I stop tripping over the fights and pacing. I’m suddenly 14 years old with $5 in quarters in my pocket, pumping coins into the loudest, flashiest cabinet in the arcade. Because who has time for structure when you have motorcycle swords? The fun isn’t in answering why you have swords, but in taking the time to make the absolute most of them.Īnd that’s when it clicks. I roll my eyes at the flood of new weapons and new moves, and the boss fights in which the enemy is never quite dead enough that fill the game’s third act.īut then I take a step back and realize that a game with motorcycle swords isn’t focusing on its own narrative structure. A cutscene is followed by an empty hallway that leads me to another cutscene. It’s intentionally of an era gone by, resulting in a pace that, today, feels uneven and jerky. I’m limited by the closed-off arenas of each fight. I was playing the game but not getting it. That got me through fights in Devil May Cry 5 well enough, but it didn’t take my low ratings during each battle to show me that I was missing the point. I’d mash buttons when I entered unfamiliar territory. To a newcomer, Devil May Cry 5 plays like an over-the-shoulder hack-and-slash game, and that’s how I kept trying to play it. I fought against this approach for hours, because I kept forgetting that nothing is more important than being cool. To earn the coveted S rank, I must kill with my weapon and slay with my style.
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I earn “apocalyptic” after I learn how to time my attacks properly and use more of the moves at my disposal. I earn a rating of “dismal” when I flail around and don’t take advantage of my powers. Nico is the scantily clad, chain-smoking gunsmith who careens around the city in the Devil May Cry mobile office van.Īs in previous games, Devil May Cry 5 rates my performance not by the number of enemies I kill in each fight, but by how stylishly I’m able to slaughter them. There’s the mysterious and mopey V, with his cane, book of poetry, and wisecracking demon-bird familiar.
The rest of the characters are about what I expected from the series, based on limited time with previous entries. I understand that Nero returns from Devil May Cry 4 and Dante from many previous entries. I’m more or less new to the series, which may explain why it took a moment to find my way aboard this particular cosmic ride. Devil May Cry 5 delivers on its own aesthetic with so much confidence and commitment that it justifies itself, and most of its flaws. Once I did, I was able to enjoy this heavy metal album cover come to life. I had to embrace its soundtrack’s guitar shrills, its cast of Iggy Pop wannabes, and a comically byzantine combat system. That’s a very particular term that acknowledges the shortcomings and flaws of a piece of pop culture, while also excusing them due to everything else about the experience being badass.ĭevil May Cry 5’s reliance on the rule of cool is uncompromising, and I found it grating until about halfway through my 15 hours with the game - when I began to see it for what it is, and found a way to meet it on its own terms. In this entry, half-demon demon hunter Dante, the demon-handed Nero, and their cast of sidekicks and supporting characters are back to stop (yet) another demon from taking over the Underworld.ĭevil May Cry 5’s design leans heavily into the rule of cool. The story of Devil May Cry 5 builds upon its predecessors, with our heroes once again fighting demon lords through a setting that falls somewhere between Dante’s Divine Comedy and a Grim Reaper mural airbrushed onto the side of a 1976 Dodge Tradesman.
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Capcom’s latest entry in the beloved action series is silly, raucous, and spectacular - and yet surprisingly consistent, juggling gobs of ideas but never losing focus.
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Later on, as Dante, I’m able to weaponize literal motorcycles, dragging their spinning wheels across the faces of enemy demons, ripping loose skin and meat. That scratches the surface of the game’s mood. When we first see Nero in Devil May Cry 5, he revs his sword like a motorcycle.