Devil May Cry HD — Demon Clash

In a few postmortems for the original Devil May Cry, it was revealed that director Hideki Kamiya and his team had originally intended for it to be a Resident Evil game. It was the original template for Resident Evil 4, a project scrapped and restarted twice before it met the vision of former series head Shinji Mikami. Given how big of a gameplay departure it is from both the typical RE game, it was tough for anyone who played DMC to imagine that it would have passed for a game in that franchise. Mikami shared those sentiments, and made it its own franchise.

Upon playing the HD version on the recently released collection, though, it’s never been more apparent that it started as an otherworldly RE game. (“Otherworldly” for 2001, that is. Given how ridiculous the plots in RE have become, especially with Wesker’s existence, it’s not so out of place now.) And you don’t have to go very far into the game to see this either. The run down, slum on an environment Dante’s shop resides in looks eerily reminiscent of RE’s Raccoon City, albeit without the zombie infestation. For all we know, it could have been Raccoon City at one point.

But its RE origins are made much more obvious when you reach the castle, the place you’ll explore for the game’s duration. Its opening aspects are similar to the mansions present in the RE games, one where the entrance is creepy solely because of how quiet it is. And it’s as beautiful as it is horrifying, something made more obvious in the HD edition. It’s one of the reasons why DMC1 benefits most in the HD collection. Though the textures and lighting didn’t receive extensive upgrades a la Resident Evil: Code Veronica X HD, the décor of the castle is still a sight to behold, lending it a harrowing feel. Though Devil May Cry 2 took a step back by doing away with environments like this (along with everything else people liked about the first game), it’s a pity that this is one element that wasn’t restored with the third and fourth games’ art direction, despite the latter making a good attempt.

The game’s music was composed to blend in with the atmosphere, which helps lend it is faux-RE vibe. While this means it’s not the best soundtrack to listen too outside the game, it’s not as “atmospheric” as the Hollywood-wannabe soundtracks that make their way into far too many games these days. Right after you’ve been through an intense battle, which happens often, the item statue music is enough to soothe your nerves. See, they really did think of everything!

To achieve this look, Kamiya, along with Team Little Devils, spent eleven days in the United Kingdom and Spain to examine its Gothic castles for extensive research. The game was to be wildly different from the RE experience people were familiar with, a decision that was OK with Mikami. It had a much faster pace and was far more concerned with exuding coolness, all while attempting to maintain an authentic RE vibe. Even though that didn’t happen, the game that would become Resident Evil 4 also turned out very different from its predecessors. It’s RE origins remain all over the place, and that’s what gives it its unique style.

Most of the members of Team Little Devils, by the way, don’t work for Capcom anymore. They currently exist as the similarly named Team Little Angels within Platinum Games, a name they established with Bayonetta. It’s a signal that the game comes from the same team, along with being a clever nod.

Also like an RE game, the dialogue and characters are very cheesy. DMC, though, is far more over-the-top with it due to its insertion of demonic forces invading earth. This was a predictable-but-fun turn of events after seeing that its main character, Dante, as a half human/half demon hybrid. He also has a good sense of humor, which fits in with the rest of the game’s hammy dialogue delivery.

There’s a good reason why DMC1 popularized the action genre in the last generation. It’s the fusion of an old school action/platformer (albeit with less focus on the latter) and a brawler that crafts an experience that was different from anything we’d seen before in the 3D space, an introduction to the kinds of experiences we would see with the PS2. And boy did we ever, considering the number of games that used this game as its inspiration of their action title.

The game gives players plenty of options to mix up the combat, in both melee and long range forms. But what works in DMC is that every weapon has been balanced in a way that it prevents you from being too formidable. That’s done in order to maintain the game’s sense of challenge. You are going to die quite a bit, but it’s rarely frustrating.

“Rarely,” sadly, does not mean always. It’s 2012, so it’s tough to readjust to a 2001 action game that relies on fixed camera angles. The camera can screw you over in many fights due to the view suddenly changing right when the enemy is preparing an attack. That, or they’re preparing a long range attack that you can’t see. This will either cause you to roll in the wrong direction or make an unintentional jump, making you take a hit. “Rarely” fortunately means it thankfully doesn’t happen often.

Before replaying DMC1, it kind of blew my mind that some people like this game more than Devil May Cry 3. After playing it again, I realized why some hold this opinion. The Gaudi-inspired environments give it a very different feel compared to its progeny. And more than ten years later, it’s still an incredibly solid, well-paced game.