Today I Played: DmC: Devil May Cry

I shouldn't have played DmC for the story.

As you might notice in this Today I Played, my reaction to DmC fluctuates between curious, disgusted and confused. Unlike the outspoken fans of the series, who have plenty of other issues with the game, I came to DmC with little baggage. I'd played previous games, but being action-brawlers, my interest waned by the second or third boss battle.

DmC will be the first of the series I finish. The game, about a demon hunter named Dante, has a slow build. Yes, the first thing you do is fight a giant hell beast. But what weapons and moves are available reduce it to button mashing. For entertainment, I turned to the story, which is the grotesque love child of They Live and an episode of Futurama.

After hours of weapons training and cinematic exposition, the game finally kicked in. Unfortunately, this is right about when I stopped playing for this video.

So hear me out. I can't stand when people say, "You don't know how to play the game," but in this case, I truly didn't know how to play the game. Having unlocked the weapons and having seen these highest difficulty videos, I think I know, for the first time, what DmC is: a combo-streaking high score game, not unlike Tony Hawk Pro Skater.

So, yes, Today I Played: DmC. And tomorrow — ugh, it pains me to say this — I'll play it "right."