Backstory:

I would first like to give the history of the world of Devil May Cry as it pertains to the first game.

2,000 years ago, there was a war between the Human World and the Demon Realm. A Demon from the Demon Realm, the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, woke up to justice and stood alone against the legions from the Demon Realm.

Sparda succeeded in separating the Human and Demon Realm. He also sealed the Demon King Mundus in the Demon Realm. For years following the war, Sparda quietly reigned in the Human World, preserving harmony until his death. During this time, Sparda fell in love with a human woman named Eve. The two had a set of twin sons, Dante and Vergil.

On the twins' 8th birthday, Sparda's family was attacked by minions of the Demon King Mundus. During this attack, Eve was able to protect Dante but was unable to do the same for her other son Vergil.

Dante then goes through several events prior to the start of Devil May Cry, but I will cover those in another post.

Synopsis:

20 years after losing his family, Dante is running the Devil May Cry shop as a cover for his true line of work. He is a Demon-Hunting Mercenary, a job he uses to gather info on the demon that killed his family. He has gained a reputation as a merc that takes on dangerous jobs no one else is willing to take.

One day, Dante is hanging out in his shop waiting on a new tip for a job to come in. Then a mysterious blonde-haired woman riding a motorcycle crashes through his front door. Dante quips that she need to "slow down" and that the bathroom is in the back. The woman ask if Dante is "the handy man that will take any old job" while browsing his collection of demon skulls secured to the while with various swords. Dante responds that he only takes "special" jobs while grabbing a sword from the wall. The mystery lady reveals to Dante she knows of his reputation, his tragedy, and his demon heritage. Dante says that in this line of work if he cuts down every demon that comes his way he'll eventually "hit the jackpot".

A brief scuffle ensues between the two. It ends with Dante pulling his sword from his chest, revealing just how durable he is. The woman then introduces herself as Trish, saying that she wishes to erase the Demon Realm for good. She takes off her glasses and Dante notices she is the spitting image of his dead mother. She informs Dante that the Demon King Mundus is set to return on Mallet Island. Dante agrees to take the job hoping to finally avenge his family.

Trish brings Dante to the island but promptly leaves Dante to his own devices. Dante battles various demons and solves puzzles in the island's castle, all while picking up new weapons and abilities. Throughout the various battles Dante has on the island, one enemy sticks out. Nelo Angelo is a demon with a Knight-like appearance.

During their first encounter, Nelo Angelo has Dante in a choke-hold, ready to deliver the final blow. Dante's amulet catches his attention, and Nelo Angelo retreats while struggling to maintain his composure. Dante will go on to face Nelo Angelo two more times during his time on the island.

In the third battle, it is revealed that Nelo Angelo is in the brain washed body of Dante's brother Vergil. After Dante defeats Nelo Angelo in their third and final altercation, Nelo Angleo drops an amulet before disappearing. This amulet is the opposite half of Dante's amulet, that when brought together make the Perfect Amulet. Dante's weapon is awakened into the Devil Arm Sparda, his fathers weapon. This was the weapon that he used to seal the two realms.

Dante finds Trish trapped by another demon. Dante defeats the demon, trapping Trish only to find out she was working for Mundus the entire time. She was created by Mundus to look like his mother in order to lure Dante to the island and gain the Devil Arm Sparda. Then Mundus can use its power and Dante's blood to unseal the Demon Realm and conquer both.

Dante is able to use Sparda to defeat Mundus and save Trish. They flee the island before it explodes.

My Experience:

This game is was my first experience with the franchise. This was not when it released but much later. I played this for the first time in 2011, about 10 years after its release. I fell in love with its theming and environment almost instantly. Add in my love of campy action movies and it was all but guaranteed that I would adore this game.

The deeper I got into the gameplay, the more I fell in love with the game and appreciated the core combat and exploration prevalent in the first title. The combat, while simple, is varied and effective at displaying the speed and power of Dante compared to his opponents. At the same time, the combat is challenging.

The exploration in this game stands out the most when compared to its peers in the series. This is the title closest to its roots of Resident Evil, another Capcom property. The only thing I dread coming back to when I play this game is its slow overall movement outside of combat and the camera system hold over from older Resident Evil games. I would love to see this game reimagined in the style of todays DMC games.

Conclusion:

I would love to continue more, but I feel I bit off more than I can chew this week and will try tackling the parts of this game I was unable to get to in this weeks post. I will leave this post this week with this. I LOVE this game! I give it a 4 out of 5 overall with one point taken away for the dated camera system and slow moving exploration at times.