note: trying out a new game review format here. i think i need something more short-form if i’m going to feel inspired to keep up with doing them…
system: xbox 360
one sentence description: stylized japanimation third person action combat featuring characters with swords larger than themselves.
graphics: 9 | sound: 9 | playability: 9 | challenge: 9 | value: 9 | bias: 9
total: 9
the low-down
if you’re familiar with the devil may cry series, then you know exactly what’s up. if you’re not familiar with it, it all started with DMC on the playstation 2. it was one of the first games on the ps2 that have owners a real glimpse at the power of the system. it was also one of the first games to introduce some serious style into killing. i could go through a pretty long breakdown of the storyline, but i’ll avoid that because wikipedia does it far better than me.
so…long story short…gameplay has been and still is about speed and quick-reflexes combined with style; specifically how you choose fight. sure, you can go through the entire game button-mashing and randomly hitting stuff. but you actually gain points for combos and chaining together different types of attacks with your gun and sword. it also helps that that the environments are beautiful to look at and the cut scenes are absolutely amazing.
pros
- amazing and unique graphics
- memorable characters
- great story expounded upon by cut scenes that’ll leave your jaw on the floor
- good voice acting
- simple combat system that yields high return with relatively low effort (i.e. you don’t have to be great at fighting games in order to pull off cool moves)
- good replayability
- interesting level design
- RPG elements help you mold the character to your gameplay style
cons
- control of the combat moves has to be very precise
- chaining together combos can get fairly complicated if you want to pull of big points
- combat can feel a little bit repetitive
- backtracking to get to some places is annoying
- cheeseball dialogue
