Devil May Cry 5 - A Game Review

Devil May Cry 5 - A Game Review

Starting from waiting for fans for more than a decade, Capcom finally succeeded in fulfilling their mission to revive Devil May Cry, an iconic hack and slash franchise that has had a big influence on its genre. Through Devil May Cry 5, they are trying to bring a lot of new, more ambitious overhaul to be able to stand in line with the giant AAA game on the market, but at the same time retain all the classic elements that are loved by the fans. Although not easy, the creator Hideaki Itsuno and his development team have dedicated almost 5 years to concoct this fifth series. At this time, maybe some of you have already played and even finished Devil May Cry 5, but the KotGa Crew is trying to take a few more days to dig into the game deeper, both enjoying the extra content offered to observe the overall quality. The time for a few days is not in vain, because this game has many surprises that are easily overlooked and can be an additional plus point in the KotGa Crew review this time. So if you haven't played it and are curious about the quality offered, this time the KotGa Crew has summarized the full review that you can immediately see below.

Storyline

The plot is indeed not the main strength of this franchise, but Devil May Cry still comes with an interesting drama story to follow and memorable characters. For Devil May Cry 5, this game comes as a direct sequel that takes a setting of several years after Devil May Cry 4. The story begins when the demon invasion takes place again and this time gives a big impact to the real world. The invasion led by the demon king Urizen was unfortunately too strong and could not even be stopped by Dante and even the Devil May Cry team. Nero who is still the main character in this game also cannot do much, because the demon hand or Devil Bringer he possessed has been stolen by Urizen. The prologue to the story also introduces a new character named V, a mysterious youth figure with tattoos all over his body and has the ability to summon demons in the form of animals.

  

The storyline itself moves pretty quickly at the beginning and might make you confused, but over time you will be thrown in a number of flashback scenarios that will fill the holland plot. Starting from here the storyline will move forward for a month, where Nero gets help from a new colleague named Nico who serves as an artisan weapon as well as a replacement hand maker called Devil Breaker. Armed with his new strength, Nero ambitioned to save Dante and stop the demon invasion from the Urizen leadership. At least this is a brief summary of the story plot presented by Devil May Cry 5.

If it has to be compared to other series, KotGa Crew can see that Itsuno and his team have thought of a carefully constructed plot here. Although there are some questionable gaps such as how Nero was able to meet Nico or V until he joined him as a member of Devil May Cry, at least a number of important plot holes were successfully covered and provided a clear picture that this franchise might get a new sequel in the future . Yup right, without giving a spoiler about the ending, KotGa Crew and many fans can see the potential for a strong sequel thanks to the conclusion of the story. Then what about the discussion about the end of the story of Son of Sparda? Even though an arc in a game or anime is not a sign of the end of a franchise, so it can be in the Devil May Cry game then we can see the adventures of Nero and Dante with even bigger conflicts.

Still a matter of story, KotGa Crew also has a small complaint related to the role of the side character. For example, like Kyrie, this character who became the main heroine in Devil May Cry 4 is unfortunately not shown along the game and is only "present" in sound form. The same thing applies to Lady and Trish who also did not have a major impact on the development of the story. Instead of giving a role, they only seem to be a complement or fanservice for the fans.

3 Stylish Heroes

Utilizing the presence of unique new and old characters, this time Devil May Cry 5 makes Nero, Dante and V a playable character that drives the story. Now let's look deeper and review each character. First is Nero, the main character that was introduced in the Devil May Cry 4 series is a demon hunter who has little resemblance to Dante. Not only in terms of appearance like just white hair, he also used a large sword and gun as his main weapon. The big sword itself is called the Red Queen, which has a unique way of working like a motorcycle engine (can be gassed to increase its strength and speed). While the Blue Rose is a flower-shaped double barrel revolver with a large crushed power.

In addition to relying on its main weaponry, Nero was initially also blessed with the Devil Devil Bringer's hand which has great power to throw down an enemy of any size like a toy. This power has unfortunately been stolen by Urizen and forced Nero to use Nico's artificially made mechanical hand called Devil Breaker. There are 8 types of Devil Breakers that you can access from Overture, Gerbera, Punch Line, Helter Skelter, Raw Hide, Tomboy, Rag Time and Buster Arm. Each Devil Breaker has a variety of different strengths such as Punch Line, for example, which works like a rocket-powered boxing or flying hoverboard. Even though the strength it possesses is strong enough, Devil Breaker is unfortunately easily destroyed and must often be replaced with a new one.

  

Now switch to the next character, The Mysterious One - V. As the name implies, this new character has a mysterious background and air that envelops it, but when talking about gameplay Capcom has managed to implement a very unique and different mechanism for this character. So like the KotGa Crew mentioned before, V is a character that relies on the ability of demon summon when fighting, whether in beating enemies or maneuvering to avoid attacks. There are 3 demons that are owned by V, namely Griffon, Shadow and Nightmare. The Griffon is a demon that has the form of a bird with effective long and near magic abilities. Different from Shadow and Nightmare, this demon can speak and has a character that is hilarious. Turning to Shadow, the demon that has the form of a black panther relies on physical attack abilities that are very strong and cover a wide area. As for Nightmare, the strongest demon that can only be summoned by executing Devil Trigger has a terrible combination of physical and magic attacks.

The three demons possessed by V did have reliable fighting abilities, but they could not kill the enemy and only put them in a dying position. It was at this moment that V acted as an executioner to kill every demon that was weak and marked with pale violet colors. In addition to playing a role in launching the final attack, V can also give direct orders to the Griffon and Shadow to attack the enemy according to the attack command, launch magic such as bombarding the enemy with cane attacks, or activate Devil Trigger to his chosen demon who wants buff effects or automatic attacks. As an extra challenge besides maneuvering to avoid the attacks, players must also pay attention to the Griffon and Shadow health bars that can be used up if they receive too many attacks. If one of them is in the "dead" position, you can wait for a while to respawn or bring the V closer to the position when they are dying to speed up the regeneration process. Overall, V is a very unique character and forces you to use a more strategic playing style.

Now turning to the most iconic character in this franchise which is none other than Dante. For this legendary demon hunter figure, the KotGa crew managed to be astonished by the amount of weaponry that it can carry. Just imagine, Dante has 5 ranged weapons (Ebony & Ivory, Coyote-A, Dr. Faust, Kalina Ann, Kalina Ann II) and 6 melle weapons (Rebellion, Balrog, Sparda Sword, Cavaliere, King Cerberus, Dante Devil Sword). Not only does it have different moveset and skill variations, each weapon can also be accumulated with more diverse skills through the "Style" used by Dante. For those of you who are still unfamiliar with the name, Style is a mechanism that Dante can use to change his fighting style. There are 4 styles that can be used by Dante and can be replaced at any time in the battle, namely Trickster (skill to move quickly both in closing the gap with enemies and avoiding attacks), Gunslinger (skill to strengthen the power of destroyed firearms and provide new variations of movement), Swordmaster (skill to provide stronger and more stylish combo access when using melee weapons) and Royalguard (skill to block enemy attacks or deflect them with destructive counter-attack effects).

  

If the weapons and style variations are still incomplete, Dante is also equipped with a Devil Trigger that can transform his form into a demon and strengthen his strength in a limited time. Later Dante can also get access to a stronger form with the name Sin Devil Trigger, the form marked with this red bar is very strong and is the ultimate weapon to fight even the toughest bosses. With this incredible arsenal power, you can say Dante is the most complex character you can meet in any hack and slash game. The point of introducing the KotGa Crew summarizes this time is indeed quite long, but this kind of discussion is sometimes needed to understand the characteristics and style of play that each character has.

Modern with a Classic Taste

To keep the game relevant to veteran fans and newcomers, Capcom has made a lot of changes and new features that make the whole mechanism in Devil May Cry 5 feel more perfect. First, let's discuss the gameplay design that it offers. Like several previous series, Devil May Cry 5 is still summarized in the format of 20 story missions that move linearly and place the three main characters in different scenarios. Do not miss, there are also some secret missions hidden in several places and you can access for extra challenges and rewards. When starting a mission, you only need to follow the flow of maps that will take your character in several battle segments. When entering in a special battle, usually the area around your character will be locked with a red barrier and can only be reopened if you manage to finish off all the enemies. Casual players will usually finish off the enemy in a normal way and use skills that they master repeatedly, but Devil May Cry fans will definitely use each segment to fight combo variations and "stylish" playing styles.

  

Although optional, playing styles where you can chase SSS ranks by executing creative combos can give them rewards in the form of S scores for each mission, extra Red Orb, and even musical tones that change in the middle of a fight. Every mission that you live doesn't always have a long duration, because there are some of them that only put you in a boss fight. If assessed in terms of level design, KotGa Crew feels quite amazed by the world presentation that looks charming and detailed. Starting from the urban setting that moves from night to morning with a dramatic atmosphere, until the atmosphere is gripping while in the den of demons that look like hell, every setting presented in this game is truly dynamic. The elimination of puzzle elements might make some players disappointed, but the KotGa Crew actually welcomed this decision openly. The reason itself is because the focus of gameplay will be more dominant on the side of the action which is indeed the main attraction of hack and slash games, something that is honest over the top priority crew.

Other classic elements that are still maintained can also be seen from the customization feature that relies on Divinity Statue services to unlock new skills, buy Blue Orb to add Vitality gauge, Purple Orb to add Devil Trigger gauge, and Gold Orb to awaken your character when dying in battle. The Red Orb is still the main currency in this game, and you can also use it to buy stock of Devil Breakers from Nico. Before buying a skill, you can try and even train it first by accessing Void. Void is an empty place that acts as a free playground, whether it's trying skills or concocting new combo variations when fighting one to many types of powerful demons simultaneously, this feature that is obviously very useful for veteran players and newcomers who want to hone their skills.

  

Another interesting feature is the implementation of Photo Mode which is usually only found in exclusive PlayStation games. The way it works itself is not much different from the usual Photo Mode feature, it's just that you can only stop the game running while in gameplay and change the position of the camera. There are no additional photo effects, camera viewpoints and other editing options provided. Although impressed as it is, the KotGa crew can still take some cool scenes more easily thanks to this feature. Besides Photo Mode, you can also access the gallery feature that summarizes story records, bestiaries and character models, monsters, and weapons that look very detailed thanks to the implementation of RE Engine.

  

Speaking of RE Engine, its role in handling the quality of graphics in Devil May Cry 5 is also worth getting two thumbs up. Besides producing the most captivating graphics compared to most action games on the market today, their performance in presenting characters with motion capture models also looks very high quality. Here you will be presented with in-game graphic quality and top-class cutscene that will spoil your eyes. With this, hopefully the RE Engine can be used as the basis for all AAA-made Capcom games in the future.

Outstanding Replayability

Not Devil May Cry games, of course, if you don't have good replayability, and for this one aspect, Devil May Cry 5 managed to mix it perfectly. The presence of only 3 playable characters is a plus point, but Capcom here provides a lot of additional content that can be pursued when you successfully complete the game. Examples such as mission designs can be played again with different character perspectives, access to a variety of new skills that can be pursued by grinding Red Orb intensely, playing the game in a higher difficulty level, and joining other players to hunt demons through system access Cameo. The new system introduced in the fifth series allows you to play with other players online on a mission involving more than one playable character. If you play offline, then the role of the empty character will be filled by AI.

If a variety of additional content is still not enough, Capcom plans to release a Bloody Palace update that can be downloaded for free starting next month. Bloody Palace itself is a hardcore mode where players must pass various stages from one level to another with their chosen character. Each level will be inhabited by many enemies who will grow stronger, so you could say this is a mode that is perfect for you to practice playing skills and only want to feel the challenging gameplay sensation.

Conclusion

Present as a true sequel that fans have been waiting for for 11 years, Devil May Cry 5 managed to answer all expectations with the best quality. The dedication of creator Hideaki Itsuno and his team in concocting this game for almost 5 years can be seen clearly, where they are able to combine all the classic elements loved by loyal fans and implement many new changes to become one of the best hack and slash games you can meet on the market.

Maybe some gamers consider the gameplay mechanism outdated and feel "lacking," but Devil May Cry 5 is a hack and slash game that gives access to many playing styles and relies entirely on skills. The KotGa crew does not deny the existence of deficiencies in some places such as the role of the core characters that end up as fanservice or the elimination of puzzle elements favored by many fans. But thanks to the quality of the solid game, some of these shortcomings have no significant impact on the playing experience.

If you have to look for shortcomings that can really be felt clearly, maybe the easier level of difficulty at the beginning of the game, "Devil Hunter" is something that enough KotGa crew is sorry. Of course the same sensation will not be felt by all players, especially for newcomers who know Devil May Cry through this fifth series. In the end if you are loyal fans or gamers who are hungry for the best quality hack and slash experience, Devil May Cry 5 is definitely a game that must be included on your radar.

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• https://www.kotakgame.com/review/detail_review/3508/3906/Devil-May-Cry-5-SSStylish-Comeback/0/4/