If anything comes close to a South Indian movie, it is this game right here.
Outrages entrances, corny dialogue and extremely satisfying action - Devil May Cry 5 is a good reason to believe that Rajnikant had a pivotal role in the game’s development.
Jokes aside, Devil May Cry 5 is by far the best and the most interesting game in the series. Where Rajnikant runs the show in all his movies, Devil May Cry revolves around three characters each with different play style and personal agendas to defeat the blood-stealing demons.
After a very long debate inside a Mahindra Scorpio, we think that Devil May Cry 5’s three characters closely represent Rohit Shetty’s cop movies. Allow us to explain...
Demons will cry
The story picks up after Devil May Cry 4 but the premise is slightly simple for a DMC game. You start off as Nero, who’s doing his regular business of slaying demons left, right and centre. As the story progresses you come across a new mysterious playable character named V. He might remind us of Kylo Ren from Star Wars: The Force Awakens and even his emo demeanor was almost similar.
Later on you get to play with Dante as well. All three are on a mission to kill a demon named Urizen who planted a demon tree in the middle of the city that is draining people off their blood. The story keeps switching between different timelines and does a really good job of tying all of it together. We were really immersed into its story and the tons of cutscenes made us smile brighter than the cast of Golmaal.
Yes, the game has a lot of cutscenes and we loved every bit of it. Not only because the graphics and character models look so good, but also the story itself was paced perfectly. The game also explains the story in the menu option so newcomers can easily pick it up as well.
Simmba, Rowdy and Singham walk into a bar
Satisfying combat is at the heart of this game. All three characters are different with unique playstyle and abilities. Each have such absurd and hilarious weapons that you'll fall in love with them easily. Not because they're funny (actually that and) but because it gives the character and the game so much personality and vibe.
Nero’s left hand is always holding on to his dearest Red Queen sword. It has a bike accelerator which increases damage when you… Well, rev it! It's hilarious and very useful in combat. Meanwhile, his right hand is missing for ‘story related reasons’. So you instead get a mechanical extension that can be swapped with unique parts called Devil Breakers. There are many different types of Devil Breakers that add an insane amount of variety to Nero's fighting style. There's a rocket launching arm that locks on to the enemy and keeps hitting them but can also be used to skateboard around in combat. Another one can slow time or Megaman’s blaster that also makes Nero jump like the beloved blue robot. To deal with enemies from afar, there's also Nero’s trusty Blue Rose double barrel gun which never seems to run out of bullets like any of Rohit Shetty's cops.
Adding complexity to fun is Dante's combat. It's by far the most varied and overpowering. Like before, Dante can switch stances between Swordsman, Trickster, Royal Guard and Gunsmith. These in itself add a layer over the four long range and four close range weapons. Our favourite weapon so far in the game was the Cavaliere. It’s literally a motorcycle that splits in two chainsaw-ish weapons. It’s absurd but so much fun to use.
V is the third and the most interesting character in the game because of his vague personality and surprisingly different combat. Unlike most hack and slash game characters, V doesn’t do the fighting himself. In fact, he takes a backseat during combat and commands three demons that he can summon at will. In his muster roll, there’s Griffon, a demon bird that offers long range combat and has a big mouth. He talks a lot and shares most of his personality with Iago (the parrot) from Aladdin. Shadow is a shape shifting beast that looks like a black panther. It’s ideal for close combat. Lastly, Nightmare is a giant monster that can level most enemies easily. V’s physical body is as strong as a house of cards so he’s usually around the edges of the combat arena and only enters to finish of enemies.
Devil might carry orbs
The game wastes no time, forcing you to run around hacking demons in the most fun way possible. There’s a heavy focus on how stylised the combat is with more variation and antics you execute, the better your chances are of fully experiencing what Devil May Cry has to offer.
Red orbs are an essential part of the game because they serve as currency to upgrade your arsenal and unlock new moves. The game also lets you try out the move set before spending your precious red orbs on it. You can pay to purchase red orbs which might infuriate a lot of people but the game doesn’t force it upon you. It rewards you with red orbs extensively throughout its nine hour gameplay without forcing your wallet out.Yes, nine hours is extremely short for a single player game. Most gamers might even finish the first run in a single day or maybe two. This is quite disappointing because by the end of the game we wanted to play more of Devil May Cry. Not hoping for another game but just be able to have more hours into this very game.
Devil looks fine
The game looks absolutely amazing! It’s running on the RE Engine like Resident Evil 2 and it churns out one heck of a show in the graphics department. Much of DMC’s character model share the same grotesque and ‘insects from around the dumpster’ looking vibe from Resident Evil.
The combat is slick and breezy so 60FPS is a must for this game to play and feel the way it should. We’re happy to report that RE Engine is one of the most stable yet graphic intensive engine we’ve ever come across. We got a steady 60FPS on our Nvidia RTX 2080Ti without any lag or stutter throughout the game on 4K.
With the settings turned up to a fever-chasing high, the game is just a marvel to play on beefy systems. Especially when you bring down big baddies in boss battles and later bask in its dramatic and corny cutscenes from time to time.
Even the long jackets and clothes of the three main characters are very life-like and almost believable in a game that has talking birds, chainsaw bikes and emo Kylo Ren.
Processor: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2920X; Liquid cooled by Corsair H115i RGB Platinum
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti
Motherboard: Asus PRIME X399-A
RAM: 32GB of Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB
CPU Case: Corsair Obsidian 500D RGB
Keyboard: Kingston HyperX Alloy Elite RGB
Power Supply: Corsair AX850
Verdict
Devil May Cry has one of the funniest and extremely expressive attitudes in gaming history. The game unapologetically embraces its own roots and delivers a fantastic story with the most intricate combat systems till date. It’s fluid for newcomers to pick up but also plenty complex for returning fans.
Like the flying Mahindra Scorpios from Rohit Shetty films, Nico’s (Nero’s partner in crime) indestructible van shows up in the most random spot and has the most random entrances. It’s this random quirkiness of DMC 5 that appeals to us but might not for some.
In a certain part of the game, the main protagonist, Dante, says ‘It's been a while since I use my brain this much’ only to unlock a hidden entrance with blood. So you can expect a lot of gags here but don’t be fooled by it. The story is intriguing, the cutscenes are a class apart and the combat is best in the business. It’s a five star game in our books but a mere nine hours of fresh content and larger than life focus might not convince many. Although, fans of the series will definitely love it and newcomers won’t feel left out either.
Devil May Cry 5 review
DMC 5 has managed to hack and slash its way into our hearts