Devil May Cry HD Collection Review
Capcom was originally going to make Devil May Cry another Resident Evil title but plans changed and it became its own series. The first game came out in 2001 and the original trilogy splashed onto the PlayStation 2 garnering lots of fans in the process. The series however has laid dormant since 2013 as people did not really like the reboot called DmC: Devil May Cry.
Rumors are that we might see Devil May Cry 5 first get announced at E3 2018 and to make more people familiar with the series, Capcom has decided to re-release the Devil May Cry HD Collection for PC, PS4 and Xbox One owners this month. This is essentially the same HD collection that PS3 and Xbox 360 owners got to play a few years ago.
Re-releasing games is nothing new, but there are three different ways to do it. You can either make an expensive remake by building a game from the ground up. We’ve seen this recently with the excellent Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy as well as this year’s Shadow of the Colossus PS4. Secondly, there’s the HD remaster which is the most common way to re-release games. Lastly, there are straight ports that don’t offer many differences at all.
Devil May Cry HD Collection sadly falls into the latter two categories which won’t please people that have already played the game before on PS3 and Xbox 360. This new re-release is just a port of the PS3 and Xbox 360 release of the game and doesn’t not offer much in terms of prettier visuals or improvements with gameplay.
I tested Devil May Cry HD Collection on a PS4 Pro and played it on my new 4K Samsung Television. Sadly, the PlayStation 2 era video games are starting to show their age when it comes to graphics nowadays. The game’s screen does not even fill out my entire TV as black borders still surround it.
The Devil May Cry video games had good graphics back when I played them on the PlayStation 2, but now everything looks sadly outdated even though this is advertised as an “HD Collection”. Square Enix’s remasters of Final Fantasy X/X-2 and Final Fantasy XII looks far better on PS4 in my opinion.
Modern gamers deciding to pick up this collection may want to also know some of the old school gaming mechanics that haven’t aged well either. The first Devil May Cry video game is still good, although the combat feels much slower than its immediate sequels. Devil May Cry 2 is still the weakest game of the bunch thanks to some boring level design and a lackluster story. The best game of the bunch is arguably Devil May Cry 3 which has the fastest style of gameplay and Dante has far more moves in his arsenal. The third game also allows you to play his brother named Vergil.
However, one thing that still kind of annoyed me about this collection is the darn fixed camera. The fixed camera can be a huge pain playing this game especially if you have to do jumping puzzles that require you to have exact precision. There are also some boring backtracking in some of the games as well, although it’s not too much of a big issue all of the time.
Despite my criticisms, Devil May Cry HD Collection is still fun if you want to play an old school style of action game.
Unlike the Resident Evil series, action is the bulk of the gameplay and it’s fun as hell. Killing all of the demons with Dante’s array of guns and swords is very satisfying. You can string multi-hit combos like in a fighting game plus all three of the games have every creative bosses for you to face as well.
The only enemy type that gets really annoying are ones that fly in the air. These enemies are a pain, although shooting them from the ground is the best way to dispose of them. Thankfully, the game allows you to somewhat level up Dante’s abilities and skills making combat a lot more fun the further you progress through.
Another thing series noobs may want to do is play the game in chronological order in terms of the series’ timeline. Devil May Cry 3 actually takes place first as it focuses when Dante was only a teenager. After that the first Devil May Cry comes next followed by Devil May Cry 2. Sadly not included in this collection is Devil May Cry 4, although that game already got re-released on PC, PS4 and Xbox One a couple of years ago.
Verdict:
Devil May Cry HD Collection is worth getting if you have never played the games before as they all offer frantic and enjoyable gameplay rarely seen in this generation. It will also give you some experience until Devil May Cry 5 gets released in the near future as speculated. That said, this HD Collection seems pretty redundant if you already played it on PS3 and Xbox 360. Not to mention visually the game still looks very outdated by modern day gaming standards.
[Editor’s Note: Devil May Cry HD Collection was reviewed on the PS4 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]
Review: Devil May Cry HD Collection
The Devil May Cry HD Collection originally came out in 2012, shortly before the Ninja Theory reboot DmC: Devil May Cry. It was considered to be a lazy set of ports of two good games and one terrible one – Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening Special Edition and Devil May Cry 2, respectively.
This HD Collection has been almost untouched and has once again been lazily ported to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The bottom line is, any gamer that bought the original Devil May Cry HD Collection has absolutely no reason to pick this version up – even the most hardcore Devil May Cry fan would be disappointed with this half-baked double dip.
The primary changes that this version of the Devil May Cry HD Collection bring to the table are a resolution boost from 720p to 1080p compared to the original HD Collection, a stable frame rate of 60fps, and a few new goodies in the main menu like concept art and the like. Besides that, these games are exactly the same as they were six years ago, and six years ago, these games were barely different from their original PlayStation 2 versions in the first place.
Like the original Devil May Cry HD Collection, menus and most CG cut scenes are still presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio and are exceptionally fuzzy and cheap-looking across all three games.
Even in-engine cut scenes look like a minimal amount of effort was put into making them look remotely better than their PlayStation 2 counterparts. The original HD Collection had a minor amount of quality of life improvements, like slightly altering the first game’s controller layout to more directly mimic that of Devil May Cry 3, making all three games feel just a bit more cohesive in the process. That’s still here, but literally no other similar gameplay improvements have been made. And boy, could each game use some improvements.
Devil May Cry (2001)
Devil May Cry built its reputation on difficult gameplay, stylish combos and a fair measure of cocky edge thanks to protagonist Dante. This half-human half-demon P.I./bounty hunter/pizza connoisseur is a wisecracking warrior capable of dual wielding pistols just as well as he swings enchanted swords. He’s nimble and able to wall jump and leap across chasms to his heart’s content, but it’s his ability to generate combos that made the first Devil May Cry special.
Between swords, pistols, shotguns and more, Dante can expand his arsenal exponentially by the time this roughly eight-hour campaign is done.
Traces of Resident Evil are all over Devil May Cry, which began its development as an early version of Resident Evil 4. Light puzzle solving is spread across interconnected portions of an ancient castle, rusted keys can be found in one room to open another that’s far away and even the way text pops up when examining objects in the world is an absolute throwback to the classic survival horror franchise. However, everything else about the game was wholly unique when it came out nearly two decades ago. The story of Devil May Cry is demon-fueled nonsense and bless it for it. The game focuses on difficult, skill-based, hack-and-slash gameplay that hadn’t been seen in another 3D action game up to that point. It influenced the likes of God of War and Bayonetta, and is undeniably the progenitor of similar games that followed.
Unfortunately, not everything about Devil May Cry holds up. Its camera, which is almost exclusively static like early Resident Evil Games, constantly chops up the gameplay, causing player input to clash with Dante’s orientation countless times during combat and exploration segments. And while the original HD port cleaned up some textures and presented the game at a higher resolution, neither it nor this newer HD collection have done much of anything beyond that to make the game more visually appealing. Devil May Cry may no longer be the masterpiece it was once viewed as, but it’s still a highly enjoyable experience – even if it’s hardly enhanced for the current generation of consoles.
Devil May Cry 2 (2003)
While Devil May Cry still holds up relatively well in its own right, the same absolutely can’t be said for Devil May Cry 2, which was critically derided upon release. It gets almost everything wrong – instead of deepening the combo-based combat or focusing on a complex and interwoven adventure, it trades its tight corridors for open city streets devoid of personality, and sacrifices interesting, unique enemy designs for some of the most run-of-the-mill encounters possible.
Stringing together combos feels stilted and anemic, and the difficulty has been dropped to comically easy levels, making the entire game feel like a prolonged chore rather than anything akin to its predecessor.
Devil May Cry 2’s biggest fault, however, is its total lack of identity. After the original’s unique take on combat set the world on fire, this game just feels like any game developer going through the numbers. Dante no longer cracks irreverent jokes, opting to be entirely self-serious and largely unlikable. The textures throughout the game are muddy and unsightly, and they negatively impact the gameplay by not only disorienting the player, but by making it difficult to see paths forward in the first place. Nothing in the game makes a case for individuality, and because of this, it’s a game that’s best left alone unless you really feel the need to play through the entire franchise.
Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition (2006)
Fortunately, Devil May Cry 3 managed to return the series back to its roots, and in many ways, it surpasses the original. It acts as a prequel to the first game, focusing on Dante and his twin brother Virgil’s antagonistic relationship. Gameplay “styles” are added to the game, with each style adding different abilities to a single button when equipped. For instance, there’s the trickster style, which allows Dante to dodge attacks more easily. Or there’s the quicksilver style, which lets Dante slow down time and wreak havoc on enemies. Styles can be leveled up over the course of the game, and the game’s wide assortment of weapons can be upgraded as well. By the end of the game, Dante has more weapons and abilities than he knows what to do with.
The series’ humor and charm return in full force in this third installment, and while it’s the same kind of dumb, screwball material from the original, it absolutely makes Devil May Cry 3 feel like a true follow up to the first game. Though at times it feels as if it loses its own identity a bit with looping corridors and sometimes confusing level design, it’s generally a blast to play through. It’s difficult, but it offers an easy option to players who die three times in a row. The combat options can feel overwhelming, but combos and stylish maneuvers can be pulled of naturally once you get a hang of the game’s rhythm. Like the first game, the camera doesn’t always cooperate, but at least the player has a bit more control of it this time around. Though the first Devil May Cry has been the most critically lauded, it’s Devil May Cry 3 that holds up the best to this day.
Closing Comments:
In the end, the Devil May Cry HD Collection is a lazy port of a set of lazy ports from six years ago, but it is technically the best way to play two fantastic games – and also Devil May Cry 2. There is absolutely no reason for any fan who already picked up the original HD Collection to give this one a go, but if you’re an old fan who doesn’t have access to the PlayStation 2 originals or a gamer that’s always been interested in the franchise, you can’t go wrong picking this collection up for $29. 99 USD. This set of games is the definition of doing the bare minimum in order to make some quick cash and Capcom should know better than to milk their fan base like this. When they themselves released the fantastic Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition two years go, they made a full effort to not only bring the game to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but significantly improve upon the original as well. The Devil May Cry HD Collection is far from that mindset. As it stands, this is a poor set of remasters of solid games – just don’t go in expecting a single bell or whistle to enhance the experience.
how I got to know the genre / Computer and mobile games / iXBT Live
This article will talk about my acquaintance with the slasher genre and in particular the Devil May Cry series, its mechanics, complexity and insane style.
My introduction to the Devil May Cry series took place long before I even knew that the series existed. Then I was still at school and on one well-known channel in Ukraine, which is no longer there, there was a night block where films, serials, anime with a rating of 18+ were shown. It started at 23:00 and the hallmarks of that content were showing blood, murders, raising adult topics without censorship. nine0003
That’s where I first saw it, an anime series by DMC. At that time I liked him a lot, a pretentious protagonist with guns and a huge sword, demons, blood, dismemberment. To be honest, I don’t remember the details of the plot. Then in 2019 the fifth part of the series came out and I don’t understand how it passed me by. Going to YouTube now, I see that absolutely everyone has released reviews of this game, but for some incredible circumstances, I simply did not notice or did not pay attention to this. And so, not so long ago, I saw a stream from a well-known gaming blogger, where he plays DMC 5, talked about the mechanics, plot and praised the game. Immediately, memories of my childhood and those nightly viewings of this anime series flooded over me. And I decided to go and buy the first three parts of the game to understand what is going on there and whether these games are really that good. nine0003
Devil May Cry
To be honest, I have no idea whether it is possible to evaluate the gameplay of a game released in 2001 after twenty years. In principle, this is a problem for all three games, because the last game of this collection was released already in 2005. During this time, the gaming industry has already jumped far ahead, and my acquaintance with video games only began in 2007-2008. So this review should be taken through the prism of time. One more note: I have never played slashers in my life, I have experience playing Mortal Kombat and Injustice fighting games, so a little later I will draw some parallel between games of these genres. nine0003
Already before the main event, I was greeted by the most pretentious intro with the same voice acting. At launch, the same thing awaits us, plus the corporate style of the anime, in which we first fight and then talk. The plot of the plot is very simple: demons once ruled the world, but an ancient hero appeared who restored the balance of power and defeated the ancient evil. A certain lady comes to the main character and says that evil is awakening, you need to stop it. I won’t go into details of the story, but I’ll share my experience. nine0003
The note of pathos in the game is gradually changing into a rather personal drama. In principle, the plot is tied to the psychological trauma of Dante (that’s the name of the protagonist), on the past of him and his family. All decisions that he makes in the game are directly or indirectly related to this. The plot is served exclusively through cutscenes, which in turn last for 15 — 40 seconds. There are not many of them, and even less important ones. Sometimes, to understand what is happening, you need to be careful and read between the lines. An explanation of Dante’s behavior already comes after beating the game. The plot is presented a little chaotically and it seems to me that it is not enough, but it is good, but I would like to get some more information, if not answers, to some questions. nine0003
I was pleased with the gameplay of this game. The game is divided into missions, where the goals that we must achieve are directly indicated. At the same time, the locations themselves, where the actions take place, are united and divided into rooms. There are riddles and clues to solve them, but unlike other games, there is no so-called “press the button to interact”, so you will have to look for important elements yourself. Various consumables are hidden in the locations, the path to which you need to look for.
There is no tutorial in the game. The menu has a separate window with the training of management, techniques and abilities. There are also 2 types of control simple and normal. The difference between them is that the normal control adds several keys to the character control and it seemed to me not very convenient, but this is subjective. nine0003
The most important and cool thing about this game is the combat system. And here there is a parallel with fighting games. Each battle has a beauty rating, for which you can get additional rewards. The more abilities and moves you use, the longer you stay enemies, deal more damage, and increase your spectacle rating. To carry out this or that technique, you need to memorize key combinations and then combine them into one combo. The only drawback is the lack of changing weapons during the battle — for this you need to go to the inventory menu. Adding this feature could diversify and embellish the combat system even more. nine0003
Upgrading weapons also helps in the combat system. It opens up new abilities that can be added to your already debugged combos. The weapon itself is enough, each weapon changes the style of combat, and some can only be used in specific places.
And various consumables that increase HP, energy, restore life, resurrect, etc. help in the passage.
The game has several types of enemies that interact with you in different ways, and several types of bosses. They are repeated during the passage, but if there are more types of ordinary enemies and this is not striking, then this is a problem with bosses. There are only a few of them and they literally repeat one after another. nine0003
And finally, the soundtrack — it’s instrumental and high.
Now I would like to talk a little about the minuses of the game, which I took out separately. The first negative is a disgusting camera. Her problem is that she is static. When the GG moves, she does not follow him, but only changes the plan, because of this, just a bunch of blind spots appear. It also interferes with platforming. In conditional platforms in this game there are scoring zones, getting into it Dante remains on the platform. But since they move, and the camera is static, when controlling the stick, Dante does not move very accurately and does not completely fall into such zones, and this, in turn, causes burning in one place. The second downside is the voice acting. She is almost everywhere past the cutscenes. It happens like this, all the dialogues and sound effects fly by in a couple of seconds, and then there is a video with subtitles but without sound. And so somewhere half of the cutscenes. nine0003
But in the end, and to my own surprise, I got high.
Devil May Cry 2
Let’s start with the fact that the main change in the second part was two playable characters. My favorite Dante and the new protagonist — Lucia. A new threat looms over the world and Lucia turns to Dante for help in order to prevent the evil demon from regaining its strength and taking over the world. The plot of the game is divided into two parts and each character has its own campaign. You ask, “is it that you need to go through the game twice”? Yes, but each playthrough is presented from the perspective of the character you are currently playing, the missions are not repeated, the game tries to put you in new conditions. Gaps that can be seen on the first playthrough are filled in and the story takes on structure and integrity. nine0003
By beating the game as both protagonists, you can get the true ending and unlock additional content. Lucia’s campaign is almost twice as short, easier and, frankly, it was more pleasant for me to watch her. Speaking about the quality of the plot itself — it is not. If Lucia’s side of the plot is still trying to drama, to surprise with twists (although this doesn’t really work out because of the strange dialogues, the curvature of the cutscenes, the lack of motivation), then Dante’s campaign is absolutely empty, while the protagonist himself is a silent vegetable who silently does what he was told . And the most absurd thing, in my opinion, is that the game absolutely ignores the plot of the first part, does not remember it and ignores the questions that were left open in the first DMC. nine0003
The gameplay has also changed. I will highlight the positive and negative aspects of these changes.
Positive:
- Handling has become more convenient;
- Added more variety of enemies and bosses;
- Ranged weapons have become more effective;
- Added an amulet in which you can adjust bonuses for specific situations;
- Red orbs no longer disappear;
- The gameplay for Dante and Lucia differs due to different weapons, but similar in meaning, different timings and different choreography.
I liked playing as Lucia more, because it’s easier to get a high rank and the combat looks more stylish. nine0046
Negative:
- The camera has become even worse, now it tries to follow the character, but chooses angles where nothing is visible;
- There are no more puzzles in the levels;
- The voice acting is again missing the cutscenes, though not so much now;
- Upgrading weapons no longer unlocks new abilities and combinations, but only slightly increases damage;
- The combat system has degraded, from the very beginning there are now 3-4 combinations of tricks that cannot be increased in any way, so every battle is the same. nine0046
As a result, the game has degraded compared to the first part, both in terms of plot and gameplay.
Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening
This time the developers gave up on the second part of the series and decided to return to the events that took place before the first part of the DMC. Briefly about the plot, the third part tells about the enmity within the family, and gives us two parallel storylines that are connected at the end. The game introduces a new character familiar to me from the anime, Lady, and tells her backstory, also showing us Dante’s twin brother, Vergil. His character, goals are opposed to us not only on the battlefield, but in the design of these characters and even gameplay, because in this part, after completing the campaign, you can play for Virgil himself. nine0003
There is also a plot for him, but this is just a repetition of the same locations and goals as the main one. For example, the plot in the second part tried to give us a perspective of events from the side of Lucia, but why the developers did not do this with Virgil, I do not understand. The game does not ignore the first part and partially opens the veil of secrecy to the questions that I had after the first part. I would also like to commend the increased directing of staged videos, which from the first minutes convey the mood, pace and support the various phases of the plot. nine0003
The gameplay is the best part of the trilogy. Firstly, they returned the study of various combinations and left an improvement in firearms, secondly, they added styles that completely change the gameplay and everyone can choose the one they like, or even play for everyone, thirdly, they added the coveted button to change weapons during the battle, which allows you to do very cool combinations. At the same time, it became more difficult to knock out the highest rank of a style. Also, the game has a lot of emphasis on timings, both when dodging and attacking, the animations themselves have become better and the battles look much more stylish. nine0003
Separately, I would like to mention the enemies in this game. There are many of them, they are diverse, each has its own moveset and abilities, and each type has its own tactics. As a result, they became more difficult and dangerous. Bosses in this game are a separate story. They are interesting, all designed differently, have several stages and test your skills to the maximum. The combination of these decisions creates complexity in the game, and I want to say that it is really difficult.
Finally, I would like to highlight a couple more points related to the game. The first is the camera, it has become hybrid and convenient. The camera is attached to the character, but now it can be rotated from left to right, which removes blind spots. Secondly, the vibration feedback for the gamepad is made qualitatively. nine0003
Result
I’ve got a lot of fun with these games and I can safely recommend them to those who want to get acquainted with the series and those who just want to get nostalgic. Even despite the failed second part, these games give the player a challenge, do not consider him stupid and constantly try to put the player in new situations, teaching him along the way and increasing his skill.
Devil May Cry HD Collection
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