Devil May Cry 5 - PS4 Review
Posted on: 2019-03-25
Our rating:
Devil May Cry series returns with a blockbuster entry.
It's been a long time since the last Devil May Cry game, with 2013’s DMC: Devil May Cry was not received well. For one it wasn’t handled by Capcom, it was handled by a third party studio Ninja Theory, who is known for Hellblade these days. The game wasn’t bad by any means, but there was a small but loud minority that didn’t like the redesign of the main character Dante, which I thought it was fine for a different interpretation. Now we have Devil May Cry 5, the direct sequel to Devil May Cry 4 which came out over a decade ago. Is it a return to form for the series? Absolutely!
Devil May Cry 5 takes place a few years after the 4th game, where we see three demon hunters take on an evil demon lord who wants to destroy the world. You step into the shoes of several different characters throughout the game, you have Nero the one-armed killing machine, V a mysterious person who likes to quote William Blake all the time and series staple Dante with his cocky swagger. The story is completely over the top and fun, it has its serious moments but it also likes to make fun of itself with snappy and witty dialogue.
Gameplay is to use the term Yahtzee Croshaw coined back in 2010 a “Spectacle Fighter”, where you are placed in various arenas throughout a level and have to take on waves of enemies usually with melee based weapons. Devil May Cry is the king of this genre as it defined it when it first released nearly 20 years ago, the combat is sleek, stylish and very challenging which keeps you on your toes.
As you combat your way through demons you’ll be given ranks in the form of letters, starting from D all the way up to the legendary SSS rank. It grades you on how varied your combat style is where you have to mix up your attacks, if you spam the same attack the game will sit in the corner and yell at you like a strict sports coach telling you to do better. It gives you an incentive to mix up your attacks with different weapons and abilities at your disposal, which gives the game a high level of replay value.
You swap between each demon hunter throughout the game, where you are then given the option to choose between the three before a level starts. My favourite demon hunter to use is Dante, as he has the biggest and most varied move selection with his duel pistols Ebony and Ivory to his devastating finishing moves. The one I didn’t like using was V, now his character is great with his mysterious demeanour but his playstyle is very passive and lacks any impact. What do I mean? Well he doesn’t actually attack demons with his own hands, he uses his magic to summon a tiger and a bird to do the dirty work for him, and I just found myself a bit bored during his stages.
The game looks absolutely stunning, running on the same engine that powered the Resident Evil 2 remake Devil May Cry 5 is beautiful with a huge amount of detail with the facial animation that is slowly going towards the uncanny valley. The combat looks great with all the sparks and gore effects, coupled the crippling amount of the detail put in the fighting animations. The thing that takes a hit in the presentation department is the framerate during cinematic scenes, it tries to run at 60 frames per second but it stutters likes a dodgy clutch.
Devil May Cry 5 reminds me of Capcom from the early 2000’s, where they would craft over the top games with fun and stylish combat with funny and witty dialogue. This game has its issues in some sections, but it is quickly squashed by its beautiful presentation and brutal combat. This is another game of the year in my book, go out and get it!
Article by:
Sam has lived in Bristol all his life. A keen cyclist he speeds around the city but video games are his bread and butter. Whether the old Nes and Snes games or the XBox One and Playstation releases he loves them all. Sam runs his own gaming blog called Bristolian Gamer where he had been reviewing indie games, doing retro reviews and venting his anger at the industry when it does wrong since 2010. Sam joined the 365Bristol team in December 2014.
