- Vital Star
• -300 -- Yellow Orb
• -500 -- Untouchable

Secret Missions

• Secret Missions 2, 3, 6, 9, and 10 are worth 100 points.
• Secret Missions 1, 4, 5, 8, 11, and 12 are worth 200 points.
• Secret Mission 7 can only be completed between missions, and thus has no rank value.

Once these are all added up, and you are assigned a ranking based on the total.

Devil Hunter Rank

• S -- 1000 or greater
• A -- 800 - 900
• B -- 500 - 700
• C -- 0 - 400
• D -- Less than 0

Each rank comes with a different Red Orb bonus. These bonuses become greater in later missions. Getting 1500 or more points in a mission grants a "Special Bonus" of 2000 Red Orbs.

Unlockables

The player can unlock new costumes for Dante and Legendary Dark Knight, a monacle-and-purple-jacket-wearing man with white hair who uses the sword "Yamato" and the M1911s "Luce & Ombra". Yamato is a Japanese nodachi. "Luce" & "Ombra" are Italian for "Light" and "Shadow", drawing a parallel to Dante's weapons, "Ebony" & "Ivory". Some believe these to be the clothes and equipment used by Sparda in human form. The Yamato has access to all of Alastor's abilities, and turns into the Sparda sword when in Devil Trigger. Swinging the Yamato while DTed will drain Devil Trigger faster. Luce & Ombra are the same as Ebony & Ivory in terms of rate of fire and damage. The other unlockable costume is Super Dante, with unlimited Devil Trigger.

Novel

In 2002 a novel was written that depicts Dante in a pre-DMC 1 venture. Recently the Novel has been released in the US by TokyoPop. The story features Tony Redgrave, a tough mercenary who only takes on jobs he feels are important. Tony has a reputation, one that happens to get him more trouble than respect. After a recent (99th encounter to be exact) run in with 'Mad Dog', a former crime boss whose lost power due to Tony's work in the city, mysterious things are happening. Things only get stranger when an escort mission turns into a fright fest when fallen bodies come to life and attack Tony and his partner, Grue. If that weren't enough, a new mercenary wearing a heavy covering of bandages named Gilver is quickly rising to stardom. Tony and Gilver seem to get along well, teaming up on jobs, but soon the supernatural happenings become more apparent. Soon, Grue vanishes, and the Gunsmith store owner is killed. Before dying, she gives Tony two guns, one ebony and one ivory. The end reveals that Tony is Dante, who discarded his old name at his mother's dying request in hopes of hiding himself from the Demonic forces of evil. Dante confronts Gilver, who is behind the demon attacks. After a tough fight, Dante finds that Gilver is his long lost twin brother Vergil, who then seemingly dies before his eyes. The story ends with Dante moving to another city and establishing the 'Devil May Cry' shop. As the story closes, Dante's office is busted in by a woman on a motorcycle...

Due to the story being published years before the DMC3 and its prequel manga, the novel ties poorly into the official canon of the series.

Trivia

• After finishing the game a name for the game's development team was listed in the credits, "Team Little Devil". The tradition of naming the game's development team carried onto Viewtiful Joe, which was given the title of "Team Viewtiful". Both games were created by Hideki Kamiya.

• The character of Dante was inspired by Cobra, main character of Japanese comic Space Adventure Cobra.

• The idea of juggling enemies in the air with gunshots came from a glitch in the production for Onimusha.

• The English voice track is used in all releases of Devil May Cry, including the original Japanese release.

• Dante makes an appearance in the PlayStation 2 version of Viewtiful Joe, and the PlayStation Portable game Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble as a playable character. The character Alastor is also loosely based on the demon Dante turns into in the devil trigger for Alastor(sword)
• The style ranks are: Dull, Cool, Bravo, Absolute, and Stylish.

• Alastor (lat. pl. Alastores) is a demon in Greek mythology and is also known as The Executioner.

• Ifrit (Ifreet, Efreet) is a Djinni [Genie] from Arabic mythology, and is a demon from Hell.

• Ebony & Ivory is the title of a song composed and performed by Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.

• On the side of Ebony & Ivory, there is an inscription: "For Tony Redgrave -- By .45 Art Warks".

While abandoned as Resident Evil 4, the game retains many elements of Resident Evil:

• Bosses have multiple encounters, much like the Tyrant, Mr. X, and Nemesis.
• The finale of the game involves a countdown timer.
• The Shotgun and Grenade Launcher are signature weapons of Resident Evil games.
• The text "You Are Dead" appears when you run out of Yellow Orbs.
• After pressing Start on the title screen of Devil May Cry 3, a deep voice and a female voice say "Devil May Cry" much in the same way it was said in Resident Evil games. (This little detail has appeared in all the Devil May Cry games.)
• Like the ending of Resident Evil 4, you must navigate through an island about to explode on a vehicle, both being inside a cave, on the water.
• The hallway when you enter the castle in mission one greatly resembles the hallway of the mansion featured in Resident Evil 1, with the stairs looking the same (except for the statue) and two of the doors being in the same location.

See also

• Dante Alighieri
• Resident Evil, a related Capcom series.
• Onimusha, another third person action game from Capcom with similarities to Devil May Cry
• Viewtiful Joe, a cel-shaded game where Dante is a hidden character. Alastor, the title character's rival, is himself a homage to the Devil May Cry games. It's also another series created by Hideki Kamiya.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, where Dante is an enemy and unlockable party member
• Dead Rising, a related Capcom series.

External links

• Devil May Cry at Capcom Japan
• Devil May Cry at MobyGames
• Devil May Cry 1 Devil May Cry 1