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The Devil May Cry series is one of the more interesting from last decade. After a critically
acclaimed first entry in the series, there was sharp backlash to the second before another
widely praised entry arrived in Devil May Cry 3. Of course, now there is going to be
a complete reboot of the series developed by Ninja Theory to be published early next
year, but that doesn’t mean that the earlier games should just be forgotten. In fact, just
a few months ago, the first three games were given the HD treatment and re-released, and
while the games are great, there are a few reasons to be cautious with this. This is
the Devil May Cry HD Collection for the Xbox 360.
Now, like my Xbox 360 Triple Pack review, this isn’t going to be an individual review
of each of the three games included here. Instead, I’m going to be looking at it as
a whole. Each game follows Dante, known for hunting demons in stylish fashion, and in
chronological order, the games included are 3, 1 and then 2. This may actually be a good
way to play them if you’re looking for something a little bit different from the usual style,
especially when you’re looking to get all of the original stories out of the way before
the series gets a reboot to see exactly what they change. Especially with the HD paint,
these games almost feel like one really long title split into three parts, and that’s
a very good thing.
Combat actually holds up surprisingly well in this collection, with the different attacks
and moves allowing for very fluid gameplay, and enemies definitely put up a challenge,
especially in the first and third games. There’s also a good variety of creatures to fight
over the course of all three, so it won’t feel pointless if you’re playing them all
in a row.
Now, like I mentioned earlier, Devil May Cry 2 wasn’t nearly as well received as the
previous games, and while its tone changed and its difficulty was reduced, the game uses
a more natural control scheme than the first game, and this is actually the control scheme
Dante’s Awakening uses. In the first game here, the X button is an action and holding
down the right bumper and the B button shoots, but in the next two, the X button shoots by
itself, and the B button is the action button. It may seem like a small change, but it feels
much more user friendly. I kind of wonder why the first game didn’t use this
However, with all of the positives this collection has, there is one thing that makes the games
really show their age: the camera. I can’t even describe how bad it is, and this is across
all three games. Not only can you often not see enemies because of where you’re positioned,
you can’t even use the right stick to change the angle, even though it’s just sitting
there, waiting to be used. What this means is it has that old-school style of just shifting
the perspective depending on where Dante is in the room. By “old-school”, I mean “awful”.
This is really the only big complaint I have with the collection.
The Devil May Cry HD Collection does make the series a lot easier on the eyes, and this
definitely made the games more appealing to this generation of gamers.
The Devil May Cry HD Collection will probably not draw in gamers who weren’t previously
a fan of the series, but this is a decent buy for anyone looking to play through the
original trilogy. The key word there is “decent”. It’s not spectacular, but if you want to
play as Dante some more, check this one out.