Devil May Cry 5 Gets Back To The Good Stuff
Capcom has had a very contentious relationship with some of its intellectual property in the past decade, mainly because of poor business decisions such as giving game producer Keiji Inafune too much power. But the gaming juggernaut seems to have its head back on straight, if successes like Mega Man 11 and Resident Evil 7 are any indication.
The company’s latest release seems to be yet another step in the right direction. Devil May Cry 5 is a much-awaited return to form for the franchise after the failure of the extremely divisive reboot DMC: Devil May Cry.
Devil May Cry 5 takes place several years after the events of part 4, with Nero having set up his own demon hunting agency based out of a van adorned with a neon “Devil May Cry” sign Dante gave him with support from Kyrie and his engineer, Nico. But on April 30, Nero encounters a dying demon who rips off his Devil Bringer arm and uses the Devil Arm Yamato to open a portal to escape in. A few days later, a man known as “V” comes to the Devil May Cry office to hire Dante, Lady, and Trish to kill a certain returning demon.
The first thing that sticks out in this game is the visual style — it’s as polished as ever, from its jaw-dropping cut scenes to its superb character models, which look realistic without setting a foot into the uncanny valley.
Game play is solid, sharp and kinetic, and this is due in part to the games simplistic controls and exquisitely versatile combo system.
The story is absolutely a return to form with the fun tongue-in-cheek flavor that this series is famous for. The music is fine, but I found the Dante theme to be forgettable.
The voice work was top notch as well, given the talents of voice actor veterans Johnny Yong Bosch, Reuben Langdon, Wendee Lee, Stephanie Sheh and Kate Higgins as Nero, Dante, Trish, Kyrie and Lady respectively. Newcomers Brian Hanford and Faye Kingslee have etched their places into the legacy of this franchise as the latest edition of demon hunter V and mechanic Nico.
This is the palate cleansing game that fans have been asking for. Gone is the gloom and doom of DMC: Devil May Cry and good riddance. Devil May Cry is back and I say long live the king.
I give Devil May Cry 5 a 4.5 out of 5.
