Devil May Cry (PS2, 2001)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-7 Challenge-8/7* Story-5.5
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8.5/7.5* Fun-7/7.5* Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7.5
*Easy
+
More advanced combo attacks (can launch an enemy into the air and then shoot it with your ranged sub weapon to keep it in mid-air then finish it off with a slash OR you can jump along with it and knock it down with a downstab attack)
Some action adventure elements (shops in and in-between levels (health and devil trigger gauge upgrades, new moves after lvl 2, temporary invincibility and smart bomb items, consumables, ), exploration-based levels and the game makes you revisit previous levels to unlock new paths later on (however this process is completely linear), locked doors, minor puzzles)
Auto-aiming for the pistols by holding a button
Auto-aiming in melee when near an enemy and you can change directions during a combo to keep hitting more enemies
Hang temporarily in mid-air while shooting or hover while doing the air raid move
Devil trigger mechanic (charge up by attacking then trigger this form to do more damage and enable certain moves)
Difficulty options
Auto-pull consumable items towards the avatar (similar to using the lightning shield in Sonic 3)
Very good animation
Wall jumping and side-rolling
Optional secret missions in some levels, fairly complex ranking system (time taken, combo "style" points (each attack is rated with a word on-screen) - this also earns you more orbs per kill, orbs collected, damage taken, secret mission completion, re-entering rooms and escaping from enemies is penalized, using consumables is penalized) - the reward for getting a higher rank is more orbs/money, pretty good map system (shows explored floors with different colored rooms, doors and where to go next; doesn't show objects or enemies though), simplified controls in Easy mode, very good bosses overall (some huge bosses which you can stand on, creative blob boss fight with a puzzle element), mini-bosses, nice boss introductions, some nice effects (the breaking bridge, the rising pillar, the underworld, etc.), moves list in-game (incomplete though), elementally charged shots (hold R1 + Shoot until you see the gun discharge some elemental power), mostly skippable cutscenes (select), pretty good variation (mixes in FP swimming and two rail shooter segments), can stomp/walk over very small enemies to kill them,
+/-
Can save anywhere however only collection progress is saved if you save during levels (10 slots)
Some collectathon tendencies (need to collect red orbs to spend on unlocking certain doors to progress)
Enemies can't pass through doors
Unlimited ammo
Extra lives
Dante won't fall from platform edges until you press jump near one
Can grab and climb most ledges
Respawning enemies when you exit and re-enter a room (allows farming for money and health)
Gore
Pretty cheesy story and characters (the spooky atmosphere between story scenes is pretty well executed though)
No mini-map, mostly short levels, can't block, pretty sudden leap in difficulty at the spider boss, can't switch weapons without going into the menu, can't jump out of a swing animation (each swing is pretty fast though), upgrades are too expensive for you to be able to focus on more than 2 weapons' upgrades (=moves tied to one specific weapon), air raid (mid-air lightning attack in demon form) is overpowered and double jump is overpriced, repeats some bosses but adds new moves to them each time,
-
Glitchy melee auto-aiming during the giant owl boss fight and both melee and ranged auto-aiming during the second blob fight
Camera issues (disorienting perspective changes, no manual perspective control, fixed angles - see RE1-3, annoying during some fast enemy attacks like the goat skull masked reaper's dive attacks, poor angles chosen for the mission 12 ship fight against a reaper) - makes it fairly easy to accidentally jump instead of side-roll and harder to pull off certain moves
Inconsistent hit detection and jumping at times (some invisible walls, sometimes you can jump quite far forward but otherwise the jump is much more vertical-focused like in Contra)
Can't access the menu while being hit
No proper control config (just two settings to pick from)
Lose some forward momentum after landing from a jump
Some trial & error (the sides of spikes hurt, missable shotgun, post death attack from the giant owl boss and the monkey sounding enemies right before the underworld, fast attacks after cutscenes, some boss patterns)
Somewhat blurry graphics overall
Occasional waiting for ghost type enemies that get stuck in walls
The use for most moves and the timing aspect of some combos aren't explained in-game
No reward from the giant owl boss (first fight), sometimes uneven difficulty (difficulty spike at mission 11 (black knight), dip in the underwater segments), can't change direction in mid-air, some unavoidable damage without air raid? (final blob fight), inverted movement controls in the rail shooter segment and when checking the map,
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8.5/7.5* Fun-7/7.5* Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7.5
*Easy
+
More advanced combo attacks (can launch an enemy into the air and then shoot it with your ranged sub weapon to keep it in mid-air then finish it off with a slash OR you can jump along with it and knock it down with a downstab attack)
Some action adventure elements (shops in and in-between levels (health and devil trigger gauge upgrades, new moves after lvl 2, temporary invincibility and smart bomb items, consumables, ), exploration-based levels and the game makes you revisit previous levels to unlock new paths later on (however this process is completely linear), locked doors, minor puzzles)
Auto-aiming for the pistols by holding a button
Auto-aiming in melee when near an enemy and you can change directions during a combo to keep hitting more enemies
Hang temporarily in mid-air while shooting or hover while doing the air raid move
Devil trigger mechanic (charge up by attacking then trigger this form to do more damage and enable certain moves)
Difficulty options
Auto-pull consumable items towards the avatar (similar to using the lightning shield in Sonic 3)
Very good animation
Wall jumping and side-rolling
Optional secret missions in some levels, fairly complex ranking system (time taken, combo "style" points (each attack is rated with a word on-screen) - this also earns you more orbs per kill, orbs collected, damage taken, secret mission completion, re-entering rooms and escaping from enemies is penalized, using consumables is penalized) - the reward for getting a higher rank is more orbs/money, pretty good map system (shows explored floors with different colored rooms, doors and where to go next; doesn't show objects or enemies though), simplified controls in Easy mode, very good bosses overall (some huge bosses which you can stand on, creative blob boss fight with a puzzle element), mini-bosses, nice boss introductions, some nice effects (the breaking bridge, the rising pillar, the underworld, etc.), moves list in-game (incomplete though), elementally charged shots (hold R1 + Shoot until you see the gun discharge some elemental power), mostly skippable cutscenes (select), pretty good variation (mixes in FP swimming and two rail shooter segments), can stomp/walk over very small enemies to kill them,
+/-
Can save anywhere however only collection progress is saved if you save during levels (10 slots)
Some collectathon tendencies (need to collect red orbs to spend on unlocking certain doors to progress)
Enemies can't pass through doors
Unlimited ammo
Extra lives
Dante won't fall from platform edges until you press jump near one
Can grab and climb most ledges
Respawning enemies when you exit and re-enter a room (allows farming for money and health)
Gore
Pretty cheesy story and characters (the spooky atmosphere between story scenes is pretty well executed though)
No mini-map, mostly short levels, can't block, pretty sudden leap in difficulty at the spider boss, can't switch weapons without going into the menu, can't jump out of a swing animation (each swing is pretty fast though), upgrades are too expensive for you to be able to focus on more than 2 weapons' upgrades (=moves tied to one specific weapon), air raid (mid-air lightning attack in demon form) is overpowered and double jump is overpriced, repeats some bosses but adds new moves to them each time,
-
Glitchy melee auto-aiming during the giant owl boss fight and both melee and ranged auto-aiming during the second blob fight
Camera issues (disorienting perspective changes, no manual perspective control, fixed angles - see RE1-3, annoying during some fast enemy attacks like the goat skull masked reaper's dive attacks, poor angles chosen for the mission 12 ship fight against a reaper) - makes it fairly easy to accidentally jump instead of side-roll and harder to pull off certain moves
Inconsistent hit detection and jumping at times (some invisible walls, sometimes you can jump quite far forward but otherwise the jump is much more vertical-focused like in Contra)
Can't access the menu while being hit
No proper control config (just two settings to pick from)
Lose some forward momentum after landing from a jump
Some trial & error (the sides of spikes hurt, missable shotgun, post death attack from the giant owl boss and the monkey sounding enemies right before the underworld, fast attacks after cutscenes, some boss patterns)
Somewhat blurry graphics overall
Occasional waiting for ghost type enemies that get stuck in walls
The use for most moves and the timing aspect of some combos aren't explained in-game
No reward from the giant owl boss (first fight), sometimes uneven difficulty (difficulty spike at mission 11 (black knight), dip in the underwater segments), can't change direction in mid-air, some unavoidable damage without air raid? (final blob fight), inverted movement controls in the rail shooter segment and when checking the map,